you seem a great guy, take this as meant

My friend was looking at USED kayaks in MICHIGAN.

If he wanted/could afford a new boat, we have MANY fine dealers & paddleshops out here carrying over a dozen or more fine lines in seakayaks alone - American, British, Canadian, Finnish and even Estonian (Tahe).

As to American kayaks - I have two, plus a Brit boat bought used from an American in S.F... so in that respect 2/3rd of me is, I guess, a redmeat patriot. Course my Brit boat was bought used, for $1200, from an American in S.F. with a dayboat design that was very close to a decade ahead of VCP, NDK & P&H...but I told my friend to get the boat that best suited his body, his uses, & his wallet...not to worry about its passport.

Gee, in this economy there are even sales and discounts where you can SEE the boat, TRY it out, and TAKE it home...

As it turns out-

my friend got an excellent well cared for used 2004 17' Valley Skerray RMX (that's the rotomould version) for a very affordable price - under $700. Valley's plastic stands among the best of the best (Prijon, P&H)

If that had fallen thru there were a couple very nice rotomoulded Chatham 16 and Perception Essences 17 for slightly more.

w. that kind of reference point & budget my friend wasn't gonna go for a NEW boat, not a plastic one, much less a new glass boat... Jaysus man....what did your suggestion have to do w. anything...do you get referral $$ LMAO