Thanks for the welcome, Randy and Kenneth.
Randy -- yes, my daughter is really into helping with the boat so far. I am very happy about that. It does take a little imagination to find things for her to contribute sometimes. But the threading the cable ties was an easy one.
Kenneth -- it is great to have some company! If you haven't started stitching up the hull yet, here is one thing I learned: when the plans say to take your time, and to not worry about gaps at the start, listen to what they say. When I started putting stitches in the sides, I was kind of anxious about the gap between the side and the bottom piece. After trying to get the panels cut as precisely as I could, that 3/8" gap looked like a yawning chasm. So I pushed on the wood and pulled on the stitches to close it, and sure enough, got two little cracks in the outer lamination for my trouble -- one along the top of the plywood block I had screwed there to stop a crack from developing, and one along the bottom. As I went along, though, I discovered that as I put in more stitches towards the butt join, the gap towards the bow became much easier to close up. So when I did the other end of the boat, I just tried to ignore the gap for the first eight inches or so, and then as I continued to stitch, would occasionally go back and snug up those earlier stitches. By the time I was finished with the side stitches, the gap was gone, and there were no cracks.
