Last day of doing butt joints

I finished the last butt joints tonight. My last 4 or 6 joints were significantly improved over the first ones. The finishes are smoother and I did them with less work. Bearing this in mind, I have a tip. If you have the room in your workspace I would finish all the butt joints on the underside of the panels first (underside being the side with the stickers/labels on them) before doing the top side. This way you will have more practise before starting the upper sides, which will be visiable.

The way I’ve been working is to do two butt joints a night. I then wait 24 hours (6C temp, fast cure hardener) to remove the bricks and mylar and trim the epoxy from the ends. However, I’m not going outside every night, so that’s why it’s taken me 4 weeks just to get this far. I’ve been meaning to record the hours I spend working on the kayak but I haven’t done this yet. I’d better get caught up before I forget.