James,
Beautiful boat. Congratulations! I also just launched my Night Heron last week on a week-long trip to the Adirondacks. We had a wonderful time with our three CLC boats and my Night Heron. I felt bad for my wife and kids though, as we always all used to get admiring comments and looks for our fleet of stitch and glue boats. This time, it was as if their boats were not there, and people only saw my strip-built Night Heron.
I found the boat a delight to paddle. It handled well, even in some pretty strong wind when we went out on Blue Mountain Lake. It did have a strong tendency to weather-cock, but if you stay on top of it, it was not overpowering. It also was much easier to turn quickly than our CLC boats, due, I guess to the rocker. All trade offs, I suppose to various design factors. I have not yet cut in any hatches and am thinking about doing that this winter. Right now I have a rear bulkhead with a screw-in access port in the bulkhead, and a floatation bag in the bow.
We did try learning how to roll - self-taught, and could not make it all the way back up, although I think this was my lack of skills and had nothing to do with the boat. We'll consider a few hours with an instructor this fall or winter.
I'm already wondering about the next project, which bears out my wife's contention that I enjoy the building as much (more?) than the paddling.