Eric,

Just saw your inquiry about Kayak Kits and thought I'd throw in my two cents worth. I live in the Pacific Northwest and have paddled most of all the kits produced by Pigmy and found them to be a very good choice to build. They are very attractive boats and draw many questions about their performance. Pygmy offers many different models for all different sizes of people and for many different usses. If you can, get a copy of "Paddle to Seattle" and watch this film. You can buy a copy from Pygmy for about $20. I loaned my copy out and can't remember who I lent it to so maybe it will just show up again someday. The stitch and glue method is rather straight forward in it's building process and you will have a wonderful kayak within 100 hours. Many who I have talked with have raved about the performance of their Pygmy kayaks on long trips and short one day exursions. John Lockwood is a master and has given all his boats the test of excurisions which you can read about on their website (pygmyboats.com).

As for the strip kayaks, I have been researching this option for many years and have found Redfish Kayaks (redfishkayaks.com)to have the simplest system of all. First of all Joe Greenly has made it so easy that I don't know why others in the market of their strip kayaks haven't followed his lead. I have attended several of his dimonstrations of how to get set up to build his kayaks and have taken part in some of these demonstrations. To start with, many give up in the lofting or cutting out process of the station molds. Joe makes this very simple in that the cut out (wood) station molds, the risers, and the strongback are all part of the kit. The setup of the molds on the strongback takes about 30-60 minutes and you're ready to start stripping. This system is far superior to using the 2x4 method of a strongback, as Joe also used a very easy system to "true-up" all the station molds. How do you find a 2x4 that will retain its shape? Joe's strongback is the shipping carton that the strips arrive in and you just follow the instructions to attach the riser cleats to the strongback-shipping box. I have paddled three of Joe's designs and found them to be very stable and fast. Give them a look and then give me a reply as to what you think. Joe also has a seat that is in high demand and is so comfortable that you don't get the usual leg cramps associated with a long day in the kayak. Again, my email is b_keith@live.com. The _ is an underscore not a dash. Looking forward to your reply, Bud