Hope y'all don't mind...but...I had to post the following post I read on the paddling.net forum....says it all. Plus...although I am building my first SOF now...and have plans to build a Redfish King this Spring....I am beginning to salivate over Nick's new S & G as well. I am totally new at this but hooked...lined and sinkered....

The following is a post by a fellow builder (JF)...a great posting that was discussing the longevity of homebuilt boats:

I was amazed when I started asking around as to how long a glass boat will last. I talked with a guy who has glass boat from the mid 50's and he lives in Hawaii! That says something.
I took my Tern 14 out into water that consisted of 7 foot clapotis and it promptly took my little boat and clapped me into the air and crashed me back down upside down. The boat didnt break but it sure felt like enough of a jolt to cause damage. I was glad I had added a few extra ounces of reenforcing tape where it looked like the design could use it. Overkill probably. The guy who designed it is smarter than me.
There is one danger to home building a kayak that I never took seriously. I was told over and over that you can't build just one. Now I am selling all my extra gear to finance my second kit the S&G Night Heron. I pine for it. I obsess over any web page with pics and info on it. I dream about that skinny, jigsaw puzzled boat. I will not stop until it arrives at my doorstep as a pile of parts. My wife will shutter. The kids will groan. The dog will howl. I will disappear to the basement and reappear only occasionally looking a whiter shade of pale covered in epoxy dust, raccoon eyed from the respirator. The sander! No, not the sander!
GOD HELP ME!