: I saw the picture of the white hatches on the strip deck of the white painted
: hulled boat, which was very pretty. The white hatches matched the hull,
: and the strip pattern "popped" because of the contrast between
: the hull and the hatches. Yet, personal preferences are all that matter,
: and my own is that if I have a strip boat, I wouldn't want to
: "ruin" my beautiful strip pattern by installing any kind of
: hatches that didn't match.

I have a white hull on my last boat and still have plenty of leftover paint and really like the look of the white hull so I'll be doing the same on this one. I found pearl colored hatches on sale which are close enough to white for me.

: Time is money sometimes, but building for me is more therapy than simply
: rushing to get a boat into the water...sometimes it's like a good book, I
: don't want it to end...maybe that's why I can't wait until I can begin the
: next one...yet all of our boats were based on "assembling the family
: fleet," and because I wanted to try different building methods
: (Strip, Stich and Glue, Skin on Frame), and different kinds of boats
: (Canoe, kayaks).

I don't have to get the whole kayak done but I work and I'm in college and plan to work on most of it over winter break. I know that when school starts again I will be much more tempted to work on the kayak than study.

: Getting the materials as a kit would save you time, but maybe not money.

: You already have the design from Kayak Foundry, did you design it yourself?
: If so, then you may have planned some time and money savings into that
: design...

I designed the kayak myself. To try to save time and make it easier to build. I kept the back deck completely flat. I might even do a hybrid of sorts and use plywood for part of the deck.

: Knowing what you want and planning ahead for anticipated design difficulties
: will save you some time, especially in conjunction with your personal
: experience in building, and knowing yourself (what works best for you in a
: building situation and more important, what doesn't).

: Since you already have a finished boat that you've built yourself, you
: probably have invested in some of the tools, so that will also be a
: savings in money.

This will be kayak number four.

: Have fun! Enjoy the work!
: Cruz, W.F.