Initial advice from Fred

My particular friend Fred is a highly talented carpenter who possesses a vast knowledge of the sea and sea-going vessels (and their constituent parts and attendant rigging and accoutrements), and has a thoughtful way of expressing himself. Despite being 2,101 miles away (via land, much longer via the sea -- more on that later), he will be my advisor for this project. (Without my presuming his advice I would never have had the confidence to so much as order the kit.) Graciously, he has consented to answer questions and otherwise provide invaluable advice.

A word about joining: I had asked Fred about the relative merits of a scarf (or scarph) joint v. a butt joint. Here are the differences:

To make a scarf joint, one planes the two edges in a diagonal manner, so that there is much overlap to secure together:

Whereas in a butt joint, the two squared ends of wood are "butted" together and secured with a joiner across the joint. In this case, a thin layer of fiberglass on each side:

I had asked Fred for advice, because Uncle John recommends a scarf joint, but it seems beyond my rudimentary abilities. I think a butt joint would be more within the scope of my talent.

Fred's response:

A butt joint is okay.

Scarf joints in sheet material are difficult to execute, and can often be aesthetically and structurally disappointing. The underlying rationale is sound, but, in this case, a thoughtful, careful, artful butt joint will be entirely serviceable. The advice you refer to in your blog is well worth heeding. If you feel compelled, for any sort of spiritual reasons, to infuse your boat with a bit of joinery, you could consider, for this phase, a simple rabbetted half-lap, augmented perhaps with butt joint elements. A scarf in dimensional lumber, on the other hand, employed to cleanly lengthen a member or create a suitable blank for a curve or slight bend, is the preferred option from both formal and functional standpoints.

I looked up a half-lap (rabbeted or otherwise), and I think he's pulling my leg:

That is well outside the limits of my abilities. So a butt joint it is.
I would also add that increasing the difficulty level of this project for any reasons (spiritual or otherwise) is quite improbable. The project itself is enough of a challenge.

Fred then responded to my question about using brass screws as fasteners.

Moving on. The common complaints about fasteners, especially in structures of this kind, has to do with the vagaries of expansion, contraction, and deterioration of the differing materials. Adhesives, properly applied, ultimately will provide a stronger, more durable connection--a more fully synthesized whole. And the resin bond, inherently variable at the fasteners, might provide an eventual weakness and source point of delamination.

I never intended using just fasteners and no adhesives. The images I have seen of other pirogues under construction frequently include about 10,000 clamps holding the various parts together as the epoxy sets. Several of the builders, as I had said, have expressed a purist's reluctance to use fasteners. I have no such pride. Fred concerns me, though, in saying that the bond could be compromised at the screws. Still and all, I am going to press ahead with the screw plan, relying on the covering layer of fiberglass to fix all.

(Incidentally, I have a somewhat ironic attachment to using brass screws. When a boy, my family visited relatives in California, and we stayed with my Uncle John. (Not, I should point out, the Uncle John of the General Store.) My Uncle John was refurbishing an old power boat he had somehow obtained, and I spent several days helping him repair a splitting gunwale by adding a row of brass nuts and bolts along the entire perimeter of the fiberglass shell. I found the neat row of brass quite striking. It looked . . . nautical to me.)

Fred went on to make a very insightful commentary about my sail plan. I will hold off on posting that at this point, as I think it far too premature to consider means of propulsion of what is, at this point, still a theoretical craft. But I found his recommendations entirely sensible and I'm doubly excited at the prospect of making this a sailing vessel.