: Two winters ago i buildt my first kayak,a strip buildt Kavat designed by
: Thomasson,and i have a hard time deciding what to build as my next
: projekt.At his web-site Nick Schade rates his designs in terms of ease of
: building from 1-5,rating Night Heron as 2(easier)and Expedition Single as
: 4(more difficult).What aspects of the design makes this difference?Is the
: difference really that big?How does these designs compare to Cape Ann
: Storm in terms of ease of building?The designer of Cape Ann suggests bead
: and cove-strips,while Schade suggests an easier method.Is this due to Cape
: Ann having a more difficult shape of hull,or will the easier method work
: equally well on this design?How does the Storm compare to Night Heron in
: terms of "fun to paddle"?Many questions,grateful for
: answers!Thanks!
Let me put in my 5 cent as a first time builder, and not that far in the process :

First, i chose to build Nick's Expedition Single over one of Thomassons designs. Not that i dislike Thomassons designs (i actually bought his book before deciding), but i just liked the looks of the Expedition Single the best, and never saw the "difficulty index".

Second, i decided early on, not to use B & C, simply because i didn't have the tools, and second, because Chip Sandresky has a good article on his web page about not doing B & C, and i liked his arguments .

As i understand it, the most difficulties comes when stripping the tighter curves of the hull, and by good luck, good fortune, and great help from this forum, i ended up with strips with a width of 17mm (a little narrower than 3/4")and a thickness of 5.5mm (little less than 1/4"). This has proved to be a great advantage when stripping the tight curves at the bow and stern. Also, i chose to use "many" cheater strips, and this was an advantage as well. My heat gun (thanks Chip) has been essential in this process, as local heating has made bending strips into shape almost too easy (even thouhg i have found that WRC blackens fast :-).

I'm not finished with the bottom of the hull at all, but pretty much over the tight curves, and they have not been that difficult for me, but have demanded a GREAT deal of patience. After all, putting strips tight to the forms in the curves and planing strips for cheaters, are not that difficult, but there is a learning curve, and that is where i had initial problems.

All in all i would rewrite the difficulty index, and make it part craftsmanship part patience.
So to me, building has not just been a matter of craftsman skills, but also, as a great surprise, a matter of personality.

Good luck.

Jesper