Good points, Jim... seems like I'll be joining you in the last of the old-time AT crowd, then. I read your earlier posts on building your AT. Seems that you had an easier time of it that I am. Most of my problems/complaints involve the epoxy. The System 3 stuff seems really thick. When butting the planks I got a lot of bubbles under the mylar sheet and didn't get the tape fully wetted out (if I look closely,I can see the shiny weave of the tape pretty clearly). I THOUGHT that, at 85 degrees in the garage, the stuff would flow pretty well. When glassing the hull, I put a light bulb in a box with the epoxy. That does thin it out some, but I still had problems. Probably because the heat shortened the pot life, the epoxy started to set up a bit before I'd get through putting it on (only mixing maybe 4 squirts at a time). I kept getting white streaks and went throught SEVEN roller covers doing the hull! ... Also, with the glass coat and even the fill coats, I got lots of pinhead-sized bubbles and had to tip-off the entire boat with a foam brush.

I guess I'm too slow for the epoxy... I'm thinking of building a Coho next and may skip on the System 3 epoxy and use MAS instead. I've heard it's much less viscous and some folks say it's better for slow, new builders like myself.

How's the AT paddling for you? Getting much use? I've heard nothing but compliments on how well it handles. The only negative I've heard is that it's really big and high volume... and a lot of folks think the cockpit it too big. I'm 5' 10", 200 lbs, so I think it won't be too big for me. The only other kayak I've been in was an Impex Serenity. It seemed too big... rode high, weathercocked badly and bobbed all over the place till I got smart enough to drop the skeg. Take care - Keith
: >

: I suspect cutting out the old-style deck would be a lot of work just to lower
: the coaming by less than 1.5". On the new deck, reinforcement aft of
: the coaming is accomplished by thoroughly glassing over that area. There
: are no plywood plate reinforcements aft of the coaming as in the
: "older" style construction. If you've already constructed the
: deck, you'd have to cut through the plywood plates AND the heavy fillet
: and glass reinforcement.