Just finished my first ever kayak. Its a 14.5' Aleut, based on a design on Wolfgang Brinck's page. Used an 8oz nylon for the skin, spruce and fir for the frame, and willow for the ribs. The whole boat came in just a hair over 35 pounds.
I don't have a lot of experience (read: none at all) in paddling skin boats, so my performance benchmarks are non-existent, but it seems to go pretty fast, can be spun within its own length, stable on centre yet I can lean it right over so the cockpit is almost in the water. All in all I am pretty happy with her.
I put up a blog with construction photos and a bunch of information that I had to learn the hard way (not so much from the info not being available, but mostly because I tried to get clever). I have to say that the best advice I received through the whole process was to just build the thing, and worry about making the next boat perfect.