Looking good

The kayak is starting to take form!

The stress begins

The first strips went on very smoothly. The farther up the forms I go, the more difficulty I'm finding along the way. I'm using a variety of claps to get the strips as tight as I can against the forms, but some of the very end forms are hard to reach. So now it's time for me to sit back and look at how I want to finish stripping in the hull with different patterns and/or some half with strips.

Begin to Strip in the Kayak

I taped all my forms so the glue would not stick to the forms. I then added my first strip at the shearline. This is where the hull of the kayak and the deck meet. Kip wasn't as excited about the projects as was.

I sorted my strips that I purchased from Fox Boat Building into 3 piles, dark, medium and light. This should help when creating the look of the kayak. I then selected my first strips that determine the top from the bottom of the boat (shear strips). I took a plane and planed off the bead side of the strips so they will be flat when I merge top and bottom.

Let the Building begin

I believe I have everything lined-up and ready to go! I've flipped the kayak upside down so that I will strip the bottom of the kayak first.

Ready to Strip

I'm now at the point where I'm ready to start to strip in the kayak. I've added the final forms and hot glued the tear away portions of the form for where my cockpit will fall (you can see the breakaway in the photo of the 3 middle forms).

I will be purchasing my Western Red Cedar Strips from http://www.cfoxwoodboats.com/ Tim the owner has been very helpful and I will be purchasing most of my supplies from him.

You'll notice on the bow for the strongback in cut to a "V". That is to keep the form solid through contruction (I believe), the stern form uses the full 2x4. I just need to add the final form pieces the bow and stern and then I'm almost ready to strip in the wood.

Once I had all of my measurements completed, checked and double-checked, I secured all of the forms to the strongback with pieces of wood as shown here. I then drill a screw on the other side through the form and into the strongback to secure them.

Because I am going with the 11 foot Little Auk, I had to re-cut my forms a little larger. The spacing between forms is now going to be 13 3/16" apart. The first form form the tip of the bow and end of the stern will be at 6". I had sand the bow and stern forms to a point before attaching to the strongback.