Hi Wes
I can't see what the problem is with stripping over the cockpit area. I decided to save timber when I built my Night Heron by ending the strips just inside the area that would be cut out for the cockpit. Some of the photos in this thread seem to me to have gone to a lot of trouble to put strips in places where they are just going to be cut away. I couldn't see any reason to do that and had no problems at all around the cockpit.
I built the low front and low back version and am very pleased with it.
Allan