That is a fine looking boat, Ross! John...I built the Wee Lassie as my first canoe project (though Ross could have built three in the time it took me to finish mine!). It was easy with Mac's book. There are no really drastic curves....no cheater strips were needed. I'd also read Canoecraft and Nick's kayak building book. Mac has a very relaxed approach to things, which fits my way of thinking just fine. Even his book mixes the technical with some interesting side trips. He seems to have a very common sense approach to building, which fits the intent of the design well. You can get patterns from him for the Wee Two or the Wee Lassie for $20.00, so you don't have to make them from the measurements in the book. The boat paddles well, and is very stable. I may even do a bit of fishing out of it this spring. The hardest thing about this whole project was having to put all those blasted ID stickers on it. I need to put a few more coats of varnish on, but I'm not quite sure what to do since my "current" stickers don't expire 'til June and one of them is a permanent "Hull ID #" that cannot be removed. Then there are those gigantic 3" letters on both sides of the bow.........what a joke....for a CANOE! I've though of just varnishing over the permanent markings, but I fear that the varnish would not adhere well or it would crack and look very bad. Anybody got any ideas........other than moving to another state. garland

> Ross,
> Gorgeous work! Hope I can progress to that level of craftsmanship some
> day.

> Two questions:

> 1) Would you recommend a WLII for a first-time strip-built project? (If
> it's taken you 170 hrs. so far, god knows how long it would take me)! I'm
> not much more than a beginner woodworker.

> 2) What did you use for fillet material? (The fillets in my S&G were made
> with maple flour and they are very dark and ugly as sin! Fortunately the
> deck, etc. will hide them).

> Thanks, John