: G'day
: My name is Matthew. For some time I have been interested in building my own
: kayak. However, I really have no idea how to do it. Is it possible to get
: some kind of kit that an idiot can turn into a water-worthy craft?

Hi Matthew,

Remember, any idiot can buy a boat but it takes a special kind of idiot to build his own.

As Rehd said, if you narrow down your parameters a little bit I'm sure you'll get lots of good suggestions. I'd also highly recommend test paddling your boat of choice before embarking on this odyssey.

In the meantime, www.newfound.com provides kits and a nice color catalog of Guillemot, Laughing Loon, Redfish, Outer Island, Shearwater, et al. These are generally strip built or hybrid and require a little more time and money to complete than the plywood "stitch and glue" variety.(Caution: you will be unable to look at the Newfound catalog without building one of these boats. If you have severe time or budget constraints, DO NOT, under any circumstances, open the cover to this catalog).

www.pygmyboats.com and www.clcboats.com are other places to look for some very nice kits of the S&G variety.

Most descriptions you read will say something like "good initial stability, tracks well", but it's a little like buying a pair of running shoes - the catalog description is no substitute for an actual test drive.

Good luck,
Jim