My Tred Avon is done and on the water. Thanks to all the posts for the help.

I chose to spray on a two part polyurethane. I had my Ches 18 out with my TA. The Ches 18 has the std. Brightsides one-part poly and the shoreline of the Sierra lake had lots of rock. The Ches got some chips and scratchs that would be expected. The two-part poly was tough -- no scratches or dings. If you are going to paint think real hard about buying a two part paint. Rolling the stuff on is a challenge, you will get a better result with spray. The paint is expensive but in the long run it will be a good choice. After two seasons with my Ches, I need to wet sand and repaint where it has scraped off.

The TA is fast on the water, quick to speed and with two good paddlers, it is fast. Lots of room and stability. The rudder is fine and great to have. The kit was solid and went together pretty well. The CLC folks were great at providing their thoughts. I built it in about 5 weeks. 8 coats of varnish to the deck took some time and the wait for the paint and primer took five weeks. I glassed the inside with 6lbs. cloth. Added a rear bulkhead. I built the kit in a triple configuration. The coamings are tight for my 6'3" frame but no one else noticed. You might think about asking for a Ches style coaming if you are tall. The cargo hatches that come with the TA are SQUARE. CLC sent me the Ches style hatches that are much prettier and functional. I did not install the rubbing strakes, they looked very conventional wood-boat style and just seemed like the nails to install were an invitation for problems. The seats from CLC are worthless. I ordered the $75 creature comfort seats that I love in my Ches. They did not fit well at all in the TA. I could not believe that CLC recommended cutting them up to make them fit, so I sent them back and used sit-on-top style seats that are alot cheaper and fine for anything but an extnded tour. The rudder hardware was a joke and a topic of another post. Thanks for all the help. I learned from all the posts. Thanks to Nick for supporting a great tool. Brian