It's easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of cutting strips and setting up molds, but the more time you can spend with expert paddlers who are willing to be candid about 'good and bad features' of different boats (remember, people don't want to insult their friends' boats), and the more 'seat time' you can get in different boats (hopefully in non-calm conditions), the better your chances of having a great-paddling boat at the end of your build.

I'd add that it isn't even necessarily a matter of "good versus bad" but simply "better for this purpose rather than that one."

I'm finding the search for the right boat plans to be pretty challenging, because as you point out the information provided varies considerably. I appreciate when designers provide detailed specifications, but it's hard for me to evaluate them. I do appreciate how Nick for example gives usage guidelines for each boat - e.g., "good for large paddlers," that's very helpful.

Thinking further on that, though, I haven't yet found a resource that flips that around - if you're intending to do this type of padding, then these are the parameters you should be looking for. If you're of a certain size, then these are the parameters to evaluate, etc. The info seems to be out there but not organized that way - if I get the time maybe I'll take a stab at compiling that and running it past the group for feedback.