: My question is this. If things turn out well, I would be interested in
: selling the kayaks that I build, after seeing the prices that some
: builders can command. But I assume that it would be unethical for me to
: sell a Redfish or Clc or others' kayaks commercially so how would I go
: about getting a design of my own. I don't have a design background of my
: own, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Two quick points:

If you build just one design, your potential market shrinks drastically - some want a roomy, beamy boat, others a fast, slender hull, others want lots of foot room, still others want low windage - kayaks are almost a custom-fit deal anyway. I'm getting ready to start my fourth S&G, and I've modified every one, working from the same basic design.

A question re ethics - say I was to buy plans and/or a kit for a recognized design, then built it and sold it as that design. Is there an ethical problem here? The designer would have been compensated for his design efforts, etc., when the plans/kit was purchased, and there is no0 attempt to represent the design as mu intellectual property. In the case of the VK, the designer asked for a modest license fee for any subsequent builds from a given set of plans, and I have honoured that.