> I am intrigued with the idea of building my own beautiful touring kayak,
> and like others I have read here, am quite bewildered! I am looking for
> the perfect blend of manueverability and seaworthiness. I have spent the
> last few years exploring the bays and marshes in my little Keowee,
> sometimes paddling in conditions for which it was not intended. I would
> like to be able to do some short open water crossings or coastal touring.
> I am 5'2" and weigh under 120 lbs. I don't have any woodworking
> experience, but much patience and a helpful friend with some experience.
> Any thoughts or opinions on the kits that are out there?

Have you given any thought to what method of boat building you want to try? The three most commonly discussed here are wood strip, stitch-and-glue and skin-on-frame, but there are also people who build with straight fiberglass in rented or borrowed molds, and a few use other methods and materials.

Do you have a budget? Money is ALWAYS an object.

You say you have no woodworking experience, so I am assuming you have few woodworking tools. Some designs call for LOTS of clamps while others need powertools. Whatever tools you do not already have you will need to buy or rent. If you get a kit the tool requirements are few as most of the parts are precut. A woodstrip kayak may be assembles with a staple gun and a hand plane, A stitch and glue design calls for a drill and pliers. If you need to save money you might buy just the plans and cut your own plywood parts with a sabre saw for a stitch and glue design, but you would have a larger investment in tools if you tried to make your own strips for a woodstrip boat.

How is your time? Some boats take longer to make than others. Do you want the killer design, or something that you can paddle next week?

What about work area? have you got a spot to build?

Have you considered taking a `working vacation' and attending a workshop where you can build your boat? I've seen advertisements for several workshops. Some are a weekend, others are a week, and still others are several weeks long. The latter ones are only good if you are living nearby. but the ones that run over a weekend or a week can be delightful vacations, too. Here is a URL for a class by Greg Redden in Nova Scotia:

http://www.ced.tuns.ca/courses/1997/08/dt164.html

The class/ vacation goes for about $1200, which I believe is Canadian dollars. In U.S. currency this would be around $900. There are several other classes that you can probably find ads for in boating magazines, or search for online.

Nice thing about the classes is that you have people around and don't get bored working alone. if you need someone to hold the other end of a long board, they are there -- and you can help them with the same task.

Paul G. Jacobson