I need stuff to do during the winter.
When I make plans, I have a tendency to be modest, either from an inherent lack of confidence, or a desire for a high probability of success. So, I built my Shearwater, having bought the construction manual & studied it, months in advance. After using it for a season, I began to want to build my "Ultimate Kayak". I test-paddled a Night Heron Hybrid at the CLC demo, and thought that my SW was actually faster, so I decided on a Shearwater 17 Hybrid.
Plan A- Sell my present boat, hopefully for enough $$ to buy the next kit, and build the Hybrid this winter. Build a smaller "toy" boat next winter, for fun.
"Plan A" flunked when I tried to sell the kayak. No bites on Craigslist or CLC's website. Lots of watchers and views on EBay, but no serious bidding. I considered keeping the 1st boat, building the Hybrid anyway, and attempting to sell the old one next spring, but I don't know that it will sell any better then, either. Then I'd be stuck with two 17' kayaks in my tiny basement.
Plan B- Retrofit my present 'yak with a cedar-stripped deck.
Hmm. It seems that it can be done, but with difficulty, and with the very real possibility of making a hash of the whole thing. The idea set my mind going with problems, solutions, tools to buy, techniques to learn, etc. I have gone though this before, like when I was considering buying the house next door-I run all the problems through my mind, collecting solutions. In the end, I left that house alone, having judged that it wasn't worth the effort. Now this time, I was more equal to the challenge, except for one thing-I just went downstairs to look at what I have to do, and I decided that I probably couldn't make myself take a jigsaw to that beautiful deck for any reason. I had just sanded and re-varnished the deck, preparatory to sale, and it looks pretty darned nice.
So:
Plan C- wait until January, then build my "toy kayak" this winter. I won't wreck anything, and it'll keep me busy.
