Hi Tom,
You have gotten a lot of good advice here. One thing to consider is that, if you are going to go on excursions/adventures with your canoeing friends, you will find that your kayak will be much faster. I have only paddled a kayak once, and compared to my canoe.......big difference in speed potential.
I'll add another spin on to your possibilities......
www.bandbyachtdesigns.com offers the Diva, The Birder and Birder II. These are a form of S&G boats. They should be quick to build. The Diva is a 15'8" kayak, the Birders are similar to the CLC Mill Creek boats.
Another possibility is the decked double paddle canoes from Ian Oughtred. There is the Wee Rob and the Macgregor. These are 28.5" in beam and can be built from 12' to 15' in length. They are built in glued lapstrake plywood. The plans include specification for sail rigs as well. These boats are based upon the designs that were used and made popular by guys like John Macgregor in the late 1800s. The design was adapted loosely from kayaks. Macgregor made some very impresive journeys in his canoe, and he wrote about his adventures. There are some books on the net here. Anyway..........these boats would be very suitable for your stated purposes. Keep it on the small side for ease of portage. You can deck them over for increased dryness with sealed fore and aft compartments. You can paddle them with a double paddle, as designed or with a single canoe paddle too. The building method is not too difficult. And, on the plus side, if you build using a jig like that descibed in Tom Hill's "Ultralight Boatbuilding", you will easily be able to build more of the boats, in case your Dad wants one of his own. Or, it would allow you to share you new skills with your fellow scouts, which is part of what scouting is all about, isn't it. The jig is only needed for building the basic hull, so it could be shared amongst several builders. All others would need to do is get their own plans set (for building rights, mostly) and maybe some initial mearsuring to ensure that the jig is fair, and they are ready to go. You could start a fleet........It would make for great adventure and hey, you could even have your own, exclusive "One Design" sailing. There is a picture of the Big boat on the kayak builders of Southern Ca website. www.duckflat-woodenboats.com.au has a picture of the plans on their website. Plans can be purchased through WoodenBoat Magazine.
Obviously, these boats are not kayaks, but they make a lot of sense for lake and easy river exploring.

Also have a look at www.stillwaterboats.com. There are some intersting designs there that would build quickly and are very good looking.
There are lots of choices. All of them good ones. You just have to decide which is best for you. Keep in mind that your first boat moost likely will NOT be your last boat.
good luck,
garland

: First of all, Thanks everyone for the responses. Pretty blown away here.
: Looking over the posts, and over my stuff, Let me write down What I have
: thought of, and answer's to some questions that have been written. BTW-
: I'm a junior, but I also need to get a Eagle scout project in sometime
: here, so I'm starting this one early.

: 1. In terms of where I will be using it, the most common area would be river
: or Lake. Slow rivers. I don't plan on doing any whitewater kayaking for
: awhile yet, and I tend to keep to rafts right now. The scenario that pops
: to my head is the fact that several of my friends happen to have canoes,
: and getting out onto several of the local rivers with them would be my
: first goal. I don't plan on taking photos of wildlife though

: 2. In terms of my Size- I'm 6'3", 152lbs, and a size 12 shoe. That's
: where most of my mother's worry comes in. Need to be able to find a kayak
: ( And I may just be reading the dimensions on sites wrong, which is why i
: am not sure yet), that will fit me.

: 3. In terms of help and tools, my father has a pretty extensive wood shop
: downstairs, so tools shouldn't be a problem. I expect that if I need help,
: my dad will help, as he has also wanted to do this. I also have two
: friends that are kayakers, although not builders, that have expressed
: interest in watching/helping.

: 4. Budget- I can get money, I have about 300 set away right now, and with
: both B-day and X-mas coming up, I'll be getting more. I tend to make about
: 100 a week from jobs, so money isn't too bad. around 700-maybe 800 is
: about my limit, unless I get help.

: 5. Time Frame- basically, I have to have it down by about November of next
: year. I'll know for sure in about 2 months, but that seems to be the date
: that will happen. I may have later than that, but it is possible that I
: may have to present as early as August.

: 6. Challenge wise- It doesn't nessecary have to be a woodworking challenge.
: Since I've never worked with fiberglass/epoxy before, that alone could be
: enough, even if working from a kit. I could even Tie that into my AP Chem
: class ( or the history of the kayaks to my AP History class), so
: diffuculty of the boat in terms of woodworking is not a nessicity.

: In terms of what I have been thinking: A strip boat just seems like to much
: of a time/money investment to be doing while also doing everything for
: school. I doubt, even with help, that I will have the time.
: Sew and Glue is where I have been leaning. I like the boats, and have seen
: several that I wouldn't wait a second to build.
: Fabric on Frame I need to look at more, as I don't have alot of research on
: this.

: Size is my major problem, and the one that I am not sure about. I do think
: that even with the limited woodworking involved with a kit, that I would
: probably be better off with one, because of time. Even in a kit, I'm going
: to be learning alot about the fiberglass, and the epoxy, let alone the
: smaller amount of woodworking involved.

: Thank you all that have responed, again.
: Tom F.