Hello Javier,

I built the Mill Creek 13 from plans, not from a kit. I have intermediate woodworking skills, and it was easy for me. I used 1/4 inch luan plywood for the hull, and 3mm marine grade plywood for the deck. I got my epoxy and fiberglass from Raka, which is a little cheaper than the others. I spent a little over $200 for the entire boat. Maybe $250. It's about 40 pounds without the footbraces and seat.

Since woodworking is my hobby, I already had all the tools. If you don't have a bunch of tools already, you will need to buy a block plane and a jigsaw at a minimum and probably a sander too. There is a nice list on CLC's site that includes all the tools you need to buy. If you add the costs of all these tools to the $250 cost of the materials, you will get fairly close to the price CLC charges for the pre-cut kits they sell. What I'm trying to say is that it may be better for you to just buy the kit. The kits are much easier for novice woodworkers, and probably cheaper too.

I don't have much free time, so it took me over 6 months to complete the boat. I didn't keep track of the hours, but I'm probably at 50 hours or so, and it's actually still not done. I've paddled it and it's a lot of fun and surprisingly fast, but it still needs to be sanded and finished. Also needs footbraces and a seat. I'm very pleased with it, and can't wait for next summer. I plan to paddle it a lot.

I haven't built one, but the Little Auk is very nice looking. It's a strip built boat, which takes considerably longer to build. The materials are also a little more expensive because you are putting fiberglass on all the surfaces. If you mill the strips yourself, you need a tablesaw and a router table. But you can avoid those huge costs by paying extra for pre-milled strips. Of course, almost everyone agrees that strip built boats are very nice to look at.

I don't know anything about the other kayaks you mentioned.

If you are looking for easy to build, cheap, and nice kayaks, a lot of people will recommend the skin on frame type of kayak. I don't have any experience with this kind, but many people here do. Basically you build a wood frame of thin sticks of wood, stretch canvas over the frame, and paint it to seal the canvas. Most that I've seen are long and skinny, but you could build a shorter one if you wanted. You might want to look into that.

Attached is a picture of my maiden voyage in my almost finished Mill Creek 13.

Hope all this is somewhat useful.

-Dan