I built a RR that just finished its second summer on the water. I also have built a NE dory, a Chess 17 and Shearwater Sport kayak.  The RR is a really nice boat.  A member of our yacht club here (Lake Lanier, GA) also built one.  Between the two of us we can provide you with many insights and recommendations.  Being a Pro-Kit, there is plenty of room for questions, interpretation and customization.

Before I forget to say it, right now (!) before going even one stitch further, I recommend that you consider pulling the full-bulkhead bow frame panel out of the boat and taking the time to put a hatch in it.  I can offer a design for the hatch. You can build something that will maintain floatation/watertight integrity, and yet provide sufficient access to store extra life jackets, an anchor, etc., and also to allow ease of installation for bow lights, etc.. 

I also recommend installation of a triangle-shaped backing block in the very front of the bow where the bow eye will attach.  The boat is big enough that your trailer winch can create some pretty high forces  pulling the boat up onto the trailer on a steep boat ramp, and there is much peace of mind knowing that you've reenforced the bow area for the bow eye.

I'll have many other suggestions, including battery placement, deck bilge-board layout, reenforcement under cleats, and especially offering an alternative way for making the hull-to-deck joint. Also, when to epoxy coat, glass and paint various parts for easiest construction. All these options require some modifications pretty early in the build process, should you choose to do them. We can also help with motor installation, steering, and wiring.

As to your specific questions on panel assembly, anything larger than a 1/4 inch gap (anywhere) is probably too large. 1/4 inch or less can usually be handled with filets, but closing gaps down to near zero is preferable. You can double check that there are no leftover nubs on your frames from the process of removing the parts from the plywood sheet. Always smooth them away - but don't remove any of the mating tabs! 

On the bow fit up, it will be OK to bevel the edge of the frame #1 if need be to get a good fit up.  However, CLC's CNC cutting calculations are set to allow parts like this to go in "square" without the need to bevel.  I do remember wetting the wood panels at the bow and using some force to get things bent into shape.

Bottom line for all CLC kit with regards to getting panels and parts in shape and well stitched prior to using any glue/epoxy is to do whaterver it takes to get close fit and good shape. Sanding, beveling, ratchet straps, spreaders, etc. are all OK - but do remember that CLC does an excellent job with dimensions. I was actually very surprised how well alll of the RR kit parts fit together, seeing as there are so many of them and the build is much more invovled and less forginving that something like a kayak with respect to dimensions. I recommend CA superglue for "tack welding" - it can greatly speed the process, and makes subsequent filets easier. If you use epoxy tack welds, don't make the beginner mistake of overdoing it.  The only requirement of tack welds is that they hold the boat together during the filet process.  Big lumps of epoxy make fileting much more difficult.

You can contact me at richards.home at yahoo. I can share specific advice as you progress in the build, and lots of pictures, many worth 1000 words each.

Excellent!  Thank you.  Your insights put me at ease and I will continue to work the hull to get it, and the frames, into place where things belong.  The ratchet straps worked great at pulling the bottom panels together with virtually no gaps.  And I’ve snugged down the copper wire stitches so that everything now is tight.  Happily, nothing moved when I removed the ratchet straps!  

I’d appreciate more on modifying frame 2 to create access while still maintaining watertight integrity.  Additionally, I’ll be adding a block behind the bow to accommodate a bow eye.  Good call!

   You can e-mail me for further correspondence. (See the end of my previous post for address.) 

For the bulkhead hatch I cut a pretty big square hole (big enough to get my shoulders squeezed through), with radiused rounded corners. I just went and measured: my hatch cutout is 16" high by 24" wide. The cutout center piece forms the hatch itself. This means that you must start your saw in a small slit, not even a drill hole.  You can use a dremel saw, or small line of 1/8" drill holes or whatever to get the jigsaw blade through the plywood to start the saw cut. The hatch board rests on a backing ring about 2" wide - 1 inch glued to the front (forward) side of the frame/bulkhead, the other inch forming a backing rim around the inside of the cutout area. You can probably salvage enough pieces of wood from the unused portions of the kit ply to make the hatch ring. SAVE ALL YOUR SCRAP WOOD THAT IS OF ANY DECENT SIZE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DISPOSED OF IT! You need 2 pieces about 26" x 2" and 2 pieces about 14" x 2". The hatch is held in place with 8 delrin ovoid toggles. A thin foam rubber rubber gasket forms the seal - it is compressible enough that the toggles can be pivoted to hold the hatch firmly closed.  Were the boat to capsize, the orientation of the hatch means that it is pressed shut by water pressure. I put a cross of 1" x 2" wooden stiffeners on the back side of the hatch, running side to side and top to bottom, just short enough/far enough from the edge to clear the hatch ring. Probably not necessary, but I'm a former submariner, so I'm used to hatches that can take some real submergence pressure.

The alignment on the drawing below will probably get screwed up on transmission, but might help.

                                 Aft (boat) side

                               Toggle is thru bolted

                                  #########||#### toggle

Hatch  <<<===========   ====||=====================>>>Bulkhead

Gasket this side ============||===== Glued on this side to bulkhead

 under hatch              backing ring              

                              forward (bow void) side

And as an aside, putting the first coat of sealing epoxy on all the frames and sanding them prior to initial assembly is something I'd do as a matter of course. Not worth totally disassebling all your work to do this, but consider it for all future parts. This just provides a nice smooth foundation for further finishing in the boat, and is much easier while the pieces are flat. This is just a "trick" I've learned from experience: If you don't have to worry about being able to bend a part during assembly, or even if the bend is moderate, I always pre-coat parts. You might feel like pre-coating is slowing you down in the beginning, but the time savings (and improved finish quality) will become apparent later. Some worry that joints might be slightly less strong as you are joining already "sealed" wood, but I have faith that the bond of new epoxy to even well cured (but sanded) epoxy is more than strong enough. Try to tear apart a joint formed this way as compared to one made with raw wood - I don't think you'll be able to tell the difference, and the wood itself will rip apart before the epoxy in all cases anyway.

   Previous post was from me. Bubblehead