> I appreciated your post -- I built a 17' Arctic Tern and felt the same way
> about the 'extras' that came with my boat:

The pad-eyes and hatches are 'extras', not part of the kit. I didn't bother with them because they were below the standard of the rest of the kit.

> Plastic pad-eyes -- pretty much standard on most plastic and fiberglass
> boats, but not something most of us would want on a nice wood kayak. (I
> went with flush wood ones.)

I made my own wood rigging, it was cheaper than buying the rigging kit from Pygmy.

> Therm-a-Rest seat -- very flat. You don't feel as connected to the boat as
> you do with a formed seat, be it of foam or fiberglass.

I found this comfortable as long as I paddled for less than half an hour, then my legs would go to sleep. I now have a custom carved minicell foam seat for $17. They could use off the shelf foam seats for less than the Therm-a-Rest. I think they use this because it fits everyone.

> Back band -- now this was really cheesy. They have you glue cheap foam to
> a piece of high-density plastic sheet and use it as a back band. It has a
> tendency to take on a barrel-shape that doen't fit your back.

The back band works good for me. I pre-bent it and it is holding its shape nicely.

> Designers have a thing about people modifying their designs, but I find it
> hard to believe that a designer would really use this stuff on his/her
> boat. These are strictly cost-cutting measures.

Most kits I've seen have cheap 'extras', I think that mostly they go with the industry standard. They could and should do better on most 'extras', but they work and are easy to install as is, and I think that may be what they are trying to accomplish.

The one thing I couldn't do was drill holes in the hull to install footpegs.

Mike