Here, after mucking about and loving every minute of 18 months it took to build an adaption of Rob Mack's Georgian Bay, is my best, distilled advice:

1. Start with some straight grain, dry, lightweight wood that bends fair. Buy it from someone you like, or go beachcombing. Embodied energy, the soul of a composite boat.

2. Play with ribbands (mock-up) for days before committing to glue.

3 Don't get too enamoured with powertools. Fair the hull and deck with a small sharp block plane with a slight radius to the edge, and only use "unfeeling" abrasives at the end, to create some "tooth' for the resin. You'll end up with a very fair hull.

4. Make your wary peace with epoxy, dress accordingly, be mindful and patient.and things will go as planned.

5. 4 oz. cloth will do. Wish someone sold it in bias weave instead of fore-and-aft!

6. There is no perfection this side of paradise, which is still a long paddle away.

wavey davey