: This is the tradeoff, get the boat done and go paddling or make it
: as close to perfect as possible and spend a lot of time doing
: it.

: If you cut the hatch hole and butter up the edges with some
: thickened epoxy you can get hatches done in a day or so. If you
: want to seal every edge in the best way possible, it may take a
: week to get the hatches done given epoxy cure times and sanding
: and fill coats and more sanding and fixing bubbles and ...

i set out to make this kyak as "close to perfect as possible" and enjoyed every imperfection I encountered. My first strip build is a lot harder than I thought it would be but it turns out I enjoy building as much, if not more, than paddling. Well into my second year on this build, I might just go ahead and glass the edges. Patricias' "shrink wrap" method might just cure the thickness problem I was expecting. Thanks for all the input. without this forum I'd still be looking at a pile of strips.