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Quent- I've built several skin on frame kayaks. They cost $200 or less to build and can be very light weight 25- 35 lbs. My first was from Bob Boucher's video " Building a West Greenland Kayak " it is quite well done. He uses 15oz canvas for the skin which works well. You can also use various synthetic fabrics as a skin which are available from George Dyson. A canvas skin will need to replaced after several years especially if stored outside. Cost wise a synthetic skin is cheaper than canvas and weighs less too, you need a soldering iron with a cutting tip when working with synthetic fabric. Lots of people use 8 oz nylon ($2.00 lin.ft.)which is fairly light but quite tough, polyester is good too. The enemy of skin boats is abrasion so if you drag the boat over rocks regularly go with a heavier weight fabric and/or screw a rub strip the full length of the keelson and to the first chines either side of it for the middle 8' or so.
Putz's book details a building method for wooden boats which is fine but adds to the cost for the plywood molds. Also he uses twice as much fabric compared to a kayak built in the more traditional manner. The end result is very nice as I have seen a kayak built from his book.
The traditional method is simpler as Wolfgang Brinck's book "The Aleutian Kayak" shows. Also Eugene Arima's "Inuit Kayaks in Canada is a gem.
There are a variety of native designs to choose from as found in "The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America" by Adney and Chappelle. It is nice to have a stable kayak and a narrow sporty one, since they are so inexpensive to build why not have both?
For inspiration visit http://home.pacifier.com/~qayaq/
http://home.att.net/~jimcoburn/
http://home.adelphia.net/~kwinter/native.html
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
