: Does anyone have any thoughts regarding the use of electric planes on strip
: built kayaks

David:

Perhaps I know how you feel(?). I have a shop chock full of really cool power tools, and nothing warms my little heart better than screaming carbide blowing hurricanes of chips all over everything. But as a first-time boat builder, the following has been my experience:

On a kayak, forget it. The random orbital sander and shop vac will be about as close as you get. Even my drill press has been relegated to duty as a paper towel dispenser, for crying out loud. It's awful! Problem is, you no sooner apply the roaring tool to the boat than the boat vanishes in a cloud of sawdust. It is simply too much.

On the plus side of things, you will soon learn to love working "the old-fashioned way", or at least I managed to. If you are an experienced woodworker who has always used the modern electric and/or pneumatic miracles of raw horsepower, you are in for a really pleasant, and quiet, surprise. This has been the chief revelation I have received by trying my hand at boat making, and it is wondrous.

Cheers,

Kurt (By Hand) Maurer