: I have recently got my expedition single in the water. (I'll post pictures
: when I get them.) My wife enjoys paddling it as much as I do. Now she
: wants me to build one for her, but this may take some time as I have lots
: of other stuff on the go right now. . .

Jon, why not look at building a skin-on-rame model for her. depending on the model you chose, the frame may have relatively little woodwork, and should go together rather quickly. After that you spend half a day sewing up the skin and it is practically done, except for the painting.

Instead of spending the next few weeks shopping, spend the time building. Get one or two of the popular books on building skin boats (look for such authors as Putz, Cunningham, Dyson, Morris, Kemmerly, etc.) and go from there. They usually have all the plans you'll need. If you want something more detailed, Clark-Craft (www.clarkcraft.com) has plans for about a dozen canvas covered kayaks. You can skip buying a book and put your money into these plans. Most of their plans are about US$30.

A lot of these boats are being built in the US $200 range, which is probably a lot less than you'd find a used kayak for. With care a skin will last 3 to 10 years, so by the time you need to reskin the thing you should have a new stripper ready for the wife -- and you can sell the skin kayak to help pay for the new one!

Just a thought

PGJ