We are a welcoming group.

I am disappointed that you interpreted some of our comments as negative. They were intended to be helpful.

The time it takes to complete a strip built kayak is not necessarily related to the amount of woodworking skill or experience the builder has. Sometimes what happens is that someone with woodworking experience has higher standards than a novice and consequently spends longer getting things just right rather than just accepting something that is near enough.

One of the businesses in the USA that builds kayaks for people who don't have time to build their own spends 400 hours on each kayak. The reason they spend twice as long as I do is not because they have less experience or skill than me. It is because they are very skilled, very experienced and because they set a much higher standard than I do. I repeatedly tell people that what you need to build a strip built kayak is patience rather than skill. If you are an experienced woodworker, there is every chance that you will take longer than I do to complete a kayak because you will be aiming for a more professional standard.

There are two things I would not want to do. I would not want to discourage someone from building a strip built kayak. It is a wonderfully satisfying experience. The other thing is that I would not want to be guilty of misleading someone so that they set themselves and impossible goal.

My first stripper was a Night Heron. However, as I am 6' and 135lb, the low deck was the better choice for me. It is a very good design. My biggest criticism of it is that I am not quite heavy enough to make the kayak perform quite as well as it should in strong crosswinds. I probably should have carried about 30lb of ballast when I paddled it in windy conditions.