: Hi. I just bought my first kayak kit. I got a Shearwater Sport
: Hybrid. Unfortunately when it arrived, it only had 2 shades of
: cedar. The listing said 3: a light, medium and dark. I received
: light & medium. I called them thinking it was a mistake and
: they would just send me some dark cedar. They said that's all
: they had and couldn't get any dark cedar. I had my hard set on a
: deck design that would require 3 different shade.
: Does anyone know where I can get some dark cedar so I can build the
: kayak of my dreams? Thanks for any help.

It might be worth wetting a few test pieces. A lot of the colour variation is lost once it is wet. On my first, a Guillemot, there are strips from three quite different planks. (I more or less planned for two, but ran low on supply and found some even lighter stuff to use for the foredeck.) The hull and outer deck was a chocolate brown, inner deck was a tan brown. Very different dry colours, but quite similar when epoxied. The light stuff on the foredeck was almost white. Within each plank, there was significant variation - the chocolate brown plank had a beautiful almost pink seam running through it. It would have looked stunning if I had mirrored the strips.

But for my first I wanted to get the boat built, and wanted the flexibility to be able to put aside a strip I had made a mistake with. For a second boat I'd like to have a go at more careful strip placement. But I guess what I am saying is, for a first build, consider relaxing the desire to exactly meet the dream - make room for the dream kayak to evolve.

Regards, Ian