Bill,

I've just scanned the photos on your site for the third time in three days! That workmanship and finish, and design is awesome! I think it is one of the nicest examples I have seen in six months of seriously scanning all the strip built kayak sites I can find on the web. I really love the detail, especially with the pinstripes - beautiful! and the swooshes are just elegant! Also a lovely combination of timber colours!

I have a set of Vaclav's Storm plans to build, but before starting, I want to have a very clear idea of the process, and design details to incorporate, rather than doing it on the run. You have given me quite a bit to think about.

Strip building is not new to me. I finished a 7.8m (26ft) strip built trailable yacht about 15 years ago, in WRC, with Australian Silver Ash bulkheads and interior and exterior deck and coachhouse, with Australian Red Cedar (like redwood) trim. Similar colour scheme to your boat. It also has pinstripes like yours around the edge of the gunwhales. I am just about finished a major modification to the cockpit to improve racing weight distribution and cruising comfort. Soon as that is done I will start the kayak.

However, after that ramble, I have some questions if I may, of the processes you are using on Beth's Redfish

1 Are you using bead and cove or square edged strips for the main fill planking?

2 Looks like the pinstripes are all square edged - is that correct? If so, how do you go about shaping the matching fill planks if they are bead and cove? Block plane, file, other? If they are square edged, how do you hold them in place, parallel and aligned with the pinstripes, between stations?

3 The forms have a groove parallel to their perimeter. Is that to get the inner edge of the mouth of your clamps into for stapleless construction? Is the groove both sides of the form, or just on one side? How thick are the forms and what are the dimensions of the groove?

4 Looks like you have inner stems for bow and stern. What timber were they consructed of, and were they carved, steamed or laminated - it looks like they were solid from the photos, so I am interested to know how you built them. And presumably, you removed the temporary fixing screws (those into the underlying forms) as you progressively stripped up to and then over them. Is that correct?

5 What glue are you using? Seems like you clean it off when you sand rather than as you go. If so, it must be a good brew to clean off so easily and not clog the sandpaper or drag lumps out of the timber.

6 What diameter and wall thickness are your pvc pipe clamps? (Baker clamps?)

Once again, you are doing a fantastic job on the boat, it looks absolutely great! Thanks in anticipation.

Ron Deane, Brisbane, Australia