G'day Dan.

I added a small piece of timber along the top as I left off the tailblock as well. Probably not need if you intend to glass the whole deck as you could run the glass over the edge a bit.

I'm only glassing the standing are of mine so I added the extra 5x5 strip. As well, I like to round over edges as much as possible so this will add a bit of beef when I round over the stern section.

Cheers

Yet another thank you, Craig! I must sound pretty obsessed about getting things spot on with this build, but then again, if you're gonna do something you might as well do it right. 

I did attach a strip of cedar in between the 1/4" gaps left between the sheerclamp and the tailstock ply. Whittled the cedar a tad and it made an excellent fit. Glued and clamped it so it rides slightly higher than the sides of the hull so that when I plane it down I should have ample width to lay down a good bead of epoxy when I attach the deck. I'll just need to add a bit of epoxy/wood mix in the remaining gap twixt the deck and the tailstock ply for a smooth finish and nice rounding material. 

I built the Pugmy Artic Tern 17' kayak about a dozen years ago and it is a beauty. I gave it a really nice look with hand painted black line tribal and inuit designs and plan to do something similar with the Kaholo so I wanted to have the tailstock as a "blank canvas." I'm actually working on some design ideas with a strong Australian Aboriginal influence. A tip of the hat to all ya down in Oz.

cheers!

dan