: I've built a few kayaks- both wood-strip and S&G (no SOF boats),
: including one Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 kit.

: A few thoughts:
: Unless you know exactly what you want/need, and can't find it in an
: established design, I'd recommend against modifying a design for
: your first build.
: There's a pretty good selection of designs (and kits) 'out there'.

: If there is any way you can paddle 'a bunch' of boats (other
: builders in the area? kayak get-togethers, renting commercial
: boats, etc), it would help your selection process a lot. There
: are a lot of Pygmy boats out there, so you might find some in
: your area to try. (or take a west coast holiday to Port
: Townsend... ;-) )

: Kits: If you were building a S&G boat with marine-grade plywood,
: you'd probably find that the cost would be a good fraction of
: the price of a kit. And you would save a lot of work. Using kit
: panels is much less trouble than laying out and cutting them
: (accurately) yourself.

: I can sit on the floor with my legs straight, but it's a 'whole
: 'nother thing' paddling like that for a few hours, for me.

: What's your budget?
: How much time do you want to spend on the build?
: Have you decided to build a frame-type (SOF) boat, or are you also
: considering strippers and S&G boats?

: Duane Strosaker's Point Bennett is a nice looking kayak which
: should have pretty solid secondary stability. It would be at the
: top of my list if I were building another S&G boat.

: http://www.rollordrown.com/kayak/index.html

Thank you for the tips! If I were to modify a design it would be only the front deck, so hopefully that would not mess with the actual behaviour on water. Actually doing some research on T. Yost's Sea Ranger brings up a number of people who have had the same concern:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yost-Skin-On-Frame-Boats/message/302
http://home.comcast.net/~buyerj/site/?/page/Sea_Ranger_LC_High_Deck/
http://blackdogkayaks.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1241879861

So perhaps that is a viable option for me.

If I were to build a S&G I would definitely look at a kit, but I don't know of anyone who has one of these in my area.

Normand