My first kayak build was a Guillemot for my wife. She's constructed of white pine, red oak, Douglas fir, and, of course, western red cedar. I cut the strips from locally purchased lumber on a bandsaw and milled the bead and cove on a homemade router table. For directions, I used only "The Strip Built Kayak" by Nick Schade and the "KBBB" also supplied by Nick. I lofted the forms from the table of offsets in Nicks book. This is a very good choice for a first effort. Her name is "Arcturus".