Boat Building Forum

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Competition between S&G mfgrs driving improvem
By:Brian J.
Date: 1/7/1999, 10:53 am

It seems as though competition has been getting more intense between companies selling stitch & glue kayak kits. Until a year or so ago it seemed that Pygmy specialized in soft chine (multi-chine) designs and CLC specialized in hard chine boats. Now CLC has several West River multi chine designs and Pygmy added a new hard chine design, the Arctic Tern. Maybe the competition will continue to drive innovation & improvement. I'm currently building a Pygmy Coho as my first boatbuilding project. I wasn't previously a woodworking or boatbuilding hobbyist, and I had reservations about my ability to build a nice boat. If it weren't for stitch & glue kits, I would have assumed that building a boat was way beyond my ability. I'm extemely happy with the success I've had so far. I found the kit to be well designed and easy for a beginner to understand. Although I don't have any direct experience with them, most newsgroup posts from CLC builders seem very favorable also. When I first took up photography a long time ago, I had some good results early on. After gaining more experience and skill I'm not as satified with those early shots as I was back then. Mistakes and oversights are easier for me to recognize now. I expect I'll find the same to be true with boatbuilding!