: I recently purchased plans and forms for a Night Heron for my son and a
: Petrel for my daughter.
: The plans for the Petrel are pretty clear about form spacing, but on the
: Night Heron the strong back is 13'11" and the plans say to space the
: forms 12" apart.
: Should I just start at each end and end up with an 11" space in the
: middle?

Nick suggests placing the forward edge of each form in the forward half of the kayak right on the station line. For the after half of the hull the after edge of each form is placed on the station line. In my case this caused the spacing (forward edge to forward edge) between forms 10 and 11 to be 11 1/2 inches, vice 12 inches for the other forms(1/2 in. form thickness).

Some builders say the forms should be beveled to more closely match the slope of the strips where they cross the forms. In that case each of the forms described above would be moved 1/2 inch toward the nearest end of the kayak. This is a bit of extra work, but I think I would do it if I were building another Heron.

I think my strongback ended up being exactly 14 feet, but I think that depends on how the end forms are attached to the strongback. I can't check it now because my forms are all covered with strips ;-)

Len Thunberg (more than 1/2 way through a Greenlander Night Heron)