I launched the Siskiwit Bay 165 yesterday. It came in at 35 pounds, with float bags, Snap Dragon back band, Keepers foot braces and Happy Bottom seat. I wish I had used lighter (and more rigid) cedar, over the radiata pine.

I am happy to say that the boat design does seem to be what I have been seeking in a skin-on-frame, from the amount of freeboard and foot room, to the rocker, multi-chines, handling and efficiency... at least in calm water and little wind.

Comparisons to the WS Tempest 165 abound, since that's been my most regular ride this past year, and since there is a fair amount of similarity to the lines. The Siskiwit is an inch narrower, and is more efficient, allowing easier cruising, and maybe a half mph more sprinting speed. It's easier to paddle in a straight line than the Tempest is with its skeg retracted. It responds more readily to a light edge, and about the same to hard edge.

My only misgiving about boats of this style is that they won't coast in a straight line -- a quite useful characteristic for snapping on-the-go photos. Well, the Tempest would, if I quickly dropped the skeg before raising the camera. Then, I'd forget to take the skeg back to about 25%, and would wonder why the boat seemed to be dragging.

My issues come down to doing something with the foot braces, and need of thigh braces. The Keepers take up about an inch of width on each side that my feet really need, to be comfortable. I think I'll take them out, and work up an aluminum crossbar setup.

A lot of the pleasure I get paddling is from edging around obstacles and convoluted lake and stream shorelines. I need thigh braces. This will also come to light when paddling in wind, without a skeg. I had intended to add a keyhole shape to the plywood coaming lip overlay, but, I forgot to do it! I have already pressed knee bumps into the polyester skin, trying to get some contact for edging.

I would like to know if anyone has padded out some kind of useful thigh braces in a Yost style SOF.

Another thing I neglected to do: Where the deck shoulder stringers join the forward cockpit bulkhead... I rounded the corners there, a bit, just as a matter of good practice. But, I didn't realize how prominent those corners would be, under the taught skin, with the coaming in place. By the time I realized how sharply they were poking out, it was too late to do anything about it. Damn!

Jeff's videos on polyester skinning were very helpful. Coming from nylon, I was concerned. But, it came out well. A few things I think I learned... I skipped pinning down the keelson. With the cloth clamped along the gunwales, and lacking the stitched-pocket stretch of the nylon technique, I found it useful to pull taught down the keel line, and clamp at the stems. I didn't iron 100% of the cloth -- but now believe I should have; a few localized areas that had seemed tight enough, now seem less taught, or show slight irregularities, as from having been folded. When applying oil based paint, don't be running a ceiling fan! I was in the middle of my 5th application (3 coats x top + bottom) before I figured out that it was causing the paint at one end of the boat to more quickly tack up and become less stroke-able.

Bryan, I'll be in touch later today.
http://www.paddlinglight.com/articles/free-kayak-and-canoe-plans/siskiwit-bay-multi-chined-kayak-plans-for-plywood-building/