Whether you should build yourself an Osprey Standard or an Arctic Tern 14 depends on your size, how you like a kayak to fit, and your own preference on multi versus hard chines. I'm 5'5" and around 135 and the Arctic Tern 14 felt like a good fit to me as I like snugger boats. I also seem to prefer hard chined boats, so again I liked it better when I paddled the two of them on the same day. They seemed fairly equal in speed. I think the tern would be just fine for a day boat. The Osprey has a lot more room inside. For me with my size 8 feet, it felt like a lot of wasted bulk but you may like the room.

As for copper wire versus zip ties, I don't see any significant drawbacks to copper. If that's what comes with the kit, I'd use it rather than go out and buy something else in addition to the kit expense. I've used copper and it's fine.

Patsy