Pete -- I currently building a Merganser 17W, but am a beginning kayaker and have very limited paddling experience, so can not give you performance information. I chose the Merganser after about a year of reading the catalogs and this bulletin board. Out of all the kayaks I've seen, I really like the lines of the Merganser best. Also, I don't care for the way CLC & Pygmy 'snip' at each other, and not too fond of the CLC curved decks. I'm building from plans, and while my panels were not perfect (as you can get from the kits), it's going together nicely. If I'd gone with a kit, it would have been the Pygmy Arctic Tern (closest lines to the Merganser). Good luck -- Greg