Hello,

I'm new to kayaking. I've spent some time on sit on tops, and some time in a very few sit in kayaks. The first kayak I sat in that made much sense to me was Nick Schade's Night Heron. I really like skinny boats. I'm not sure why. I'm told they're unstable. I was actually hesitant to get in one at first, thinking I'd immediately flip it or some other such nonsense, but when I was in it, it felt far more natural than wider, more "stable" boats did, as if it was part of my body, like a good sport bike, and it just moved and did exactly what I wanted it to do. I could drive my paddle down right next to me, and get a great push off, without having to edge very much, and when I did want to edge, it moved with me easily, not resisting like the more stable kayaks did. It made sense. Of course, it's also an expensive boat to build, incredibly time consuming, and I'm honestly afraid it might be beyond my skillset.

Then I discovered Skin on Frame, and specifically, Yostwerks. These boats are beautiful, look simple enough to build, in theory (I just torched my first attempt, but I was also learning to use my new saw at the same point, and I've got enough plywood left over to start my next attempt without even buying another sheet :) )

However, I've been reading a fair bit about the virtues of short boats. As I am not a very athletic paddler, and am more than happy bumping along at 3-4 kts, if that much, I'd pondered trying to put together a boat that's both short (