: 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!

Thank you for your kind comments. I can't claim much, though, as I just copy what I've seen done elsewhere :-) Beth chose the woods and they came out very nice.

: 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.

I've never seen a Storm in person, but I think you will have a great looking and performing boat there.

: 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

Ha! Well, you'll have no trouble here!

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

I bought cove and bead bits several years ago, but have never used them :-) Too lazy I guess. I hand bevel all the joints. However, I only strive to get clean joints on the outside of the boat. Don't go looking inside! It's a mess. With a little more time, one can get clean bevels all around. Also, the more you do, the better they are. To cut them, I use a hand plane (sharpened often) to start the bevel, then clean up the surface with a little sanding board I made. That is a 6" x 1.5" piece of 1/4" ply with 60 grit paper glued to each side. I use that also to slowly remove wood when fitting tight joints, especially on end grain.

: 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?

Yes they are square edged, as are the strips. If you were using B&C, just knock off the pinstripe edge. It also helped to glue up the strips ahead of time, when I could. Holding them in place, like most boat building solutions, is just a matter of enough clamps :-) Well, in this case, a lot of "clamping" was done using clear plastic packing tape. All the strip joints were forced together that way. Others here have used real clamping techniques, but tape is cheap and quick. I had been using duct tape, but the residue is a problem. I should also say, I used hot glue to hold the "swooshes" to the forms.

: 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?

I picked up the groove idea from Joe Greenley (RedFish Kayaks). Yes, the groove is for clamping. I have it only on one side and it is about 1/4" deep. The forms are 1/2" MDF board. That works well, but 3/4" ply would probably be better, especially if you want to use the forms again.

: 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?

The stems were per the plans, laminated from 5-6 1/8" strips. They were built up on the stern and bow forms (clear tape again!). They are screwed to the forms and then shaped with a plane so the strips will run flush across them. yes, I removed the screws as the strips progressed up the stem (Joe's plans again).

: 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.

I started using polyurethane glue (the type that foams up), but quickly switched to a yellow wood glue. The poly is too weak in those type of joints. It is good for laminating and such, but not stripping, IMO. Cleaning it off was no problem. My trick here would probably make most builders cringe :-) My dad had an old rasp lying around. This is no ordinary rasp, but one used to file horse hooves. It is about 2' long and very sharp with big teeth. I have to wear gloves when using it or it slices up my hands :-) It cuts the glue beads off with one swoop. The teeth are big enough that the glue will not plug them. It also makes a great fairing tool. It does leave scars in the wood and you need to be careful not to cut too much wood off, but a second run with a random orbit sander takes care of the scars and finishes off nicely.

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

I used 2" PVC, but Shawn (Baker) has used many sizes, I think. My cuts were about 1/4" wide. This is a bit narrow as it doesn't make a very strong clamp. 1/2" to 3/4" might be better. They are great for some jobs and you can't beat the price!

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

No problem. You just have to promise to post some pictures here of both your boats. They sound very nice!

Bill