Hi GC,

 I can't offer info on the Meranti but I have a 12' WD and weigh 226. Usually with gear and water I'm probably close to 250 lb when paddling and the boat does very well. Actually draws less than the 10' WD my girlfriend paddles with less than the recommended load.

 Recently we were involved in a river cleanup and I believe I had close to 80 lbs of junk in the boat with me at one point and the boat performed well. A little tippy but I think because I had a lot piled on top of it and changed the center of gravity considerably. I'll post a pic of the boat with that load.

 The only drawback with the light load in the 12'er would be wind, maybe take the pup on windy days? Hope this helps.

 I guess I'm too tired for the pic thing, here's a link to a slideshow of that day. You can see the pic of me in the loaded duck early in the show (I'm holding up my paddle) later there's a good side shot of me in the empty boat if you want to compare the draft.  Link

Meranti's slightly heavier and stiffer but cheaper and more rot resistant. The bends on the 14 are less extreme than the bends on the 12, so that's in your favor. I built one of the earlier WD12's (first customer Duck to make it to Okoumefest) and had an early version of the manual which did not include the suggestion to use a wet towel to ease the bending process. My thought is that if it was possible to build it from okoume without any special tricks, then it should be possible from meranti with the tricks.

With the dog the 14 will probably be better, without the dog the 12. A good compromise might be to have the 12 and a towed float for the dog.

Have fun.

Laszlo

http://www.morocz.com/BoatBuilding/DuckBuild.htm

thanks Guys,

Great feedback. I've contacted John at CLC about the ply thing, and he cautioned against it. I've put some okoume on order with my supplier.  I will use the Meranti for the deck, as there is a piece that has some lovely figure to it. I'm also looking at returning my 14' plans for the 12'