David- congratulations on your completion- they're great little boats. I can't wait to build a Yost-boat for myself! We look forward to seeing some pics. I recently finished building another Yost design, the Sea Flea. It's for my 8 year-old, Sawyer. Tom Yost has a couple of pics of it in his building manual, but it wasn't finished out at that point. One thing I did a little bit differently: instead of the wood trim on the gunwales, I cut 3/4" wide strips of the PVC fabric in a light blue, (the boat's red and black) and glued it all the way around the boat to hide the staples. An added bonus is that since it glues to both the top and bottom skin, it makes the 'hull to deck joint' really watertight. Sawyer weighs around 50 pounds, and he'll be able to grow into this boat for quite awhile. It seemed stable enough for his limited skills, and exhibited good handling characteristics. I was itching to paddle it myself, (it looks really fun!) but I'd need to break my knees to get in! I was hoping to get some pics today of the totally complete boat, but neither boy was in the mood to go paddling. (what's the matter with kids these days?!?) I'll post some pics as soon as possible. I still need to weigh the boat, but I'll bet it's under 20 lbs. Another great design from Tom Yost!
: Hi everybody
: just thought I'd let you know that we have completed the three Sea Pups, with
: the exception of the bungee for the deck cords and the logos of the kids
: want to put on their decks (shark, flames, etc).

: I took one of the pups for run yesterday. It is certainly a different ride to
: the Little Auk, a bit like comparing a skateboard with a bath tub. The Sea
: Pups are tippy but not excessively so, and turn very nicely. It certainly
: seemed critical to keep your centre of gravity as low as possible, to
: enhance the stability. Just lowering my butt 1 cm improved the control
: significantly. They are a bit of a squeeze for me but the kids should get
: two or three years out of them. Yesterday also consisted of finding some
: space under the house and making up some storage racks.

: As soon as I've got some decent pictures, I will post them.

: Thanks to everyone, particularly to Tom Yost and Steve Phillips, for their
: help with this building project.

: Cheers,
: David