>Hi Guys, what a great project to do together. Enjoy.

I built a Pygmy Coho and loved it. The color (until you finish it with a UV filter does continue to darken. Mine is now a deep carmel color that I really like. I decided to do no stain after reading about it in the FAQ section of the Pygmy website. As you join the deck to the hull at the shear seam you will need to round the shear seam to get the fiberglass tape to lie flat. (I found this to be VERY true) This sanding will remove some stain. You can cover this with some detail tape, but I did not want a stripe on my boat. Here is the section right out of the Pygmy site:

When joining the hull and the deck, you will tape the seams, glue, and then sand that join round. Fiberglass tape drapes much better over a rounded seam than a sharply angled shear. This sanding will remove the stain from the shear seam. In order to hide the color variation of stained and exposed unstained wood, you will need to paint a stripe over the shear seam, or place 1/2" auto detailing tape over that seam after your kayak is completed. If you don't want to work with this reality, then staining is not a good choice for you. It is easy to hide the seam, and stained boats can look great.

Good luck and have fun.

Mike

Well, our livingroom has been transformed. An Osprey Standard kit is
> unpacked under the coffee table to dry (as I mentioned earlier), and a
> Coho kit is leaned up in the hallway. The rest of the space is taken up by
> an 18 foot long table which, when tarps are purchased, layed, and the
> table is assembled, will displace our dining table.

> In the coming months, Louise and I will be assembling the Osprey and Coho
> motivated by having to crawl under that table to get to our front door.
> :-) And, of course, by the already overwhelming desire to see the finished
> products and get them out on the water! I'm sure that y'all will be
> hearing from us as we make progress, reach decision points, and experience
> difficulties. We're planning on taking lots of pictures and putting them
> up on a web page.

> This weekend, initial setup, tool and supply purchasing, and making stain
> samples. We're thinking of staining the wood to get a redder, more cedar
> like color; any suggestions for stains to lookfor/avoid?

> Thanks to all of you for creating such an active and creative community!

> Till Later,

> Tim Stough and Louise Hamlin in Los Angeles.