> I have been pondering about building the Mill Creek 13 for the same
> reasons you have listed. It seems that the 15 being a smaller beam (27
> inches) would be a little less stable than the Mill Creek 13's 29 inch
> beam. I would like to visit with someone that has a Mill Creek 13 and ask
> some of the following questions: 1. Do you tend to bang up you knuckles
> when paddling? 2. With the flat bottom, does it tend to lean to one side
> and then the other? In other words, do you have to concentrate on
> balancing it? 3. If you have used fiberglass cloth inside and out on both
> the top and the bottom, with at least a couple of coats of epoxy, does it
> still way less than 40 pounds? 4. Has anyone built one with the cheaper
> Luan? What effect does that have on the overall weight? Any information
> that would be helpful will be appreciated. Thanks, Jerry Brown

I finished a MC 13 a month ago. yes I bang my paddle (not my knuckles though) the rub rails, not on the coaming. it does tend to lean to both sides but I don't have enuf experience to compare to other boats. I've never seen one with FG cloth on the deck. mine weighs less than 40 lbs even with the bottom panel made of 1/4" luan. the most $$ in wood was gonna be the 6mm okoume, (and in the panel with least flex) so I saved $50 in cost by making the change. I wouldn't want to try to bend the sheer and bilge panel with luan. I was thinking of changing the next boat by taking 1" off the sheer all aound to get closer to the waterline. The boat has so much bouyancy that you can turn it on its side in the water but still water won't be in the cockpit because it floats so high.

addison