Strongback

As stated in my earlier post, I gave up on the laid-up-plywood idea, and got a 2x6 and a 2x4. Much more rigid & straight, but it too, weighs "tons".  The patterns are stuck to the other sides of the forms. Fairly straightforward to put together, and as usual, I "got good at it" by about Form 14. One error: I thought that a 6" width would make a nice, hefty platform, and it does, but Form # 2 was less than 6" wide, so I had to do some 
 Creative Carving.  It gets less scary a few days after its completed. It looks pretty much like everybody else's picture of a strongback, so I must be doing something right.

 11-1-12
Well, I was doing "something right, but not everything. In case I hadn't mentioned it yet, I decided to build this kayak  at 96% of the design length.  I usually remembered this, but not always-for example, I diligently lined Form #1 on the marks, forgetting that the position would be different on a shorter boat. As per the instructions, I placed strips along the shear line of all the forms, and found that I had to reposition four forms, including the bow form. I had no idea until I placed a strip on the forms. 
I tried test strips on both shear lines, both waterlines, and 2 strips on the keel  line. I think Its right.