The pictures people send me of boats they have built (my wife calls them my "love letters") are beautiful!

So why aim low. Shoot for the stars. If you hit the moon, that's not bad!

Hi Rob-

I spent some time on your web site, and your boats are absolutely gorgeous. I'm seriously tempted to try my hand at one of your baidarkas, but I'm thinking it might not be the best choice for my first boat - your designs on are my short list, though (topic for another thread). Your craftsmanship and attention to detail is great - beautiful fit and finish.

That said, for me the primary aesthetic appeal of your kayaks - of all boats, for that matter - comes from how elegantly the designer has managed to translate function into form, and not the "cosmetics." I see your boats as primarily functional, as objects of craftsmanship - and the decorative elements are there in service to that craftsmanship, it's not decoration for its own sake. It's "we need this element to perform a certain task, and if it's going to be there doing that task, then it should look good doing it." Right?

Given that, for me the primary aesthetic difference between your boats and a production roto-molded boat isn't that yours is wood and that one's plastic. From 20 feet away the lines are the most important thing - and I think your boats (and those of Nick and other contributors here) have beautiful lines that I haven't quite seen on production boats. Up close, the difference isn't really in the material, but rather in the craftsmanship. If someone took the time to do it right, I think a plastic version of North Star or Ootek could be stunning - different from the wood one, of course, but not inherently inferior to it.

Just my two cents...