The most important revelation to me is that these boats were built without the benefit of any sort of building platform other than what looks like pretty bumpy ground. What this means is that in order to get a symmetrical boat, the builders had to rely on the parts of the boat itself to achieve symmetry. The deck, once built became the building platform for the rest of the boat.
|This boat frame appears to be almost done. The builder appears to be doing some trimming with a hand saw, or maybe he is just using the deck of the kayak for a saw horse to cut a piece of wood.|
|Meanwhile, a little earlier in the building process, this builder has inserted some rib blanks into their mortises. Bending and trimming the ribs remains to be done.|