: Dean,
: How noticable are the staple marks in the strips? I was planning on painting
: the S&G hull to cover those holes. I've heard stapleless is very dificult
: but considering how visible those holes are, it might be worth the
: endevor. Is it possible to hide the staple holes?

The lighter colored the wood, the more noticeable the staple holes are. The staple holes, when they get filled with epoxy, are dark, so they are more noticeable in pine/spruce/white cedar than on red cedar/redwood/etc. But although noticeable, most people look straight past them. Most people will just gawk at the pretty wood kayak, and only a few will look closely enough to say, "what are all these little holes?" I've heard that a few people have actually filled the staple holes with toothpicks, but this sounds like a heck of a lot of tedious work.

In a full stripped kayak, it's the hull strips that give the most trouble in terms of clamping because of the twisting of the strips involved -- the deck is relatively easy. So you probably could do the deck stapleless without too much trouble. The upswept ends will be the areas that will be the toughest but the rest should be easy.

: I was afraid someone was going to tell me to glass the inside of the
: hull/deck joint. I'm realy not looking forward to trying to roll tape into
: the tips of the yak. Thus the sheer clamp idea. I don't like the Chessy's
: nails either tho. What about epoxying the deck to the sheer and then
: putting 1/8 inch dowel pegs so often and then glassing the topside to the
: hull? There wont be any induced stress at this point like with the
: Chessy's tortured deck. I think the pegs would do fine.

I think most people have commented that doing the inner shears was really less of a pain than they'd thought. Many have had success with the pre-soaked roll method, although I haven't tried it. Another method which I've used with success is the following: With the deck off of the hull, unroll your 2" tape along the inner shear and attach it to the hull with hot-melt glue. Start at the bow or stern and position the tape so that half of it (1") is above the shear and half of it is on the hull. 'Tack' it in place with small dots of hot-melt glue every 6" or so, all around the hull and back to where you started. Put the deck on, tucking the tape in so that it isn't pinched. Now attach the deck and hull with strapping tape on the outside, making sure they meet edge-to-edge. Tip the kayak on its side with the bow on the ground and the stern on a sawhorse, and pour epoxy down as far as you can reach. Using a 1" brush screwed at an angle on the end of a stick, work the epoxy down to the bow and make sure all the tape is saturated. Lower the bow, raise the stern, and repeat. When cured, do the same for the other side. A headlight is of great help here, and a respiratior is recommended. It really goes pretty smoothly.

: It seems this project is venturing into uncharted territory right smack in
: the middle of two common building techniques I want to have somehting I
: can call (mostly) my own idea but, I want it to be strong as well.