Peter, Thanks very much for your observations. I, too, am a novice kayaker and paddle mostly flat water in the marshes, creeks and estuaries of NE Florida. My wife built her CH16 from a kit and I made mine from her plans. (Yes, I paid the license fee!) Also built a West River 180 from the plans published in Sea Kayaker. We love all three. CLC's kits are top notch! It sounds like you built a Cormorant 16LT and since I do not plan to carry any great amount of gear, I'll have to give that a lot of thought. Less windage and less weight would be very nice. I am planning to S&G the hull and strip the deck. Hope to start soon, but I currently have several projects going around the house.
Dave