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I had decided to upgrade my flat water touring kayak. I own a solo canoe and a 14 foot touring kayak. The empty canoe was a sail in any kind of wind, and the 14 footer just didn't carry enough speed to suit me while touring with my friends. While in Port Townsend I paddled the Osprey and I liked it quite a bit. The idea of building my own boat was appealing also. So I got a kit and took it home to build.

The manual that comes with the kit is excellent, there are a lot of online videos and Pygmy support is just top notch. It took me about 2 months to finish my kayak, it was about 80 hours of build time, but you have to wait for "the epoxy to cure".

The finished product is light in weight, sturdy of build, and pleasing to the eye. It paddles easily and is fast, it tracks true (guess I did something right), and it doesn't leak. It allows my size 12+ feet. The kit was complete and there was enough epoxy and glass - but not too much. You want to understand what you are doing when you do a step and I used small batches of epoxy even on the larger steps. Working with epoxy is not hard, but you need to pay attention.

The kayak is a solid performer on the water. I never have to be the first boat in the line, but it is great to paddle along and not have any trouble staying with any paddler in the group. The waterline on my Osprey is the equal to most kayaks in the 17 ft range, yet it rests neatly on my boat wall at under 16 ft. Pygmy makes a lot of models that will suit most needs. If you want a strong tracking flat water kayak, check out the Osprey Std.