: I've only just recently started thinking about building one these works of
: art. I ordered Nicks book yesterday and can't wait for it to arrive.
: Reading some of these threads makes it a bit intimidating. Did any of you
: have second thoughts after you started?

My second thoughts came when I shot myself in the fingertip with a staple -- and then I felt rather foolish for having my finger under the area where I was shooting staples into the strips The process is really fairly simple.

: I live in England at the moment
: and the winters are a bit harsh.

Despite that, they have been building wooden boats in England for over 500 years. You can do it, too.

: With summer more than half over do you
: think this will be a project (strip built) worth starting?

Absolutely. You may not have the time to finish it this year, but you can either keep working on it over the winter, or let it rest and get back to it in the spring. The nice thing about taking your time on this is that youcna spread out the expenses. That is, you don't need to come up with all the money for this project before you get started. You can pay for the different stages as you go.

: I can heat my
: garage so no worries there.

: It sounds like I am trying to talk myself out of this. It must be a great
: feeling of accomplishment after all the trials and errors as well.

The feeling of accomplishment is a continous "high". Everytime you take the boat out someone compliments you on it. There amay be a few trials, but there do not have to be, and there are usually very few errors. People who don't understand an instruction usually post a message here and become enlightened. Otherwise, the worst you can do is mis-cut or break a strip or two. And in that case you pick up another one and use that instead. Usually even the mis-cut and broken strips will find a home somewhere else on the boat as there are always places where you need to fit in a short piece.

Once you get the book do what you can while the weather is good. Layout and cut the forms, build a strongback, mount the forms, rip some strips, and if you still have time this year, then start applying strips to the forms. If you get far enough along you'll be able to decide whether you want to heat the workspace and keep building, or let the project rest over the cold weather and resume in the spring. Start now and you'll have that choice.

Best of luck on your project

PGJ