Hi Garland - hope this answers your questions - since Ted is teaching in Arkansas this week I asked Steve to respond to you - please let me know if i can help further - Joan

Dear Garland, I am glad that you are enjoying the book. It was pleasure to work with Ted on the boats and the book - those that have met him will know that he is as warm, friendly and sincere as his conversational writing style implies.

A few notes on the drawings in the book: The offsets given for the station molds for all four kayaks are to the inside of the planking and are therefore the actual mold shapes. There are several options to create the shape of the stems and I am proposing one additional solution.

Many people are using the full size plans that Bear Mountain offers for each boat. They are clear and precise and provide stations, stems, cockpits and hatches full size. That is probably the safest and best solution, but you don't have to go that route - as you say, the lofting process itself is often quite rewarding.

Others have taken the images from the book and scaled them to draw the stem profile.Since the station spacing reference is exact at 12" and you already have the height figures for the bottom of the first two stations, scaling can be quite accurate. Don't forget that the lines drawings in KayakCraft show the outside finished surface of the hull, but station offsets have already been adjusted to allow for the planking thickness.

I would like to suggest, that in order to simplify this process, I will post my own offsets for the stems (taken from the full size plans) on this web site. We will have them in the FAQ section in a week and then your life will be a little simpler. If you look at photo 6-37 on page 84 of KayakCraft, you will see the stem detailing that Ted recommends. The outside laminated stem occupies 1" of space and is supported by the stem mold. The offsets I will provide will be to the forward edge of the outside stem.

I hope this has been of some help and we look forward to hearing more as your kayak project progresses.

Regards, Steve Killing