Hi Rob,

Thanks for the words about laying the strips (still have the deck to do:-) Thought i would tell you how I laid them. I am building my boat only to make myself happy and that is how I have approached each step. Doing each thing the way I feel comfortable, is for me .... doing it the best way I can. I love kayaking and really want a natural wood boat I built myself. I did not do the "smart" thing and start with a stitch and glue, so my first boat was the North Star and it is such a beautiful design I want to turn out a nice one even though I am doing my first boat. I considered a stich and glue by Pygmy boats (the Osprey I think), but in the end I decided that I just did not want a plywood panel boat, no matter how nice they may be. So I decided to build the type of boat that I wanted ... a stripper. I looked at simpler designs than the North Star, but in the end I thought I would just go for it and build the boat I wanted. I am a carpenter and I like building the boat, but I do not think I will build more than one or two more boats, so this is just about IT for me. I did not buy my strips, I wanted to go to the lumber yard and pick out my own light weight, straight grained and select colored, 1"X 8" or 1"X 12" pieces of 18" or 20" redwood and cedar. I cut my own strips and planed them to a tolerance of 1,000 th of an inch and bead and cove all the strips that are on curved surfaces (leaving as you sugested the straight deck strips with out bead and cove). As I said I am a carpenter (have been lets just say well over 20 years, but my skills did not extent to ripping 18' or 20' long, 3.16th" strips and then making them exact enough to put a consistant bead and cove on them) As a finish carpenter I just could not see myself driving staples simply because I wanted to hold the strips temporarily in place. I agree that it is slower this way with only 4 strips per day, 2 each side (some strips were so hard to keep in place with out staples that I only got 2 strips a day, 1 each side). I only used full length strips too and each strip is a mirror of the strip of the other side. I agree that it is most important to keep the strips tight to the forms and make them as flush as possible. I found that with planning the strips I could lay them in almost a perfect alingment, so that when the hull was stripped I had very little sanding / scrapping to do (I cleaned all the glue up as I went and I never needed to use the heavy duty scrapper that most people use). I just took no short cut, because I did not know the process for myself and i tended to ere on the side of doing it the best possible way I could. now that I have stripped and prepared a hull for myself, I can see that I did not have to make my rough, unsanded hull as perfect and flush as I did (good is ok at that stage. Perfect is not necessary before sanding). I did make the strips a strong 1/8th" and I like the method Iused because I could control the hull thinkness with out worrying about the hull being too thick or too thin anywhere. But I look back nd see that I could have put the strips in more quickly and easily,because small ofsets can be sanded to make the hull fair. Like I say it is only most important for me to do this project to please myself and time has not been a consideration. I started on your design over 3 years ago (many long breaks along the way, ha, ha) but I am still so glad that I picked the North Star. It is a good feeling to have learned so much along the way and yet still think I am building the right boat for me. I look at the sealed hull this morning and it looks so much better than I had even hoped, with the colors of the wood truly brought out for the first time. I have just been blessed with wonderful wood and the subtle golden tones that have come out as a background to the main grain is something that only natural select wood could ever produce. I would still like to go over the seal coat just real, real lightly to take of a few small little high points (not any runs or any real sanding) can you suggest the sandpaper to use ? I will not in any way sand through the seal coat at any point, just want to knock down the little particles of "dust". Thanks, Arthur