Hi all--

I hope this isn't the wrong forum to post this question, so if it is, would someone kindly direct me to a better choice? I'm obviously a newbie here.

My partner and I are preparing to build a strip built tandem sea kayak. We're seeking advice from more accomplished builders/paddlers about tandem designs. In terms of building skills, I've never attempted a boat before, but I'm a decent wood worker and small trailer builder, so I have the requisite basic skills, including good hand tool skills. We are both rank beginners at paddling, however-- I've paddled plastic whitewater kayaks in non-challenging conditions a few times, but neither of us has any ocean experience at all, at least not yet. I am 6 ft 2 in and 245 lbs, and she is about 5 ft 6 in and 160 lbs or so, both of us approaching 60 yrs old, but in good health and generally good condition.

We're looking for a boat that beginners can learn in, but which will serve us well and remain fun as our paddling skills develop. We live on the northern California coast, near the Oregon border. We hope to use the boat regularly for day trips, but we also want to be able to support multiday camping trips, so we'll need to carry some gear.

We've looked at several possible designs. I'm partial to the low volume west Greenland style boats (and will probably be building a Disko Bay single at the same time), but I don't know whether any tandem designs based on those sorts of boats are a good choice, or whether they're a good design for a big guy like me. The Night Heron double comes to mind, but I don't know anyone who has built one, so if any forum readers can point me to a review or offer one for their own boat, I'd greatly appreciate it. I generally like the somewhat harder chined Night Heron better than the softer Guillemot Double, but certainly there have been more of the latter built than the former, so if anyone has any advice about the GD I'd much appreciate it. I've also looked at the One Ocean Cape Ann Double, which seems radically different than either of the other two boats in terms of the location of the rear cockpit, which is much closer to the stern. They're so different looking that I wonder whether the different balance in the water will make one design more difficult to handle than the others.

I've also looked at Laughing Loon's tandem baidarka design, the Twinstar Double, and while I generally like the west Greenland style lines better, it looks like a well balanced boat with plenty of room to carry gear. Can anyone comment on that or similar tandem boats?

Any advice about tandem strip built sea kayak designs for folks like us in general, and about those specific boats, or others you like better, would be enormously appreciated!

Best,
--Mike C.