Rob,
Congratulations on getting your kit from Redfish. My first strip boat was also a Spring Run kit and building it was one of the most satisfying projects I've ever undertaken. Joe Greenley's kits are excellent and he provides very good instructions as well. If you ever have questions, just put 'em out here on the forum and we'll help you out.

I used the shipping crate for the strips for my strongback as Joe recommends and it has worked out well. I'm on my 3rd boat using this strongback. One recommendation, however is to cut some blocking out of 2x4's for inside the box beam. I found that it had a tendancy to twist just slightly so I glued and nailed an internal block about every 2' before closing up the box. Made it absolutely twist free. Also added casters to the legs I attached so I could easily move it around my garage/shop. I kept a log and the build took me about 230 hours. I'm on my 3rd strip boat now (also a Spring Run) and it is taking a bit less time since I have some experience and don't sweat the small things any more.

The Spring Run is a great all round boat with excellent primary and secondary stability. It tracks well and also responds well to leaned turns. I liked my first one so well that I decided to build a second one from the forms that came with the kit (and I did pay Joe the royalty to build another boat) . This second Spring Run will be used for lakes and smooth wide rivers and I am building it with a large recreation sized cockpit (39 1/2" long) so it will feel open (go ahead and gasp!). One other note... The hatch's will hold a lot of gear and I've used my first Spring Run for camping numerous times and plan on using the second one for a week long camping trip next June on the Altamaha River in south Georgia.

Attached is a pic of the first Spring Run on it's maiden voyage in the Florida Keys....

Good Luck with your build.

Bob Beaullieu