Gary,

I'm going to put in a plug for looking at a fabric covered design. A couple of reasons:

The carpentry skills involved are less. The frames can be cut by hand with a coping saw, or you can stack several pieces of plywood and cut 4 identical pieces at one time with a saber saw.

There are fewer materials used. That saves cost and weight.

If you use a design where the frames suport a series of full-length stringers, those stringers can be LASHED on with heavy twine, giving a strong and flexible frame, while at the same time reinforcing pioneering skills.

You can modify the plans and make larger boats for bigger scouts very simply by using longer ( and slightly wider and thicker) stringers, and spacing the frames slightly further apart. Changing a boat from 14 feet to 15 or 16 feet will increase the carrying capapcity of the boat enough that it can hold scouts 50 or 100 pounds heavier.

You can make the stringers of wood by ripping pieces from 2x10 or 2x12 stock. You can use pine, spruce, fir, cedar or redwood if you prefer. 14 to 18 foot lengths are commonly available, so no scarphing is needed.

You can cover the boats with canvas and then waterproof them with paint, or you can use a material that has already been waterproofed. There aere some examples of kayaks covered with inexpensive blue poly tarps! Sewing skills are minimal, particularly if you attach the skin with tacks or staples along the gunwale. You could even use a dining fly and just roll up the excess.

There are a lot of plans around for skin covered boats, or you can modify the plans for a stripper if you have the time.

George Putz's book shows a way to build a canvas covered boat without the use of premade frames. If you make two or three sets of the building forms he describes, you can have several groups working on making frames at the same time. Once one frame is done it can be removed from the building forms and covered and painted while another group starts to build their frame on the now-vacated set of building forms. This gives you a kind of assembly line process, allowing you to get a couple of boats on the water while more are still being produced. Putz's forms can easily be adapted to campsite construction. Pound a few 2x4 stakes in the ground at the appropriate places. Line up the forms using some strips of wood or string and nail the forms to those stakes. Cover everything with a tarp when it rains.

With other designs, frames can be made of bent wood, either steam bent, or green branches bent to shape and lashed in place. You can usually substitute frames made from wood strips, that are glued and screwed together, for frames that are cut from plywood If you are making lots of identical boats this can make a lot of sense as you merely rip the stock to size, and then cut to the proper length multiple copies of each part. A power miter saw, or a radial arm saw does this job easily and rapidly. A scoutmaster or parent can produce the parts and the scouts can assemble them with hand tools -- limiting the exposure of younger scouts to these power tools. Be sure to identify what part goes where!

Cloth covered boats do not have large areas that need to be sanded, use little if any epoxy, are rapidly assembled, and can be easily repaired.

The catalog from Clark Craft has over two pages of pictures and plan descriptions for almost a dozen different canvas covered kayaks. You can order the catalog through their webpage www.clarkcraft.com. I think it is $5. There are alos plans available for about $15 for a boat called (i think) a 'carry-yak' which is make of plywood components with a canvas bottom. The canvas is glued to the plywood and the wood componentboat can be folded flat for storage or for carrying several on a car rooftop. This boat is rather wide as kayaks go.

OK that's my pitch for adding to your choices on design. Feel free to ignore it.

Paul G. Jacobson