Superior Kayaks in Wisconsin uses a satin varnish on their kayaks and they look incredible. They get $4850 for their kayaks -- and I know what you're assuming: cedar strip. Nope, they get $4850 for stitch-and-glues! They are now taking orders for delivery in 2004! Outrageous price; for that I'd expect a nice, sprayed 2-part poly at least. They build their kayaks with a traditional Greenland shape, and actually I lied when I called it a stitch-and-glue. They use a mold that they lay the okoume panels in, so there are no stitch holes, and they make them in about a half-dozen sizes. They also use a multiple-thin-cloth lay-up that is impossible to see the weave in (although the weights still come in at ~42#), and use make their panel-joint fillets with a thickener that makes it kind of tan -- I don't know what that thickener is.

Obviously they don't sell many plywood kayaks for $4850 each. Their focus is on traditional skin-on-frame Greenland kayaks. You may have seen ads in Sea Kayaker for courses where you are stepped thru building one that's custom-tailored to your own size, less a few coats of paint, in one rather intense week.

Dean