: I wonder if you could take the same process, turn it on its side, and make a
: kayak?

You can use the same process for a racing shell, and then row it.

if you are looking at a mostly cylindrical shape there is some bending, in one direction, but not a lot of compound curvature going on. A simple round or oval hull shape is not a compound curve -- at least not until you try to taper the thing to create front and back ends.

People are making hybrid boats with pywood hulls and stripped decks. i think there may be a range of designs suitable to hybrid boats with the center of the hull made from plywood, and the bow made from woodstrips. The stern, if not made from strips, might very well be squared off and made of plywood, too!

Now that idea should set some minds to thinking.
Here is the potential:

Use just short strips for the ends -- no scarfing strips, easy to find short lengths of clear wood, not a lot of forms to cut.

Make just three forms for wrapping the plywood around for the middle of the boat. The middle one would define the beam and the other two would define the transition between the flat sheet of material and the strips. Or use 4 forms and keep them in place as bulkheads. use an 8 foot panel for the center of the boat and make the nose and tail about 4 feet long for a 16 foot kayak.

Far less fairing in the middle of the boat, and considerably less sanding.

No fillets to tape and fill, except at bulkheads. Absolutely no seams in the cockpit area, so little drag over the skin of the boat.

The deck could be plywood, or woodstrips, or a combination of both.

Anyone up to trying to design something like this?