> your points are well taken ... but ...

> I am one of those who is building a kayak (actually two, one for my son
> and one for me) who have never kayaked before. The problem is that, unless
> you live at or very near a kayak 'hotspot' doing what you suggest is
> expensive at best and impossible at worst.

Well, I went ahead and ordered a Pygmy Coho kit yesterday, without flying from Cleveland to Port Townsend, WA to test paddle it. While I have been in a kayak before, it's always been on protected small lakes and slow moving rivers. And the 36-37" beam of my Folbot Super doesn't compare to teh 23" of the Coho. So whatever paddling skills I've picked up in the 15+ years of paddling that thing are probably going to need some work when I get in the Coho. But I'm confident I'll learn. I understand the desire and need for some people to test paddle every boat they can before making a purchase, but it just isn't realistic for many/most of us - especially if we're looking to build a kit. Lacking the means to do this, I have instead spent a great amount of time both researching and learning about different types of sea kayaks, as well as the stitch and glue construction methods. I have read "The Kayak Shop" as well as Sam Devlin's "Devlin's boatbuilding". The latter is a good book on stitch-and-glue boatbuilding. I have watched kayaking videos, read kayaking magazines, etc. etc. After all that, I'm comfortable with buying a boat "un-paddled". People spend 10's of thousands of dollars on cars they test drove for a half hour (I just did). Buying a $700 boat kit without paddling it first doesn't seem like too big a deal.

Chris

p.s. I welcome emails from other Coho owners out there, if you want to share construction or paddling advice, or just chat