Hi All;

In certain parts of a kayak's construction, IMHO, it is easier and "fairer" to steam and heat lock the panels (not individual strips) in place. That is, I've found that on the majority of the hull of my Georgian Bay, no bevels are necessary to achieve a fair laying of the strips. It does require that you keep an eye on what you are doing, and bevel when absolutely necessary, but the number of strips that require a bevel are very few indeed.

To visualize what this amounts to, please follow the link below and jump to the bottom of my "Hull Construction" phase. What I did was to ignore the intermediate forms until I had the strips fitted up. I then clamped, steamed, and hot-air dried the PANELS (groups of strips) to fit the forms. It was pretty easy to do, and the results look quite good. By steaming and then hot-air drying the panels lose their tendency to "spring back," but rather hold their clamped form shapes. This is definitely cool . . .

I hope this info helps someone,

Best Regards, Spidey