: I just addicted a whole family with kayaking! Now they need yaks.
: Unfortunately cash is a concern. I was thinking of starting them with
: sof's. The largest paddler is about 270lb how will a Greenland kayak
: handle with someone of this size? What is the best book to start them on?
: I have Morris and Zimmerlys books, is there a better book they should use?

: Sage
If you are going to build several kayaks at one time, or in a short period of time, then onsider George Putz's Walrus. You make one set of forms -- which can be cut from a 1/2 sheet of plywood if you use my revised measurements -- and those forms are reused for laying out each additional frame. For heavier paddlers you can space the forms a bit further apart to give a longer boat with more displacement.

If you don't want to cover the things with cloth, you can cover them with thin plywood panels (1/8th inch, 3mm, 4mm 5.2 mm, or 1/4 inch would all be fine) and seal the seams with glass strips and epoxy resin. When you use wood you can skip the "trestle" bracing steps as the wood skin does all that bracing for you. Then you would have quickly-assembled wood boats for about the same price as skin boats.

You might want to find Mike Hanks' website and check out the veritable fleet of "Wallys" he has built. I don't think any of them cost over $200, and some were considerably less expensive. I don't think any of his boats are identical as he modified form size and spacing for different attributes, and changed coverings.

PGJ