I went paddling on the CA coast with a fellow 10yrs ago, he had a Pygmy Golden Eye that looked kind of rough with "extra" glass, definately not a showroom boat. As he hefted his nearly 50lbs of kayak and 30lbs of gear to the water (225lb fellow) down to the rocky beach and lauched through the surf I decided that light weight wasn't that important if it's built for the intended purpose. Something about seeing him swing it down onto the baseball sized rocks and launch convinced me.

Later on I built a Patuxent 17 with 3mm deck(don't ask) and a beginners commonsense of "this needs more" it weighed nearly 55lbs (about 10lbs was totally unnecessary) and paddled in the same environment pleased that it held up great while side surfing to the beach.