: John-Can't help you with your question, but would like to ask one of my own;
: I'm going to start building a North Star in the near future, but have been
: stymied by the fact that the floor in my basement is incredibly uneven,
: drops at least an inch and a half along the length of a 6' level. Your
: strongback looks like a possible solution to my problem. Could you supply
: more details on the design/construction? Thanks, Greg.

Hi Greg,

Rob Mack has a $25 instruction booklet on building his Shooting Star that can be purchased ahead of purchasing the plans and then if you purchase the plans you are credited with $20 off. This allows you to get started on several things including the strongback. The strongback is made of 1/2" plywood, two sections that are 6"x6"x 8' long and these slip over a 4' long section in the middle. This whole unit is very strong. Rob also has some great drawings in his book for making feather boards for strip cutting, and many other things, and I am making those now.

The strong back fits into my re-rigged sawhorses to lower the working height of the boat and to stabilize the whole kayak when I am working on it.. I have screwed the saw horses to the strongback so I can raise it at one end and wheel the whole unit outdoors to work on the kayak. The sawhorses do settle somewhat on unleveled surfaces but on an area like you describe in your basement might be too much. I could run into that outside. In that case I think I would put on some sliding adjustable legs to take care of that problem. The shelf underneath the strongback holds a lot of tool and has the clear plastic to keep off saw dust and glue. Shawn or Rehd had the idea of putting electrical outlets on the strongback for convenience and this has saved me a lot of time. Great idea. I have three sets of strip outlets along the strongback. Now when I wheel the boat outside to work on it, the whole shop comes with me, almost.

Take care,
John