Joining Deck And Hull

I "got over" cringing about drilling holes in the hull, and put several more pull-together sticks in. I also tried pulling a double-sided piece of sandpaper between the halves, to attempt to align the joint.
This time, I put a full coating of thickened epoxy on both halves, instead of spot-gluing.

Quite a barrage of clamps, straps, tape, and shrink wrap holding it in place. The tension sticks made it easy to align the deck and hull. I fervently hope it holds once I remove all this stuff!
The kayak looks bigger than I thought it would. Vaclav's designs do.

Huzzah! I removed all the apparatus holding it together, and nothing moved or distorted!
I did try putting in the strips of 4 oz. tape, and it just wouldn't happen. The strips are hard to make in the first place, and they wouldn't unravel without going "out of control".
I "resorted" to fiberglass tape. I got (ridiculously cheap) 1-1/2" tape, and did the seams without problems. I think it was the 2" stuff that seemed to drink up mass quantities of epoxy.
All this makes me want to try a design that uses sheer clamps.