Depending on what type of paddling you want to do, you may not need a kayak. There are double paddle canoe designs that are very nice for protected waters. these are a good introduction to strip building too. Nick's book and his boats are wonderful. Ted Moore's Canoecraft and Kayakcraft books have good building instruction and several offsets for canoes and kayaks. The new revision of Canocraft has offsets for the RobRoy canoe, which is a double paddle design with about a 27' beam and somewhere around 13' in length, and maybe five other larger tandem canoes. Length can be adjusted to a point in most designs. Kayakcraft has, I think, offsets for three kayak designs, as does Nick's book. But take heed.......Kayakcraft does not give any instruction on how to loft the plans from the offsets........you have to get that from Canoecraft. I guess he thought that would be repetitious, or maybe it's good marketing??? Nick's book has good instruction on both building and lofting.
Mac Mcarthy's Featherweight boatbuilding has two different designs to build. Getting out the plans from his book is very easy, as he has simplified the lofting a bit. Both designs are double paddle canoes, in the tradition of J Henry Rushton and John Macgregor of the late 1800's, built in strip fashion.
Lots of good designs........hope your not the sort that developes habits easily......I think there is a 12 step program for strip-built kayaddicts in devlopement :-)
garland
: Jerry, I understand the need for comparing boats,but up until about five
: months ago I didn't even know touring kayaks existed.living in Metro
: Atlanta you don't see many. I had thought about getting a canoe and bought
: a few back issues of magazines that a local outfitter had and became very
: interested in wooden Kayaks. I still don't know much about which design
: suits me but have since paddled a couple of tandems, a sit on top and an
: open cockpit recreational,both plastic. I purchased the cheap books and
: plans to see what I might be getting myself into. and after reading more
: on the subject, the 16ft chinook(w/24in. beam) seams like it should be
: decent to start.I was only wondering if these cheaper plans might be
: lacking anything I might need and would find in more expensive plans. I
: dont have a problem paying for better plans if they'll make the job
: easier,or I find a boat I like better.