: My Old Town Pack canoe, without a
: couple big rocks, sits just too high in the water for fun paddling when
: it's windy. It's a tough decision between an 11' LA and the 14'GA. I
: really don't want anything longer than 12'

Sounds like you'ld be a candidate for a Wee Lassie or a Sweet dream. The smallest version of the Sweet Dream is 11'10". and various versions of the wee lassie go down to about 10 feet. If you need ballast to get a small canoe down deep enough into the water, then you are probably the right size for such a small boat. If you look, you can find find plans for versions of the Wee Lassie in lapstrake, stitch and glue and cedar strip construction.

Sweet Dream plans are in the book by Marc Pettingill. You can get it from the local bookstore or from Amazon.com The ISBN number is 1-888671-03-3. It is stitch and glue and uses just two sheets of plywood, which are cut identically, so it is fast to assemble.

For rougher water conditions you can add a deck to either of these boats. The hulls would not be the same profile as common kayak hulls, but they would be stable, and handle more like canoe hulls -- which should be good for your puddle jumping and photography. These boats can be paddled with a double bladed paddle or a single blade paddle, as well.

Also, you can e-mail me if you would like me to e-mail you some plans for an 11 1/22 foot plywood kayak, too. This is plywood over a frame. No fiberglass or epoxy resin required, and it uses standard exterior plywood, so it is cheap to build.

PGJ