your points are well taken ... but ...

I am one of those who is building a kayak (actually two, one for my son and one for me) who have never kayaked before. The problem is that, unless you live at or very near a kayak 'hotspot' doing what you suggest is expensive at best and impossible at worst.

In other words, there are a lot of kayakers/ future kayakers who will not paddle every day, who will only use the kayak on rivers and inland lakes or who will build and then get together with a kayak group for training, trips etc. on vacations where they travel a distance to participate.

Many of these (as is the case with us) have canoed and are taking the next step. In this situation, the people on this board, kayaking magazines and outfitters are an invaluable source of information.

In our case, to do what you have siad would have cost me as much as building the entire kayak has cost. We went to a kayak shop (on vacation) and sat in a few, read the books, Emailed a lot of people, called some who have built and read a lot on this bulletin board prior to deciding what boat to build.

Also, this, for us is a leasuire(sp?) activity and not something we will race, make a living at or do on the ocean so having the absolute perfect kayak is not really that high on the list. i guess it is a lot like computers. Having a 600mHz with every bell and whistle is great, but I only need a 386 for word processing.

Having said all that, if we were near a place to be able to do everything you mention, we probably would have done much of it. i only present this in an attempt to explain why so many builders do so 'in the dark"

Thanks for letting me ramble.

> I'm wondering if most potential builders of
> either S&G or strip built kayaks have ever actually paddled their chosen
> boat before they build it. Of if they've ever even paddled kayaks before.

> I'm in the process of building my first S&G --- a CLC North Bay --- but
> I've been sea paddling for over eight years, and would never consider
> buying a kayak I hadn't paddled in various sea conditions to actually
> determine how it works and, more importantly, how effectively I function
> in that particular boat. Living in the Annapolis, Maryland area, I have
> the distinct advantage of being able to paddle virtually any CLC boat at
> least once a month during the summmer, and plan to attend CLC's Okumestock
> next month, so experience in specific models and subjective judgments on
> my dynamic interface with these boats has never been a problem. (Made my
> decision to build the North Bay a no-brainer.) But none of my regular
> paddling buddies or I would possibly consider making the investment
> necessary to purchase a composite boat, for example, without going to one
> or more of the national or regional paddling shows and working all
> potential boat options hard on open water before making a choice. Maybe
> it's the marginal relative cost of plans and materials or the cost of a
> kit that draws people to choose a specific boat through reading about
> boats or relying on the opinions of others, but, as a moderately
> experienced paddler, I can't understand or appreciate the logic here.
> Basically, ya' gotta paddle a boat to know if it's right for you.

> When Chris Kulczycki told me that a significant proportion of his kits and
> plans were sold to people with no paddling experience whatsoever, I was
> really amazed. Now, having spoken with some of these folks in preparation
> for the Chesapeake Paddler Association's "newbies'" workshop
> later this month, I can appreciate this fact a lot better. (There are a
> lot of folks paddling S&G boats with virtually no training in even the
> basics of sea paddling.) But I still have a lot of trouble with the idea
> of choosing a boat soley from a thorough search of the paddling media ---
> and, again, I don't mean this as a put down of the excellent points that
> Paul made in his response. I just think that one awfully important point
> is missing: the individual's personal reaction to the boat, to the way it
> paddles, to how he or she feels in the boat, and to how he or she feels
> they look in the boat --- an important subjective element, as well.

> The opportunities to paddle prototype boats are there, but, obviously,
> they will be relatively more available for some than for others. But
> options are still there. If at all possible, add paddling the chosen model
> to your personal checklist on a first boat decision, and definitely get
> some formal or informal training in sea kayaking if you're also a
> first-time paddler.

> Maybe that's just me, but I guess this point segues into another question:
> just how much actual paddling experience and training do we, as wooden
> boat builders, typically have in sea paddling? And if the answer is
> "not much", what do we do about that fact? I know that this
> probably opens up issues which belong on another forum, but maybe it's
> worth considering at least as an off-BBS topic.

> Jack Martin