I'm a Panache lover as well. Finished mine last summer! As with others ... tracks real well & is difficult to turn, but I'm told that once you get good at leaning it on its side, it turns much easier. Just the same, I'm mounting a Seal Line rudder with toe-pilots. When I bought the plans, he only had the standard hatch covers, which I did. I bought updated plans a year ago that had even more instructions including the flush hatch option. Hatches look great though, especially since I opted for the internal bungee system that worked very well! (thanks to Ross Leidy ... I think!) Everyone says it's real fast! Either I'm too heavy or outa shape (actually both!) Plans were pretty thorough & this was a 1st time build for me. He has also been very helpful when asked to clarify items in his plans. He'll also sell you a very inexpensive set of polypropelene cloth strips for bow/stern for abrassion protection. It's hard to find a supplier that will sell very small amounts of this specialty material.

I love the shape & look & get numerous compliments on it! I also like the method for building the cocklpit coaming. I used alternating layers of mahagony & ash to get a pin-stripe pattern (also did this on fore-aft hatch laminations.