HI,

I am just starting to build my first strip kayak, infact my first ever kayak. I have decided to build the guillemot from the offsets printed in Nick Schade's book (The strip built kayak).

I have drawn all the patterns and glued them to 1/2" hardwood ply and have cut them out rough with a jigsaw, ready to finish off with the band saw and sanding block.

I have planed the 6" X 1" sawn western red cedar down to 3/4", ready to cut into 1/4" strips.

I have made a 16 ft long strong back out of 1/2" hardwood ply as per instructions in Nick's book. I still have to cut the taper for the bow end otherwise strongback is complete.

I'm sure I read in Nick's book that the stong back is 2' 1" shorter than the finished kayak, but I can't seem to find it again. Before I start marking the positions of the forms on the strongback I want to make sure of the length that I need to cut the strong back to.