> My husband and I are considering building a sea kayak for our 5'9",
> 150 lb daughter. She wants a sea kayak. this will be a suprise for her, so
> I need advice. She will be spending the summer on an island in Lake
> Michigan. Any advice on kits available, design, etc would be very welcome.
> Thank you

There appear to be a few options out there. You probably should be looking at a boat that is 16 to 17 feet max. Unless you expect her to get much bigger, anything larger would be overkill and might be harder to paddle in a wind. Personally, unless there are long camping "expeditions" planned, I'd stick with the 16 footer... Both Pygmy and CLC have some really small designs available (14 foot and smaller). I don't think that these would be big enough for your daughter.

I'm not all that familiar with what's currently available in strip boats or skin on frame, so I'll restrict my comments to the S&G (Stitch and Glue) designs.

Most S&G designs tend to be long. The only two companies I know of who carry a range of under 17 foot boats are Pygmy Boats and Chesapeake Light Craft. I think it's fair to say that these companies are the market leaders in S&G, and a boat from either place will be a nice piece of work and a pleasure to paddle.

Links: Chesapeake Light Craft CLC http://www.clcboats.com

Pygmy Boats http://www.pygmyboats.com

Guillemot Kayaks http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com

Bear Mountain Boats http://www.bearmountainboats.com

CLC has the following in this range: Boat: Chesapeake 16 Length: 15'9" Paddler Weight: 100-170 Max Load: 240

Boat: Chesapeake 16 LT (The LT denotes a "Light" boat, or one that has less volume. In short it's less bulky, holds less, but would be easier to handle in a high wind becaue there should be less "wood above the water". Length: 15'8" Paddler Weight: 100-150 Max Load: 190

Boat: Chesapeake 17 Length: 17" Paddler Weight: 160-230 Max Load: 270

Boat: Chesapeake 17 LT Length: 16'9" Paddler Weight: 150-220 Max Load: 220

Boat: Chesapeake 14 (Brand new and not on their website - I think 14 foot is too small anyway.) Length: 14 Paddler Weight: 50-100 Max Load:

Pygmy has the following: Boat: GoldenEye Standard Length: 15'8" Paddler Weight: Max Load:

Boat: Osprey Standard Length: 15'8" Paddler Weight: N/A Max Load: N/A

Boat: Arctic Tern 17 Length: 17' Paddler Weight: N/A Max Load: N/A

Boat: Arctic Tern 14 (Brand new and not on their website- I think 14 foot is too small anyway) Length: 14' Paddler Weight: N/A Max Load: N/A

FYI, I have all of this info pretty much at hand because I have been researching a boat for my daughter. She's smaller (11 yrs old) so she'll get a Chessie 14. I chose S&G because of the time factor. From all the posts I've seen, the strip boats take longer to build (even though I think they look better when they are finished!). As we are in the process of moving, I don't have the luxury of spending that much time on the boat.

Nick Schade (the owner of this web site) makes kits and sells plans for some really nice lookig strip built boats. He has some in the right size range.

Bear Mountain Canoe also sells kits and plans for strip built kayaks. They also have some in the right size range.

Good luck, and happy boat building.