I can’t stand it any longer. I need to share my project. I have built a few canoes but this is my first kayak. To be honest I have never even sat in a kayak before. I am an avid wood worker and a high school shop teacher. I saw a strip kayak sitting on top of a car last summer and knew that I had to build one. The one I selected is the 17’ Sea Wolf. I purchased the plans from Newfound Woodworks. There was apparently a book that went along with this design but I ordered the wrong one. It would have been nice to know which book to order, but it was still a worthwhile purchase. I started the build the day after Thanksgiving and have worked on it every spare minute since. This is the most addictive thing I have ever done. It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think of at night. I hope my wife doesn’t read this. I used northern white cedar, ash, walnut, and birds eye maple. I didn’t follow the plans exactly. I used my canoe building experience, the wrong book, my own ideas, and all of the ideas and thoughts I stole from you wonderful people and built it the way I thought was best. When I actually paddle a kayak for the first time, I will know if I made the correct choices. Last weekend I cut the hatches out and started on the hatch seal lips. I hope to the two halves together by the end of the month. I haven’t had too much difficulty. I have learned to be patient and have had ample time to add to my beer bottle collection while waiting for glue and epoxy to set. Two of the handiest tools have been a little block plane and a hot glue gun. Every time that I have been stumped, I went online and found that I was not the first person to have trouble or a “stupid question” and have found the answers. (In class I tell the students that the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked) I would like to thank everyone for getting me this far. This site has been a tremendous help. I just hope it will float. The only question that I have is how to post a picture here. I created an account on Flicker and hopefully the link will work.