> I am planning on building my first kayak in the near future. I am
> considering the Pygmy Arctic Tern & the CLC Chesapeake 17. Does anyone
> have any recommendations on either of theses boats? I am looking for info
> on ease of builiding, overall quality, etc.. Any information you can give
> me would be greatly appreciated.

> Thanks. Darrel

I have built an Arctic Tern and a Chesapeake 16LT. Both are great boats. One can (and many do) debate the relative merits of butt vs. scarph joints, peaked vs. arched deck, etc. but in the final analysis I doubt that it makes much difference when choosing a boat to build or when on the water. In overall quality, I don't see a lick of difference between Pygmy and CLC. As for ease of building, if you can build one, you can build the other. Many say that any klutz can build a s&g boat but I know some people who probably are exceptions to that rule. The one difference I found between the two boats is that I used more tools and did more real woodworking on the CLC (not necessarily a bad thing). On the Pygmy I only used a modeler's plane for shaping but on the CLC I also used a block plane and a spoke shave.

So, my advice? I will quote Chris Kulczycki from his book "The Kayak Shop": "When all else is equal, choose the prettier boat". And that's up to you.

George F. Johnson