Hey Jeff,

I know that I'm way late to this thread but I see this discussion all the time (usually from the perspective of experience builders bashing newbies for not spending the money) and since I'm new and seek exclusively free plans I think I have valuable input. Here's my theory:

It's Tom Yost's fault.

The guy put together some sweet plans with some excellent pictorial instructions (though his webdev skills may be lacking, or staled in 1997) and offers them up completely for free. He personally answers questions and revises and adds to the plans. He has instructions for multiple build methods and multiple techniques.

When I looked into this hobby his stuff was front and center. Lots of people have built his boats and have asked questions, received answers and shown off excellent kayaks with glowing reviews. Being free has skyrocketed him to the top of Google due to popularity.

As for the well-worn argument "How do you know those free plans are any good!?"... well, for one, I'm capable of typing the name of the design into Google and discovering dozens of builds with glowing reviews or no builds - which is an easy litmus test. Besides, how the heck would I know if paid plans are any good? Because they're not free there's fewer people building them and so fewer people reviewing them. Any hack can load up HULLS and slap together a good looking boat in a few evenings then pop up a website with a $30-$150 sticker on it.

As for the well-worn argument "If the price of plans is too much for you maybe you shouldn't be building a kayak!"... well, with plans ranging up to and above $100 that's potentially a 50% increase in the price of the boat with (as mentioned above) no guarantee of any better quality. (By shopping well and not including the cost of unused material, my Sea Bee was about $200)

Now that I'm looking for canoe plans I'm in a bit of a state of shock at the lack of detailed free build plans and instruction compared to what is found on Tom's site.

So if I see Tom, I'll blame him for all the troubles of plans-retailers and buy him a pint to say thanks.

You've got a pint on debt, too for your videos and the time you spend on here helping people. I wish there were some good way for you to make money with your plans and videos being free.