: I am very interested in building a strip-built kayak, from plans of course,
: but have found that the choice of designs are varied and they all look so
: pretty, so narrowing down my choice is not easy. I currently work in
: antique boat restoration and am restoring three Chris-Crafts: a 1939
: 19'Barrellback, a 17'barrellback, a '46 deluxe utility; also a 46 Garwood
: utility, 1930's vintage Old Town canoe, and a 1924 Dodge runabout. I have
: no doubt as to my skill to make a nice kayak of my own.
: Because the financial commitment to building a kayak is substantially less
: than the above mentioned boats (none of them are mine personally), I can
: afford to build a kayak.
: 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.

I understand your feelings and I've done professional runabout rebuilds in the past (seemingly distant past ).

There are though some "very" experienced kayak builders out there that aren't selling many (if any) kayaks already. You're certainly welcome to try. I'd learn from example though and build a few boats to show off your talents. I think though what you'll find is that once you figure out the hours involved the price gets high enough that you have a very limited customer base that the already experienced builders are filling.

Bill H.