: Regarding the end forms bending that sounds like a real concern.
: Right now, if you push sideways on the end forms the entire
: strong back starts to move and twist a little bit. I think that
: this is due to a little bit of play in the slots of my stands. I
: am going to screw it down to the stands and hopefully that will
: stiffen everything up enough to hold it straight.
In my humble opinion, a bit of slop left to right isn't a big deal. Once you have a few strips on either side they will provide the horizontal stability you need. The critical issue is ensuring that the strongback is still true once you have put those first few on. It won't deviate thereafter.

Note I've seen other opinions on this though (basically boils down to an internal v external strongback discussion). I've not yet finished building one, so consider others' opinions above mine! But for me, I found that once I had even the sheerline strips, it stiffened up a lot once there were three or four on either side, it was not going to change from there. I appreciate the theoretical possibility of vertical curvature, but the 4"x2" strongback I used was very stiff vertically, and I can't see how it could flex up or down by more than a few millimetres at best.

: Ian, you site has been a tremendous help so far. I had previously
: linked to you blog and I have studied your photos. Your blog
: really helped me to fill in some of the gaps in Nick's great
: book and clarify the process.
Thank you very much! I found Ross Leidy's site, John Caldeira's and Kayakev's sites very helpful, amongst others:
http://www.blueheronkayaks.com
http://www.outdoorplace.org
http://kayakkev.wordpress.com/

I also found Vaclav Stejskal's manual helpful for planning the glassing process (both from the info on his www.oneoceankayaks.com website and his printed manual)

: As far as my shop being neat. It has never looked so good. This was
: part of my deal with my wife. I get to build a kayak, if I keep
: everything looking neat an orderly. A small price to pay for
: something that is of mutual benefit.
If you can keep it that way! I'll be jealous :-) Several hours of sanding with the ROS put paid to the tidying of my parents' garage that I did as part of the deal.

: Thanks again, this forum is a resource beyond compare.
I'll second that, it's been a huge help for me too.

Regards, Ian