I finally finished my 14' great auk in May. It is summertime in Alaska right now so I have not been around a computer a whole lot. It turned out as good or better than I hoped. Certainly has it's flaws but hey, it's my first one and it floats. Not only does it float, it tracks great and is very stable and fast. I would deffinetly suggest the 17'er for anyone over 6 foot. I'm 6'1, size 12 feet, and I just barely fit. I have to take off my shoes and go barefoot in order for my feet to comfortably brace against the footrests. I got a seat from redfish and it is very comfortable and fits great. Took a paddle out into prince william sound out of Whittier, AK and saw Orcas, seals, sea otters.....totally awesome. I can deffinetly see myself getting into this Kayaking stuff. Some things I learned during the build process:

- Kayakforum.com is your friend, ask lots of questions no matter how annoying you think you are.
- Buy a book, I got N. Schade's...priceless.
- Take the time to get your forms straight, eyeballing em won't cut it.
- Rolling bevel technique is actually fairly easy and produces nice results. Haven't tried B&C though.
- If you try to be a perfectionist, you will never finish. Do your best and get 'er done.
- Sanding and fairing the inside of the hull is a major pain, try clean up any glue drips inside as you go. saves time later.
- ROS is awesome for fairing/sanding, just be careful, you can sand right through a strip in no time. trust me.
- Blending in transitions in fiberglass cloth is kind of a pain. I did the 6 oz. standard layup with the football on the hull. Next time I'll do 2 full layers of glass over the entire hull maybe use 2 layers of 4 oz. -
- Pandora radio is awesome during building.....if you don't know what this is, ask your grandson.

These are just the things that I can think of, but holy crap I learned a lot. Thanks everyone for answering questions. Fun Fun stuff.