Hi Dale;

Thanks much for the nice welcome, and the compliments on the early kayak construction! I think I'm going to join the halves with a small 2" black walnut circular spacer, so I have something to fair the oval shafts into. I'll run the 1/2" dowel through that piece as well, putting about 3-1/2" of dowel into each shaft, for 9" total dowel. After trimming the paddles, overall length decreased to 88", while the (ahem) original goal was 90", so this gets me back on track.

Best Regards, Spidey