: Has any one of similar build, completed a s&g and have found a design
: suitable for a two week tour of Quitico Provincial Park, but could also be
: used regularily for day use - primarily fishing and paddling around the
: three parts to Shebandowan Lake, Thunder Bay area.

For two weeks of camping I'd estimate about 100 pounds of gear. You may go lighter, or you may have a favorite set of cast iron pots you want to take with, but let's look for boats that can perform well with about 350 pounds in them. Finding boats big enough to hold you is not a problem. There are plenty of designs for small doubles which can easily hold you and all your gear. When you go looking for these designs you will probably see a design displacement. That is usually the amount of weight the boat can carry when it is at its "design draft", which is usually about 4 inches. When you carry more weight in one of these boats they just sink a bit lower in the water. You may even find a spec saying that the boat sinks something like one inch for every 65 addtional pounds. Allow for the boat to sink an extra inch or two (or three) when fully loaded, and then when day tripping it will ride closer to its design. so, don;t look for a boat that has a design displaement of 350 pounds, but rather for one which has a design displacement of about 225 to 270 pounds, and which is high enough that it can safely sink an extra inch or two and still have a safe amount of boat above the waves.

Something to consider for the areas you will be paddling is portaging.

A long thin boat is going to be more difficult to get through some portages than a shorter boat. Look for something 16 to 17 feet long (at most), and find a design which is wide enough to give you the displacement you want for yourself and your gear. Probably something in the 22 to 25 inch wide range would be suitable, depending on how high it is.

A side benefit is that this will be a slightly wider kayak which should be more stable, so if you hook a really big fish you can play it with confidence, and not capsize trying to land it. Another side benefit is that you can get hatches an inch or two wider, which will help when you have to stoe and unload your gear at each portage point.

Did I mention that you want a light boat? I should have. A 45 pound kayak is much nicer to portage than a 70 pound Grumman aluminum canoe! And with care you can build a 30 pound kayak, which would be even nicer.

Do you have the patience to cut your parts from sheets of plywood, or do you want to get a precut kit? If you go with a kit your options narrow considerably, so selecting a design to build is fairly simple. You pick between something from CLC, Pygmy, or "other". If you will work from plans then your options increase considerably, and in fact you can even design your own boat with some of the shareware programs available.

to get started, look at some catalogs and/or web pages. you can find a list on this bbs. Check:

http://www.seekayak.com/Businesses/Plans_and_Kits/

I think there are 35 links there to pages of kit makers and designers. Look at the specs and you'll find that there are probably 5 or 6 designs that are built for your needs. When you have this list, come back and tell us what plans you are considering. You can then get very specific responses from people who have built these models, and they can perhaps guide you before you spend any money on plans. the builders and paddlers can let you know if the design needs to be "tweeked", or if it is easy ( or really difficult) to assemble. they can give you an accurate idea of how long it will take to build, and how much it cost them.

Hope this helps

PGJ