OK, here it is, for anyone who is or is not interested. I hope thats everybody. I am NOT happy with my epoxy/glass work on the deck of my Guillemot "L". I even managed to stress the glass a little on the bow of the hull just below the sheer line when I spread it to align it with the deck in preparation for the deck/hull seam job.

I even wrapped the yak in black plastic and layed it in the sun this morning in an effort to help in the curing of the seams (which should have already cured) by raising the temp. I sucessfully raised the temp, but when I decided that it was getting too hot and picked it up to bring it in, out of the sun,(not thinking before I acted again)I stressed the glass just below the recess on the right side of the cockpit - 3 white lines about 2 feet long - right in the joints between the strips of wood - joint creep????????

I am not a happy camper at the moment!!! I do not know if the humidity had anything to do with the epoxy curing slowly(its usually very high or raining this time of year in Fl), or if it is something with the epoxy composition, or I'm not ABSOLUTELY sure that there was no error on my part because I have been rushing(but my wife and I both mixed several small batches of epoxy on different days while doing the seams and she's more carefull than I).

The only thing that I am sure abt right now (other than the fact that I'm ready to go paddlin')is that I,m not happy with my results! So, what I'm thinkin' is: do whatever it takes to get it in the water and if it starts bothering me too much - live with it till winter, peal off the crap and re-glass the entire outside of the boat AGAIN! This really sucks (I hope thats not being too crass) after so long a time and so much effort, but we all do what we feel is necessary.

Nick is right about one thing for sure - you learn more from your mistakes than you do if everything goes as planned. The only problem is - I'm learning what NOT to do, but I'm not sure that I am learning WHAT to do!@#$%^&*

Now, on the positive side, I'm still having trouble NOT thinking about building kayaks. I guess that means that in spite of all the frustrating things that happen during the building process, I'm still having fun to some degree! Also, I, with my wife's help' got the plywood bulkheads installed last night.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow will yield better results.

Happy Building.

Charles.

P.S. I,m not posting this to look like moron, but rather,to caution new builders to think and ask lots of questions before they act, using up somewhat costly materials and even more so, irretrievable time(aka lost paddlin' time)!!!!