: I would like to get a couple opinions from builders that have tried the 2
: main
: strong back styles. 2X4 up the middle of the forms vs. the big long plywood
: box type.. pros and cons??????
: Tks Rick

Hi Rick,

My first effort at building a kayak so not to be taken too seriously. I set up my strongback using a 2x4 length of spruce and spent ages setting it up. A friend of mine who's really cute on engineering helped me. I ended up with a bent boat and Nick had to tell me how to un-bend it which involved sawing the front of the boat in half for about a meter down the keel then sliding one side up against the other which created some interesting asymeteric challenges. In my next life I will use box section aluminium as a strongback.

Just about everything that Nick has warned against has happened to me with this boat.......to anyone thats maybe thinking of reducing their efforts to matchsticks and hiding it discreetly away somewhere out of sight I say just when your thinking of doing it someone will come into your workshop and tell you they have never seen anything so beautiful as that kayak your building. Stick with it!