: Hello Kayak forum readers! I'm in the process of buiding my first
: strip built kayak, a guillemot, and I'm wondering if anyone out
: there knows if there is a place i can buy cove and bead cedar
: strips near Portland, ME? All of my searching has led me to
: believe that chesapeak light craft may have the monopoly on
: supplying these. Is there anywhere else?

: Are there any other kayak builders out there around Portland, ME? I
: think as a first time builder I could use a few pointers. Most
: of the time I feel like I don't know what the hell i'm doing!
: The only encouraging thing is that the strongback does seem to
: look like a kayak, so i must be on the right track...

: Thanks,
: AaronO.
Hi Aaron,
Hand beveling one edge of these rectangular strips is very easy to do or learn to do. It's boring but you are in control.My recommendation is to not bother with bead and cove joins.Accept that, on average, a strip takes about an hour to fit and fix to the previous strip.
I built my first boat from strips I had milled to perfection.I then split each [wide]strip in half using a skill saw mounted upside down on the strong back bench with a small angle of bevel One half went on one side of the boat and the other went on the other side but I rotated that side's strips length wise ,so the bevelled edge was always down.It's hard to tell which edge has the bevelled cut,it being only 3 degrees or so.Most strips will need some bevelling to keep the insides of the joins tight as well as the outsides.Some strips will need more bevelled angle bow and stern ends.My next boat I ripped strips from old cedar beams using a good bench saw.I did start off like you,looking for trouble that was not there.Just do it!
cheers,