: Hi all,

: This my first post on this forum, and I’m hoping to get some advice from some
: of you more experienced boat builders and paddlers out there. A friend of
: mine took me kayaking and got me hooked. Unfortunately, I quickly
: discovered that a quality sea kayak greatly exceeds my budget. You can
: imagine how happy I was to find that I could build a great boat for less
: than 1/3 the price of a ready-made one. I’ve been looking at the CLC
: Chesapeake LT17, CLC West River180, or the Pygmy Osprey Standard. Of
: these, which do you think would be most suited for a beginner both in ease
: of building and handling of the kayak? I really like the idea that the
: Osprey is supposed to be an extremely fast and stable boat yet is under
: 16’ long (I will be transporting it with a Geo Metro). Conversely, the CLC
: kayaks come standard with bulkheads and hatches, appear to have much nicer
: cockpits and are cheaper. Am I missing something, or does it look like CLC
: is the better value in a kayak? Your advice is much appreciated.

: Thanks,
: Ken

As with everything, it all depends. All of these are fine boats, and you will be happy with any of these. Everyone has their own preferences on boat types and theirfor their favorite. It would help us a bit if you were to tell us your size, location what type of paddling you expect to be doing current woodworking abilities and shop space, etc.

That being said, I like Pygmy and am almost finished with my second arctic tern. I agree with you about the looks of the combing, but I have been doing something about that. I wish that pygmy would include the hatches and bulkheads in their kits, but I know a few people that did not want them in their boats, sooooo. Also I really don't like the look of the CLC hatches.

I have never built a CLC so am not able to compare properly. One comparision that I will make however is that the epoxy that pygmy uses, seems to be most tolerant of mistakes, which is a plus for beginners.

For either of these kits you should expect to pay at least $100(USD) for additional sundries like varnish, sand paper, measureing cups, gloves, brushes, rollers, ... you know stuff...

You will want a resperator, power drill and a power sander however. If you don't have these they should be factored into your final cost.

If money is a big concern, you might wnat to look into a Skin On Frame (SOF) traditional design. This is the cheapest way to create a quality boat, and has some serious cool quotient as well. This method however seems to need both the most woodworking skill, and the most tools as well.

As a beginner, the hardest step is getting started (paralisis through analisis)