: The Black Pearl and Tom's Sea Glider are VERY skinny boats most definately
: not beginner boats, have no idea of your experience level.

Well, they can be scaled to fit my posterior -;) While not "advanced" I'm perfectly comfortable in most 20-22" sea kayaks in any condition that I would dare to paddle. Under 20" and depending on hull type - it depends...

To give you more of an idea of what I'm comfortable with right now - the CD Rumor is a little too unstable to relax in when the water is choppy or while sirfing down 2 foot wind waves, though I probably will not tip over in it unless it gets really dicey and I should not be out there in the first place. Just the low stability takes more energy than I think I want to spare on it. I think I would not want anything less stable than it for the foreseeable future and ideally I want just a bit more stability.

The Petrel is just about right stability-wise and I can probably take a little less stable boat and still be relaxed in it and not think about stability.

The 18" wide or so Sea Rider I imagine would be b/w the Rumor and the Petrel stability-wise, if not closer to the Petrel, since it is longer and flatter for more of the hull than the Rumor. Just guessing - may be wrong.

I am currently getting better in the Valley Rapier 18 - it is at most 18.5" at the widest at the waterline under/behind the seat, but much skinnier elsewhere, being a pronounced swede form and rounder at the hull. In the Rapier I can fairly comfortably handle 2-3 foot wind chop with some bracing here and there but I'm not 100% yet in it too, and I imagine if I were to go in steep waves over 4 feet or so if they are breaking, I would swim from time to time with it.

: There isn't a heck of alot of difference in the finished product of a Yost
: style boat and a traditional one though there are arguments that the more
: flexible lashed boats feel much different in the water. Performance wise
: they aren't alot different. Depends much on what you're after and some on
: what construction methods you're more comfortable with.

: As far as I know there are no Petrel SOF plans, though there isn't any reason
: it couldn't be built that way from conventional plans. I'd ask Nick first
: though.

: Bill H.

I did ask Nick - he says no plans; his was a one-off for a customer. I guess I can adapt the strip version's plans to a SOF... As I mentioned, this will be my first one, so I have no "preferred" construction methods - but easy and cheap construction is a priority (would've built the strip version otherwise, but that would be at least 3x the cost and much more time to do right).

Thank you all for the suggestions so far. I found some building instruction online (on what I think was instructables.com) and looked at many photos elsewhere, read some of the wood boat building books as well, and there are a bunch of skinning videos online that I thought were very good. Once I decide on a few more details, mainly the bent ribs vs. plywood cutouts and the glue vs. stitch (or combination of any of these for different areas), I'll probably gather enough courage to get the wood and get started.