: Hi Bill.
: I have asked the same question re;- comparison of the range of
: strip built sea kayaks now available in plans or kits,for self
: build,
: but despite having seen a number of posts with pics showing
: workshops
: garages basements and even living rooms stuffed full of boats, I
: have
: failed to get any of these prolific builders, and I assume
: therefore, paddlers
: to "come out of the woodwork" and pass on their
: comparative thoughts.

: This would be especialy useful to people like myself who build in
: isolation
: are probably only ever going to see strip built boats if we build
: them ourselves.
: No luxury of meet at the beach days and try some generous guy's
: latest
: creation on this side of the pond in my S.E. corner of the UK.

: I can however understand some of the reasons for the reluctance.
: Firstly many of the designers communicate on this site and it would
: be somewhat invidious to be making public comparison/criticism
: of their designs here.

: Also the range of waters and usage makes the subject huge.
: The trouble is, that leaves isolated novice builders like myself
: prone to chose a design based on a few figures that we may not
: fully understand, or worse still, on a deck design that catches the
: eye.

: I consider myself lucky, in that my first sighting was of Nick's
: book, and
: the design turned out to be every bit as good as the picture on the
: cover.

: Regards.

: Les. C.

Hi Les,

When I retire, and assuming I actually have more free time than I do now, this might be a fun project, to paddle as many plans built kayaks as possible and be able to compare them to production boats. You guys are gonna have to wait a bit for that though, got another 3 or so years to go before I can retire.

Bill H.