You better be around when I start stripping my Night Heron this winter, Paul. Your instructions are clear and easy to understand and I suspect that I'll have a few posers to ask. I'm still trying to decide what wood to use. I had to do some milling today for a renovation client and learned that milling the strips with my Bosch table saw will be a breeze, assuming I use a sharp blade. I've been known to push the limits on blade wear, causing people to stop and wonder if they should be calling the fire department.

I visited Windsor Plywood recently and drooled over their exotic wood supply. Pricey, even the end cuts they sell by the pound but man, some of them are going to look great when I do my inlays. My thought on the inlays is to cut right through the deck and inlay solid wood accents, Canadian Maple Leaf, Quebec Fleur-de-lis, and an aboriginal symbol, preferably Metis, since that is part of my cultural heritage - just not sure what symbol to use, gotta figure that one out later. I did think about doing the Maple Leaf on a vine that curls along the deck from bow to stern. That would be a lot of work but this project is supposed to be a work of art as well as being a functional kayak. It will indeed be one kayak that will never see the surface of a rock - that's what the other kayaks are for. I'm figuring on two years to complete the Night Heron solely because of the amount of inlay work that I want to do on it.

Robert N Pruden