: Just finished my first ever kayak. Its a 14.5' Aleut, based on a design on
: Wolfgang Brinck's page. Used an 8oz nylon for the skin, spruce and fir for
: the frame, and willow for the ribs. The whole boat came in just a hair
: over 35 pounds.
: I don't have a lot of experience (read: none at all) in paddling skin boats,
: so my performance benchmarks are non-existent, but it seems to go pretty
: fast, can be spun within its own length, stable on centre yet I can lean
: it right over so the cockpit is almost in the water. All in all I am
: pretty happy with her.
: I put up a blog with construction photos and a bunch of information that I
: had to learn the hard way (not so much from the info not being available,
: but mostly because I tried to get clever). I have to say that the best
: advice I received through the whole process was to just build the thing,
: and worry about making the next boat perfect.

Nice boat, good job - great scenery too - oh, and I like the duck/kite too, have to work on a pigeon/kite for the east river...