I've not yet built a stripper. Hybrid, inflatable, and many SOF's, yes. I'd not worry about 1/16, or probably even 1/8" out. On my SOF's, I was very particular about making sure the keel is straight & true. On one of my kayaks, sometime during skinning, the keel developed a strong hook. As I had already started varnishing before I noticed the defect, I pressed on- nothing to lose, right?

The kayak actually does not care. I have never, ever noticed the kayak favoring one side or handling differently side to side. Even if I stop paddling in totally calm conditions, the kayak is no more likely to veer right than left.

Ascetically, the hooked keel bothered me. Practically, it has made no difference. Now I have fun letting people paddle my boat, then showing them how out of whack it really is :-)

Happy building!

Chuck

: Hello, I am starting to build a Red Fish Spring Run and would like
: to know how precise your form symmetry is. The Red Fish plans
: come with the forms printed on top of each other. So I glued
: them to a piece of 1/4" mdf and cut out the largest form.
: Then I sanded up to the lines. When I thought it was good I used
: a table mounted router and a flush cut pattern bit to duplicate
: it. To check the symmetry I flipped the pattern over and lined
: it up. There are differences that get up to 1/16". Does
: that matter? Has anyone else check this?

: Thanks for any advise.