Dear John, First kayak was a Chesapeak "Yare". Great kit although it was quite a while before I felt stable it that hull (round bottom, no initial stability ). His book "The Kayak Workshop" is a great guide no matter whose kit or plans you buy. My only issue with most of his designs is that they have a lot of volume and I like a small volume boat. You can easily take one of his hull designs and modify it. Many of his deck designs are coned fore and aft. That is that it is nearly a strait line from bow to stern. This means that if you want volume in you bow for getting through waves then you carry that volume back to the center of the boat. If, however you apply the deck flat at the bow, you can then pull up a cone shape around the cockpit. Butchers wax is available at the hardware store. It is the wax you would use on a butchers table. It makes a nice paddle finish but there is no additional hardness in it, it just seals the wood. Peter Gengler *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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