Thanks for the photos, I was thinking about building a Pygmy. The added detail of the sculpture of our 16th president is a very nice touch, and I think using it to mark the year it was made idea is NEAT, not to mention of course it's LUCKY. Reminds me that on a new and shiny penny in the reverse side that show the Lincoln Memorial if you look up the steps and through the center of the columns you can see old Abe waving at you!!

Cheers (it is great to see a woman building and paddling, does you 'signifigant other' paddle too or is it just like it is for most of us guys our siginifgant other usually prefers to remain on shore and let us paddle .

Joe

: Here's another thing I did differently . . . actually, doing it at all was
: different. I've wanted to go back on my other kayaks and add this, but it
: is much easier to do while building. So this is the first of my kayaks
: that have this.

: I embedded a new 2003 penny on the deck as a way to mark the year in which it
: was made. Who knows, maybe it will bring good luck too. I used a forstner
: bit and drill press to drill a hole just shallow enough and big around for
: the penny. I did that on the recessed plate behind the coaming. Glued the
: penny in and filled the area to the surface with epoxy. The epoxy shrank a
: little in curing, so I later added just a touch more. Did all of that
: before stitching the plate into place. Got the idea from a custom
: furniture builder. It worked well, and the copper penny blends nicely with
: the colors of the wood.