I am preparing to start building a Mill Creek 16.5 from plans, not from a kit, so I'll be cutting my own panels out of the plywood sheets instead of using pre-cut ones.

 I've been doing quite a bit of research before starting and wanted to aske if it is reccomended to stagger where the joints are in the panels (like reversed) so that they don't all line up.

I've seen it done both ways so, i have no idea what is correct.

Is this a serious structural issue or am I worried about nothing? I'd hate to have them line up and have my bow fall of sometime.

The appearance of the location of the seams/joints is not an issue since I will be painting the hull.

thanks for the help/advice,

A.J. 

West Sacramento, CA