In response to Jim's invitation to comment (thanks Jim!) I think the Pygmy is the easier deck to attach. There is some work involved on the CLC in shaving down the shear clamp so that the angle mates well with the deck. After the deck is nailed on, you then have to trim off the excess deck. I used a quality jigsaw; hand sawing would have been too tedious for me. It worked fine, but you have to stay well aware of where that saw blade is going (it will be angled inward, given the curve of the deck) so that you don't nick the hull (or worse, cut right into it).

But still, even if the CLC seemed a bit harder, it was the first one I built and I did fine doing it. So it is entirely do-able for the first time builder (and in my case, with limited wood working experience). I'd do it again if I preferred a CLC looks or performance wise over whatever I was considering in the Pygmy line (as it is, I am going to build an Osprey standard this summer for someone who wants a shorter kayak with good stability -- the decision is being dictated by dimensions and performance, rather than construction technique).

Hope that helps.