: Hi All,

: I had a meeting in the city the other week. I had a half hour to kill, so I
: stopped in at a nearby boat books shop to browse. I ended up leaving with
: George Putz's book.

: Being an addict like most of you, of course, now I have to build one .

: Can anyone give me any comments about building the Putz Walrus?

: I also have a friend who approached me to ask if I'd mind helping him build a
: kayak, so, is this boat suitable for a first time builder? I don't want to
: advise my friend to start something that he might not be able to finish, I
: want him to share my habit. Er, hobby.

: Oh, and if anyone (Rehd) has links to websites about building these boats,
: please post em.

: Thanks in advance,

: Paul

Thanks Guys,

The idea is to have my buddy come over to my place and build his boat (the 17 footer) in my garage while I work my way through the huge honey do list my wife has written (we've just bought our first home, and oh boy, does it need work!). Once he's finished, I'll build a quick boat on the forms he's set up. At least thats the plan.

I'm still only part way through building the West River 180 (it's still only cost $17 so far), but at this stage I don't have either the time nor money to finish it. So I guess I'll hang it from the rafters in the garage until I've got the resources to finish it, even though having an unfinished project lying around really rubs me the wrong way, but I can't get past the fact that I'll need a sheet of okoume (sp?), a gallon of epoxy and about 12 metres of glass to finish it. All this stuff is imported into Australia and with the way our dollar is at the moment I'll be up for at least $500.

I've got everything I need to build the walrus except the canvas, so it should cost very little if I'm resourceful, the fast build time is also appealing. I'm thinking of using some WRC I've got stored for the frame, and a liter or so of epoxy left over from the Guillemot S&G to glue it up.

Thanks for all the info, I'll take my time to read through it and post questions as they come up. I really like the thought of shortening those forms they seemed wasteful as described in the book And I don't like the cockpit in the book at all, I'd like to go for a more traditional shape if I can work out how to do it well.

Thanks again,

Paul