i recently finished a Night Heron high deck from a kit from CLC (see picture)

i think there are several great kit sellers and, in my view, the kit allows you to focus on the essence of building while eliminating a lot of the hassles where you can't bring a lot of value (e.g.., there are only mistakes you can make). i think it's also pretty economical because they can order and get bulk pricing and send you only the amount you need at better prices than you often could get yourself. there is not a lot of price difference in the kit providers in my experience either.

for strip builts, the kit is much more pulling the parts together for you (so you don't have to do a lot of shopping at different places) and taking care of things like cutting out forms where the best you can do is simply get the form right.

so there is still a lot of high quality interesting work and learning to have with a kit (all the stipping, sanding, glassing, finishing, rigging etc).

i have not had personal experience with redfish kits. that said, the CLC kit i built above did not use all the CLC kit components. for example, on this boat, i installed a redfish seat and i did my rigging using redfish techniques. i wanted the night heron design and usually the designers team up with a kit assembler (so Guillemot for example, teams up with CLC) so the designer kind of determines where you would get the kit. that said, i would have no reservations using redfish if i wanted their design. they have been incredibly helpful and professioanl when i have ordered items from them.

the suggeston to read the books is also one i would second. the clc kit, for example, has no instructions (except for the strong-back)...it just refers you to the book.

i also agree that i would not worry about 3/16th vs 1/4 inch. 1/4 inch provides a bit more margin for error. the counterpoint as mentioned above....is it is harder to bend a 1/4 inch strip. my boat came in at 41 lbs even with 1/4 inch strips and all its rigging plus a retractable skeg kit....so these boats are going to be way lighter than any commercial boat. 3/16th allows you to get into the mid 30 lbs in weight. so you could save a couple lbs in weight but i think, based on my experience, i would give that a try as my second strip build. even with a lot of experience....there was a lot of learning to do.

howard