this should be fun. takes time to build either one,the ease of building is more a matter of your style in approaching a project than the particular kit. CLC boat has a shear clamp and panels need to be joined, the pygmy has a glued reinforced deck/hull seam and panels need to be joined. Shaving the shear clamp gives you more pieces of shaving on the floor (look!I'm a boat builder), the clc boat should have a piece of glass cloth under the back deck and deck stiffener ( there is enough to do that in the kit),the pygmy has a peaked coaming that is a bit of a bother (for me,no particular reason), I suspect that the pygmy turns easier and is tippier. The stock coaming is kind of big. I've built a coho,pygmy 13 and a few clc. I suspect the tern is a nice handling big boat, if you didn't need that much volume but wanted a "17ft kayak" then the CLC17LT would also be a good idea. "Quality" is more a function of how well you put the thing together, the materials are all high quality . Making the boat comfortable will be an important task regardless of the kit manufacturer. Nice to have choices,,,,,, strip builders must get a giggle out of us ply boat builders "do you think 4mm plywood from pygmy is as good as 4mm plyood from clc?" happy hunting,whatever you do get lots of latex gloves and a random orbital sander.