: O.K. I've been following some of the Baidarka threads, and of
: course, reading up on Baidarkas and such. So here's the
: question, how in the world do you build the stern on those
: things? (mostly I've been looking at the Star series from
: Laughing Loon).

Hi David,
The 16 or so concave strips ,8 each side, can be bent permenantly using a paint stripper gun to heat the inside of the strip as you gently bend it.This allows the thermoplastic Lignin [wood] to be compressed.Lignin wont stretch when heated so no point in heating the outside curve of the strip.Once you have busted a few the rest come fairly easily.The correct temperature is acompanied by a specific smell which you get to recognise.
Another, definately more fidly, way is to laminate half thickness strips.I guess the idea is if you can get past building the stern the rest is easy....
cheers from Paul NZ.