John,
Moving from research/thinking to actually building was the first hurdle to building my first kayak, which I am doing from scratch. I too have no real woodworking experience. My project is within a month or so of being finished. I never dreamed I could do something like this.

I can only offer advice that whichever model you decide to build you will find tons of advice here from others who have built the same model, especially the CLC boat. I am building mine from a magazine article but all my best information has come from this site. If you build from a kit you'll have the added factor of customer support from the kit company. Add a little motivation and persistence and you'll have a beauty of a boat for sure. I agree with Scott who emphasized epoxy and fiberglass work in his reply. Take time to read up and do some trial runs with this stuff because it will pay off.

My project is scarfed, taped only on inside seams with full cloth in the cockpit. The exterior seams will be taped too. I haven't finished so I really can't say much beyond that but I have no reason to doubt it will be a sturdy, dependable boat for years (either that or I'll have a great 17' long anchor for sale). Good luck with your project. I look forward to hearing about your progress.

--Tony

: I'm thinking about building my first kayak, no real woodworking experience.
: I've been looking at Pygmy's Artic Tern and CLC's Chesapeake 17LT. I've
: noticed a couple differences in the construction and would like to know if
: they make any real difference. Pygmy looks like they send fiberglass cloth
: for the inside of the hull also, where CLC just uses fiberglass tape on
: the joints. Are there any advantages to glassing the inside also rather
: than just tape? Also, I think Pygmy uses butt joints, and CLC uses scarf
: joints, is one better than the other? Any advice on these topics, or if
: you prefer Pygmy or CLC and why, or if anyone has any experience building
: from either of these companies, I'd really appreciate the advice!

: Thanks!