: In another section he also speaks of a fairing batten and the picture shows
: what appears to be a piece of planking.(sectin on shaping stems as you
: build)
You can make a decent batten by ripping a small width from one of your strips. You can make it more or less flexible by the with that you finish it to. It will need to be pretty thin for doing the curves on kayak offsets....maybe 1/8" sq or less. The goal is to get a piece of material that will bend in a "fair" curve, around the plotted marks from your offsets. A little experimentation should yield you a decent batten. Or, you could probably pick one up at a drafting supply, if there is one nearby. Maybe they would let you borrow the one from work? Or, if you have the offsets plotted on graph paper, maybe you could take it to work with you and try the battens there, berfore or after hours? If you need something for drawing fair curves for S&G panels, you can scarf together a couple of strips, then run them through your saw or router to get them nice and straight. A little stiffness seems to be good for the long panels, so lay them down flat instead of "on edge". Use small brads at the measuremnent points along the panel. Place your batten and hold it against the brads with lead "ducks", or anything of sufficient weight to hold it firmly against the brads. Hope this helps. garland