I started my daughters Sea Pup last year but didnt get to finish it till this summer. She finally stitched on the canvas and got it painted with the color of her choice. Meanwhile, I started another kayak, promising it to a friend of mine in Japan. He came to visit for a week... never before had been in a kayak and came to america for a great adventure. I ran out of time before he came, so he actually got to be in on the last of the building process, mainly skinning and sealing it. It was a rush to finish up the kayaks since he was only here for 5 days. But the final result was great. And we had a blast.

I am thrilled with the performance of these two kayaks.
The Sea pup, intended for my 11 year old daughter who weighs 70lbs... its perfect for her!!!! She loves it and is also super fast. We paddled about 9 miles on a big lake... hit some small white caps and she had no problems handling the kayak at anytime! It was Mom who found it hard to keep up with her!

The Sea Bee.. . since I was putting a beginner paddler in this kayak, I was a bit concerned, but this kayak came through for me! It's stability was superb!
Since it is such a wider boat intended for a larger paddler, I thought it would be a bit slower and harder to keep up with us... but it really performed excellent!
My friend had no problems keeping up ... I found myself staring as he paddled it through the water... it was a beautiful thing.

The Sea Bee was my first multichine kayak I had built. I am sold... I love it! Im looking forward to building another.

They are both built with Red Cedar and 1/2" plywood crossections. I skinned them with that cheap duct canvas purchased at the local fabric stores.
The Sea Pup was sewn on ... and the Sea Bee was stapled down due to how wide it is... I skinned the bottom first.. then skinned the top separately.
Both came out nice. I am pleased. This makes 3 SOF kayaks from Tom Yost's designs I have built. Each with the cotton duct canvas. The first one, built in 2007 is still holding up nicely and is tuff as it was the first day made. I sealed them all with latex exterior paint.

The Sea Pup - finished weight 22lbs.
The Sea Bee - finished weight 26-28lbs.

Price... in materials.... average... between $150-200 for my local area.

Here is a link to some of my pics during and after the building process.
http://sports.webshots.com/album/578275139AOyaRT?vhost=sports

All in all... I had a blast building these two kayaks this year.... I promised a friend I would build one for him so I cant start on a strip kayak yet.. but I just know, its coming.
My favorite part of building the Sea Bee was the foot rest options. I spent a whopping 5 hours coming up with a final decision on what I would use. I am please with the results.
The foot rests are adjustable and removable and homemade! :D I will definitely make them again in the future, they worked great. (pics available in my album).

I made a bunch of videos of the building process.. one of these days, I'll get around to posting them online.

A big thank you to everyone that gave me advice and all those wonderful archives that got me through some tough times. Ha ha.
I'll be sticking around!

Big Smiles, ~Heather