Hi Kurt,

as other people have said get Morris's and Cunningham's book. There is another one by Mark Starr that I haven't read. You can find them easily on Amazon.

As for cost: I spent more on tools I didn't have (my first wood working project) than on the materials for the boat.

Here's a quick run down of the approximate costs I incurred:

Wood: approximately $80
Lashing twine: $15
Skin: Depends I paid about $70 including shipping for 10oz polyester duck
Varnish: $25

We live in the same city, I think, so here are some sources:

Wood: both Kilgore on Main Street and Kemah hardware are good (the latter has more choices). It will be hard to find good wood for bending ribs in the Houston area. I ended up with red oak from Home depot and Lowes. Next time I would probably get some white oak or Ash boards from the places mentioned and rip them into strips.

Skin had to be mail ordered.

Varnish for waterproofing is easy to find at HD or Lowes.

If you want to color your boat Texas Art Supply at Baybrook has pigments and stuff.

Tools: mostly hand tools: saws, planes, knife, mallet
Power tools: jigsaw, circular saw, drill, router for rib mortices (not essential though)

As I said this was my first wood working project and it has been fun. There were mistakes made, the boat is not perfect but if you screw up most things are easy to fix. If you could build a S&G you can definitely build an SOF.

Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Also check out the qajaqusa website that Melissa suggested. I found tons of great info there.

BTW, I really enjoyed your website.

Frank