: And following up on what Tom said- don't be worried about the glue
: joints as you do this. As long as you had good joints where the
: wood touched wood the glue joint will be stronger than the
: surrounding wood, so unless you exert force great enough to
: break a strip you won't break a good glue joint. If there are
: gaps it won't be as strong, and those will pop before the wood,
: but they're also easily remedied with a bit of filler and
: sanding after everything's back in shape.

: m

It may help you a lot if you can visualise the processes involved

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.209700729090748.53026.100001524683106&type=3

Is a log of a strip build

The videos here will be invaluable

http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/guillemot/blog

And here is a very informative, educational, and funny project log by Kurt Maurer that shows such a project in the proper sequence.

http://ngc704.home.comcast.net/~ngc704/NewOI/

Enjoy the project. It should be fun, or otherwise we are all a little touched in the head.

One thing though, normally the deck fits flush with the hull (rounded shaped sheer joins) or it fits over the hull (sharper cornered designs) but never inside the hull. Be wary of taking advice from people who may know fibreglassing but not specifically kayak building. Rather look at some build logs from various different people and get your head around the process first. Otherwise you may be mislead by well meaning but overconfident friends.

You can always add a strip again if you planed off too much.

It seems so sad that someone should not see the culmination of their project. To finish it on their behalf for the person intended is a nice tribute. Feel confident that you will receive more help on this forum, should you need it, than you could imagine.

Et