: Bryan: Since this is my first effort at a strip built kayak I'm
: having difficulty visualizing how I set up the bow and stern
: forms. In Nick Shade's Night Heron plans, you cut off the bow
: and stern ends and create separate bow/stern pieces which are
: beveled to a point and taped back on the bow/stern forms. The
: strips are then stapled to this new bow/stern piece and remain
: with the hull assembly when it is removed from the forms. I know
: the strips where they meet at the bow/stern are bevelled to
: blend together, but it just doesn't seem like it would be a very
: clean finish. It looks like, from your picture, that a pinstripe
: is running down from the top of the bow down toward the keel. Is
: this where you abbut your strips on the hull? Hope I'm making
: some sense.

I think you're talking about an internal stem piece attached to the bow/sten forms. that is actually optional, and when I build I rarely do that anymore. It does add some strength and a place to land your strips, but it's more work and adds weight, so I just fit the strips together at the ends where the strips meet and glue them there.. After the hull is stripped I plane a flat surface on the exterior of the bow and stern about 1/2"-3/4" wide. I then take about 3-5 1/8" strips of hardwood (usually ash or padauk), butter them up with a mixture of epoxy and fumed silica (consistency of peanut butter) and them lay them on the stem ends (see picture), holding them in place with packing tape. After they cure I take the tape off and taper the stems with a block plane into the hull for a nice finished look.

Bryan K