In case it's useful, I also used a ladder as the base and used two external forms, each aligned with an internal form.

Why?

- Quick and easy
- The shape of the kayak I was building was determined by the shapes of the panels and the shapes of the internal stations. Both of these were specified on the plans, but unlike a strip build the vertical heights of the stations were not specified. Having just two external forms meant the kayak could find its own designed shape without forms trying to force it to a different shape.
- The external forms made something to 'sit' the pre-wired panels in, keeping them in about the right place. The bottom panels were wired to each other on the ground, then sat in the forms. The side panels were also wired to each on the ground (along stem and stern, which is where they meet) and then also picked up and placed in the forms. Drop a couple of stations in and voila, a kayak shape ready for the rest of the stitching.

The onl thing I had to get right was levelling the external forms against each other so the kayak wasn't twisted, and that's not hard.

Just my thoughts. There's a little more in my blog - apologies for the excessive typos in the blog: 'beidy' = 'bendy' !

dave