Re: clc kayaks versus pyg

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Apr 23, 2005

Scot, the respect you exhibit is admirable, the Good Lord knows this world could use more of it. But I wish you'd go ahead and and expound a bit on why you love Pygmy. After all, everyone here already knows why they love CLC boats, and CLC has never discouraged anyone from talking about non-CLC products. Further, the Pyg People do not offer (much in the way of) plans only, and provide no forum for their builders, both of which give CLC an enormous edge (such as it is in this business... I suspect John Harris hasn't quite caught up with Bill Gates just yet).

I feel perfectly comfy talking about my Squeedunk Cormorants, Pyg Osprey HP, and Guillemot, and post freely whenever I believe I have something helpful, or of interest, to contribute. The reason I'm here in the first place, in case you wonder, is because I started out with CLC boats: the infamous "Pair O' Mill Creeks", which will appear at the Texas Kayak Builders Bash, btw (shameless plug - it's next weekend, get it in gear, man!!).

Six of one and a half dozen of the other is yer answer, if we're sticking to a kit-only discussion. You can build either as a first project, and equally successfully, no question about it. There are plusses and minuses to both CLC's "cambered" deck, and Pygmy's S&G'd presentation; both have strengths, but neither have weaknesses... unless you wanna get out the ol' microscope. They're really just the same, only completely different (yes, it makes sense).

From the scuttlebutt I've always heard, the Pygmy Arctic Tern 14 is *the most popular* kit kayak ever invented; everyone who owns it just raves to no end. CLC's Chesapeake series is probably the most often built wooden kayak ever, especially the LT versions. They're classics, far as I'm concerned.

The fact that CLC offers this forum had a lot to do with my decision making process when starting out, and it keeps me coming back today. I may not be building CLC boats now, but I order stuff from 'em whenever I can, try to contribute useful knowledge and experience to this forum, and promote them by word of mouth often. They're a splendid outfit!

But when I was given a Pygmy Osprey HP project that was like 80% finished, and wrote to Pygmy explaining the deal, and asking for bulkhead patterns or offsets, the reply I received within an hour read: "I can do better than that, I have dropped a pair of precut bulkheads in the mail for you, should get there in a couple days."

Yessir, I would think it impossible to go wrong either way.

Cheers, Kurt

In Response to: Re: clc kayaks versus pyg by Scot on Apr 22, 2005

Replies:

• Re: clc kayaks versus pyg by Scot on Apr 24, 2005
  • Re: clc kayaks versus pyg by jerry on Apr 25, 2005
    • Re: clc kayaks versus pyg by Howard on Apr 25, 2005