Steve, If you have ANY experience with working with handtools then you should consider buying the materials and cutting your own pieces. Buy the plans and not the kit. "Plans" for stitch and glue boats can be anything from a series of numbers which you draw out like a graph -- and then connect the dots -- up to full size patterns. with the full size patterns you either trace directly onto the wood, or glue them on with rubber cement, and then cut through them as you make the panels.

It takes very few hours to trace the patterns onto the wood and cut out the pieces. In exchange you'll save hundreds of dollars, and you will have even more patterns to choose from.

Considering the accuracy that kit parts are made with, it is a trivial point, but I like the idea of gluing scarfing the panels first, and then cutting out full-size pieces. Then, there is not a possibility of getting a joint glued together at some skewed angle, making later part matching more difficult.

I'm curious about your wife's comments on the fiberglassing. Since the seams on stitch and glue boats are held together with epoxy resin and fiberglass strips, your wife's suggestion to farm out the fiberglass work is a bit difficult to reconcile. After all, you NEED to do some fiberglass work in order to produce the seams. That is the "glue" half of the "Stitch and Glue" equation.

With the Pygmy kit you'll use fiberglass cloth and epoxy to sandwich and reinforce the butt joints between the pieces they ship you. With other kits (or if you work from plans) you'll use epoxy resins as a glue to hold together the plywood panels at the tapering scarf joints.

By the time you finish with taping the seams you'll have enough experience with applying fiberglass cloth that glassing the boat will be a much simpler project than you can now imagine.

You need to buy some of these materials to construct the boat, so why not buy a large enough quantity (at a quantity discount) to do all the necessary steps?

If you are seeking a fast building time then a kit will certainly save time, and the two companies you mention are both well regarded kit makers. When it comes to picking a particular model, though, the choice should revolve around your physical size. If you have large feet, ask if the deck height will accomodate them easily. A small person in a big boat will be blown around by crosswinds, and may have stability problems. A big person in a small boat may have some fairly obvious problems with comfort, stability, and displacement. Build a boat which fits you, regardless of the "brand".

Hope this helps.

PGJ