I would echo Russ's response--and make a first appearance (will my name show 1 post now? great!). I have been lurking here for well over a month, as I finished my first boat project (a pirogue) and immediately had a hankering to start "the next one". I spent quite a while looking through all the designs at Duckworks, but somehow stumbled accross the Weekender. So my late nights have been filled with finding everyone's sites, reading the good, the bad, the ugly (I'm sorry, not ugly--"charming" is how some other forums politely refer to the lovable main star here). Tim cracks me up with his forthrightness, and all the recent adventures in Alaska have made me yearn for "messing-about". I'm starting to lean more towards the Vacationer as my next project; my wife watched the slide show of Robbo's launch with me, but said "you'd drop me off at shore right here" when she saw the water over the gunwales! She did still comment that she'd like to go out in a boat big enough to stay on for a few days. . . .
Now all I have to do is lose quite a few pounds (my altruistic goal) or retire several thousand dollars of debt (my wife's pragmatic goal) before cutting out a keel. It may be a craft even a poor man can participate in, but not so much a poor man in debt.
Closer to topic--it would be great to have access to solid threads about various aspects of building, to check into for specific needs, but this will always be the first stop to "catch up" on everyone's adventures.
Pat Peterson