Chalk another vote for SOF... specifically, I'm building a pair of Tom Yost's designs over the winter, after the wife decided she wanted one, too. I might talk my mom into a Chuckanut 10/12 by Dave Gentry.

I'm in Albany... if I remember correctly, I found a yard that carried both MDO and marine plywood, in addition to western red cedar. They're in Manchester, CT... can't remember their name, but they were listed on Woodfinder.net.

- Noel

: Great idea! Welcome to the forum. Spend as much time as you can
: reading the archives and you'll find many tips which will
: accelerate your project.

: General rule-of-thumb numbers:
: Cedar strip construction: 300 hours
: Stitch & glue ; plywood construction: 100 to 150 hours
: Skin-covered, wood frame construction: 25 to 100 hours.

: These are WORK hours. 2 to 4 hours a day is typical. Then you knock
: off to let glue dry, or to let epoxy or varnish harden
: overnight.

: You can ALWAYS find ways to spend more time. But, you can
: frequently find ways to shave some time from these numbers.

: The most common way is to trade time for money. Typically that
: would be buying a precut kit. You pay for the convenience, but
: you don't have to shop for materials and the major pieces are
: already cut to the proper size.

: There are other time savers which are suitable for the different
: kayak construction methods. Some are pretty good tradeoffs.

: For example, with a skin-on-frame kayak you can cover the frame
: with a piece of heavy fabric and the make that fabric waterproof
: by covering it with several coats of paint, varnish, or some
: similar sealant. Or, you can cover the frame with a fabric which
: is already waterproof. In the second case you don't need to pay
: for paint and you don't have to spend time applying the paint.
: And you can paddle sooner as there is no need to wait for the
: paint to dry.

: Pretty easy. You'll need a few tools and a place to work.

: :A friend suggested a kit, bit

: What's your budget? We'll try to help you meet it.

: Clark-Craft near Buffalo NY
: www.clarkcraft.com has plans and materials. Newfound woodworks.
: Google 'em for their hours, location, etc. A lot of stuff can be
: obtained by mail order through websites. If you buy plans the
: designer will usually have a list of suppliers for the
: materials.

: Hit amazon.com and search for books on building kayaks. George
: Putz's Canvas Covered Boats is one; so are a couple of books by
: a guy from Connecticut named Nick Schade. Collect the titles and
: ISBN info and take the list to your local library. They probably
: won't have these books in their collection, but ask them to
: check for them through (magic words here): interlibrary loan.

: Good luck with your project.

: PGJ