Thank you for the generous offer! I've settled on the hybrid version of the night heron, but perhaps we'll see each other on the water. I thought about attending a class, but it doesn't really work with my schedule.

~Mike

: Mike;

: I live in northeastern Mass, (Haverhill) and would be happy to let you paddle
: my Night Heron (strip-built) if you'd like. Nothing like a test-paddle to
: decide if you like what you are about to spend a LOT of hours building.

: My Night Heron was my first kayak build. I'm reaonably handy with
: woodworking, but no craftsman. I built without staples, so that adds time.
: I did quite a bit of "fancy" woodworking that added quite a bit
: of time, I was a real perfectionist with just about everything, which
: means I was not exactly fast at building. All that said, I guestimate I
: spent a total of about 400 to 450 hours from start (cutting the paper
: forms and pasting them to plywood) to finish, including cutting and
: putting cove & bead on my own strips. Cutting out all the fancy stuff
: might bring the time down to about 300 hours. Tough enough to squeeze into
: 4 weeks, and as others have said, you can't always work straight through.
: You have to wait for things like glue and epoxy to dry, etc.

: The hybrid or even straight stitch & glue version of the Night Heron is a
: great option. Handles very much like the strip version.

: Have you considered attending Nick's boat building class in Maine? Can't
: recall the time frame. Might not be June. But he walks you through
: building a S&G Night Heron in a week. Check out his website.

: Anyway, feel free to contact me if you'd like to try out a Night Heron.
: Althoug I built mine with the "low" foredeck, I think you'll
: find it is plenty roomy for you.

: And good luck, whatever you do.

: Roger Turgeon
: Orr's Island, ME
: (& Bradford, MA)