Jerry,

My wife and I have been paddling a Mill Creek 13 for approximately 1 1/2 years. In general it performs better than all roto-molded and many glass kayaks I have been around. The primary places it has been paddled is on Tomales and the SF bays(wind and choppy conditions). We have been caught in upto 3ft waves and survived without a capsize (though, it was a scarey event).

> 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?

No banging of knuckles, but occassional rubbing of the paddle on the rubrail. I paddle it with a greenland style paddle and my wife with an approx. 88" long paddle having a short-wide blade.

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?

No, never noticed the tendancy to lean. However, the MC 13 responds well to edging. I use edging to remain on course in side winds, but also in following seas.

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?

I only glassed the outside of the hull with 4oz. Seems to be holding up well, but I intend to attach a short (approx. 12-16") tapered oak rubstrip to the stern because of the wear that has developed.

4. Has anyone built one with the cheaper
> Luan? What effect does that have on the overall weight?

I built the hull out of 1/4" exterior fir plywood and the deck 1/8" Okume. It started off as an experiment and I did not want to waste expensive wood. I went light on the glass and epoxy, so the weight did not substantially increase. The specific weight of wood is less than epoxy and glass...

Any information
> that would be helpful will be appreciated.

The CLC slat seat design is beautiful, but they are the most uncomfortable things. My advice is don't waste your time building one. There are better solutions in Chris' book that can be easily adapted and take less time to build.

willy

Thanks, Jerry Brown