Rich, I am was born skeptical! I have a simple rule, I trust no one very far. Having worked in the real estate field and being cheated one too many times I have learned that lesson well.
I can say this much, the fellow asking is one of the top people in a small magazine catering to the kayak community. He wants to build a boat and write an article on it for the magazine. Hard to beat that type of publicity.
On the surface it looks like excellent advertising but of course he might hate my kit, or the boat. Might never finish building it and never write the article.
I have thought about this for a while and bottom line is I can buy ads but I can't buy an article in a magazine. It's a gamble but it it one that I think I need to take. Just trying to be smart about it.