Hey ya!

: Well, I had my doubts about "thousandth of an inch" accuracy but
: wanted to check anyway, because there's a lot I have to learn about this
: process.

You know, that thousands of an inch business had me shaking my head. To be fair, he was probably meaning the general dimensions, but a thousands of an inch is the difference of a thin coat of varnish, if even that. I paddle around a wood yak that is the veteran of many lost battles with rocky landings and oysters seeking revenge on the great numbers I consumed on this last trip. My yak paddles straight and well even thoiugh I don't bothered any longer with fairing out the epoxy smear patches on the underside of the hull.

: Yeah, I guess I found that out with my warped plastic hull! At first, I
: thought it must be my imagination...time and many paddles convinced me my
: eyes were seeing correctly.

Ya see amigo, them eyes! I read or heard somewhere that the typcial eye can tell the difference of 1 part in 2000, or differences of 1/4 millimeter.

: You should see it when the sun is shining strongly from one direction, which
: is usually the case in this climate. The bow bends to the shady side.
: Degree of bend varies, but seems to be related to air temperature. It will
: curve to left or right depending which is the shady side, but even when
: "neutral" (in the shade/in the shed) it has a slight curve to
: the left.

I seent hat in plastic yaks I owned in the distant past. I would use heat to softened and sand bags to apply pressure to bend back distortions. There's something to be said with plastic yaks on oyter shells. But for strength and drop-dead beauty, not to mention the highest strength-toweight ratios, a wood yak surely takes it.

So what are you thinking to build???

: Fortunately, wood and glass seem to be more rigid than plastic. So as long as
: I build it straight, I can kiss the banana syndrome goodbye.

You betcha sir!