: Hi all.
: I have a friend who wants to build a copy of an existing SOF kayak
: in strips.

Did he build the existing SOF, or does he have the plans for it? If so he can work off the original lines and not have to do much additional work.

Just redraw the frames from the SOF. Then draw a new line inside the original ones, shrinking the forms by the thickness of whatever strips you are using. Space the forms in their normal locations and bend your strips around them.

If you want you can leave the frames inside. Use brads to hold the strips to the frames, and use a nail set to hide the heads of the brads. If the frame stays in you won't need to glass the inside, but you should seal all the interior with two coats of epoxy. This saves time, the cost of glass cloth, and insures alignment of hull and deck, Since the frames remain you can use very thin woodstrips over most of the boat. You can go as thin as veneer. As long as you have chines which are the same size as those on the SOF you would be basically "skinning" it with paper-thin wood and fiberglass cloth. If you like the looks of a stripper but want the weight and ease-of-construction of a SOF think of this as an option.

PGJ