: As a beginner who just did this on his Pygmy boat I think Nick's idea has
: strong merit. The end result of running a bead of peanut butter epoxy and
: then smoothing it in looks fine. But somehow I think shaping the end of
: the kayak so the endgrain is exposed will look a bit sexier than just
: epoxy. It will also be faster with fewer steps. On the downside if you
: mess up you may have more trouble recovering. Keep in mind I have a
: beginners outlook.
: I built many rc airplanes as a kid and making the leading edge of a plane
: translated nicely into practice for shaping the end of a stitch and glue
: kayak. It did take a while to shape the ends. But I think I obsessed a
: bit. I was worried about making the bead round enough to allow the glass
: to bend and used wayyyyyy too much epoxy. Good learning experience for
: kayak number two.

I'm also a beginner, thus the doubt about my epoxy-shaping skills. I'm much more comfortable shaping wood, in part because I can go slow, step back often to look and measure, and not feel any pressure about cure times, color match, getting the goo in my hair, etc, etc.

I think I'll shape the wood.