Sue Goddard wrote in :

My son wants a touring/fla****er kayak and can't afford to buy one. I
have a woodworking shop and offered to help him build one over the
winter, but his budget is only around $300. Chesapeake Light Craft's
kits are +/- $600 for stitch 'n glue. I was hoping a strip boat would
be cheaper, but I bought two books with instructions, and they claim
costs of $500 - $1000.

My strip boat ended up costing me $750 to build and I milled all my own
strips. If I had bought pre-milled strips it would have been much closer to
$1000, if not more.

CLC also sells plans for most of their models. You can search around for
marine grade mahogany but I doubt that you'll be able to build one for under
$300. You could cut corners and use a lesser quality plywood but it's
generally not recommended. In any case, there's not a look of woodworking
in building a stitch-n-glue boat if you build from a kit. It's more like
putting together a large model.


Does anyone have thoughts on minimum costs to build a kayak, and whether
a strip boat or a stitch 'n glue would be cheaper?

If you just want a boat to paddle you can cut corners by buying inexpensive
wood (assuming that it's available in your area). I talked with someone
awhile back that used a cheap wood, but he painted the whole boat. He
claimed he was able to build it for under $300. I spent almost $200 on
fiberglass cloth, epoxy resin, varnish, and various outfitting pieces.

Your best bet might be to look at building a skin-on-frame boat. There are
lots of free plans available (check issues of Sea Kayaker mag.) or there are
several books (Chris Cunninghams is a good one) on the subject. The
woodworking shop will come in handy for building the frame.

What's he go to do for a paddle, PDF, and sprayskirt. $300 for just those
items is not really exhorbiant.