I have switched from the oil base poly and paints to all water based products by Rustoleum. The water based paint is great, levels out well, dries fast and hard. Same with the clear finishes as well, and best of all, no fumes. This is a 72″canoe with a dark stain on the inside and the narrow light deck.

Ron Nolan from Wagener , SC is moving right along on his 72″ canoe from a kit. Looks great so far. More photos to come!

Another beauty from Greg in Murphy NC. He used the templates out of the plans book to build his own style canoe, looks great!

Diana of Palmer, Alaska ordered a 72″ Paulownia stripped chandelier. She said she would like to see more of the ribbing. So I cut the light deck down to 7″ wide. Very pleased with this suggestion, so much so that it might be the new norm.

I asked Peter if had he any suggestions to improve on the kit. He said, “the only recommendation is to remember to have fun and don’t stress yourself out over little mistakes. Once I relaxed it was much easier”. I have often said that to builders. it is better to complete the model and learn how to make it better next time. Thanks Pete for great photo!

Another 96″. This one is going to lake house in Trinidad, TX as a wall decoration. Always a lot of fun to build.

Paul Schmid recently built the Skin on frame kayak kit. He said he had a lot of fun doing it. It came out nice. He lashed the frame together with floss and used an amber colored varnish for the coating. He had earlier built the 42″ strip kayak and sent in a nice picture of that. This is just like building the real thing.

There was a little more space on the light deck to add two more LED flat panels. I did this one for a customer and will continue to offer it. Looks great and offers a lot of light in 3 shades of white, and best of all, can be dimmed to a light glow. At full output, I measured a useage of 49 watts! That is a lot of light for very little energy. My new kayak lights are built better than ever. Sold as a kit also.

This particular custom color, Fiji Blue, was very colorful. I have been using Behr latex paints from HM Depot and putting in an additive called Flotrol. This allows me to apply with a foam brush and get excellent results. I have also sprayed the product as well. This was one of the fiberglass 72 hulls.