One of the challenges in stripping the kayak hull is the question of how to handle the ends. Nick Schade's book recommends using cheater strips and a finger joint. The cheater strips are used to fill gaps on the end, much like the gap shown here. The bend of the strips on the end form is pretty significant, and to make stripping on the hull easier, Nick recommends leaving evenly spaced gaps such as this, and then filling the gap with a cheater strip.

Here you can see the cheater strip filling the empty space. I left approximately the height of one strip (approx. 3/4 inch) at the end of the form when laying the second strip. Then, I grabbed a scrap that was long enough and got an idea of how much wood needed to be taken off. I eyeballed it, for the most part, after making marks on the end and a few marks to guide me height-wise in the middle of the strip. Then, it was a matter of using the block plane to plane off the unneeded amount. Lots of planing and then test-fitting. I was amazed at how easy this went, relatively. I thought it would be an incredible pain. I was also amazed at how hard I could push that cheater strip up into the gap.

Another cheater strip, this one on the side of the bow opposite the previously discussed strip. I actually laid this one first, but forgot to take the "before" picture.

One of the cheater strips on the stern of the boat. The strips on the stern didn't go quite as easy as those on the bow, for some reason. Probably because I thought I was hot stuff for getting the bow done so easily, it was time for me to be humbled.

And the cheater strip on the other side of the bow. The plan from here is to lay another strip on each side of the hull, and then make the cheater strips for the resulting gap. Hopefully, at that point, the strips will be relatively straight so I can really start to go to town on this thing.