Hey Gerald,

: I build stitch and glue kayaks, and pirogues [...]
: Simple, quick, strong, inexpensive, sometimes light [...]

Yeah, I've seen your posts... I went with a hybrid this time 'cause that last stripper took me way too long to get together - if I took that long this time I wouldn't be out on the water this year! As it is, things are looking pretty good for an early spring launch... (Pretty good aside from my silly mistakes.)

: I make the holes as close to the edge as I can. Almost always within
: 1/4". I drill through both sheets at the same stroke.

I can see that... I'll probably make a simple jig (maybe like the one Mike described/CLC uses) to get some kind of uniformity.

: As said above...I drill through both sheets at the same time. I hold the
: sheets in position, drill, and wire. I basically stitch the boat together
: loosely at very widely spaced stitches, and come back to add the real
: tightening stitches after it is looking somewhat like a boat.

(Wow! Lightning storm! I'll ask more silly questions later!)