Re: Plans vs. kit

Posted by John Beck on Sep 12, 2006

I agree that building from plans is worth doing (especially if you have to do the lofting) and should be done for experience and satisfaction of doing it; not necessarily just to save money (assuming you actually do do save money; I'm not convinced). Having built a Arch Davis' Penobscot 14 and a 16 foot lapstrake plywood runabout from plans (with 2 chesapeake 16 kits squeezed in between, I can say the experience of doing the whole thing is very rewarding, but I'm not compelled to build from scratch again. When you buy a kit you buy only the wood you need. If you build from plans you have lots of left over ply that you've paid for (handy to have later, but costly now). Alot of the savings for me comes in the form of convenience of the "kit." Now, if they could sell varnish in the shape of a kayak, then that would be worth the price right there!

Randy, I'm assuming when you say you wood working experience I take that to mean that you like doing it and would enjoy the project (I've experience digging ditches, but ...). If so, then do it for the experience. If you'd be doing it begrudgingly then get the kit and make it as painless as possible.

John

In Response to: Re: Plans vs. kit by Mac on Sep 11, 2006

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