Fritz,

I am building an Artic Tern and am just beginning to stitch the keel. I am also a total novice and, as such, quailified to comment on the instruction manual.

First of all, the Pygmy staff are helpful on the phone and this board is great, so any clarifications you may require can be easily obtained. Although I have read glowing comments elsewhere regarding Pygmy's instruction manual, I suppose I would have to rate it as "OK" but not astonishingly wonderful.

The manual could use much better and more numerous graphics. My version of the manual had a large cut & paste error which was initially confusing. It also directed me to start drilling holes 1" from the bow end - something you really don't want to do to your deck panel since there isn't enough wood there to drill anything.

There are other areas of the manual where, once they have explained how to do something in detail once (like stitch in a temporary center frame), they don't bother to explain again.

I review tech manuals on a daily basis, they are pretty sophisticated and include lots of fancy graphics so maybe I have set the bar too high for Pygmy.

Paul