Thanks for your ideas Paul, I think I'll probably steal a few...

I didn't send a photo to Nick because the only one I took wasn't very good.

The idea of using 3 layers of 3 oz is good. But I though of using just one layer of 6oz and triple only the keel area, maybe 3 to 4 inches wide. Using progresivly narower strips one on top of the other, I would eliminate sanding. I could still use 2 layers of 3 oz for the bottom. 4 oz for the top seems good, only doubeling near the knees with one layer on the inside. This way I would be using the fiberglass at its maximum support ( the farther the layers are, the better).

The foam bulkheads were for flotation. After curing the first layer of cloth on them, they seemed to soft. I wanted a minimum of resistence to digns and scraps. So I added another one. For my next project I don't think I'll put bulkheads in. I realy don't need hatches because I don't go out for more than a day. I'll simply use flotation bags or something like it. For the support, I though of using bulkheads but cutting out the center, leaving maybe 2 or 3 inches all around. This idea still need to be though out... Little holes would be drilled on the bottom of the bulkheads to drain any water.

The skeg came in after the second outing. It is my first kayak, never paddeled before. So the skeg helped my bad paddeling skills. It wasn't to hard to install and made a big difference.

The height I want to add for my feet will be added only near the foot area. By gradualy adding more and more height to the side pannel as I near this area, I will have a nice fare curved line. Working with the numbers of the offset tabel, I find it is easy to make little changes to the kayak. I use an AutoCad program to check my results.

The but joint idea is a real time saver. The strips I used to cover the but joints on my first kayak were just cut and glued in place. The next time I will sand the edges of the strips ( feather them) before gluing them, so they don't create a step on the panel. The step, however small, complicates things when I tape the inside seems. Plus ( getting picky here) I will save a little weight.

The kayak took 1 1/2 month to finish. I'm single so I can go downstaires work on it when I want. This realy speeds the process. Before the kayak, I built a cedar strip canoe, that one took me 4 1/2 months. A real beauty...

Thanks again for your input.

Bob