Wow! You people know your kayak building, thanks for the great suggestions!

: You may have an opportunity that few of us can get. With one pce of wood,
: there is a possibility of making major grain matching. Just look at George
: Roberts response in the july10 post by Jeff.

: Probably way too hard for a 1st timer or unless a good woodworker, but after
: maybe making some long bds like Paul suggested, you could potentially
: grain match the whole yak right around from the hull right back again.
: Cutting the remaining blank in half, you could w-unfold the planks ripped
: and w-unfold the strips running one plank/strip edge into the other for a
: continuing match. Using this as a background for some other pattern or
: contrast could be very cool.

: Whatever you do, mark the strips and boards carefully so you at least have
: the opportunity of putting some edges together as you bld the yak. At the
: very least plan to put some pairs together .

: Most pple can only buy disparate boards, and flop around trying to
: color/character match. You have a chance to start off with a sublety few
: can achieve.

: -mick