: 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.

Hi Al

Two things I discovered that you might find useful:
1 Taper the sides of the strongback too (see picture below)
2 The endforms don't quite match forms 2 and 15 - my notes on this are available here:
http://ianjohnsonz.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/end-forms-dont-quite-match-forms-2-15/

Happy building, I loved building my Guillemot, which for my first kayak as well!

Regards, Ian