Well, unbelievably I finally finished my 1.5 year long effort to build a shearwater, with no experience before the build.  It has been a great journey, with a lot of frustration, learnings, help from mates, lots of help from the forum (my deepest gratitude to you all) and overall, a great sense of satisfaction for completing it to my satisfaction (although with lots of imperfections).

I actually feel a sense of loss that I dont have the project anymore, and will take a break but will think about having another go in the future.

The boat performs very well, as well as my carbon boats.  It is light and roomy, and tracks straight and true.  Very impressed.

Again, thanks to all on the forum who have given me insight and hope along the build journey.

I wish I could post a picture of the final product, but it seems this post system is text only.

Regards

Struggler (Sydney, Australia)