Greetings and welcome to this adventure.
I think it is an excellent idea to epoxy/tape one seam at a time, at least to start. Particularly for first timers. I have built several kayaks with this method previously and still had problems doing the three seems at one go, largely because of miscommunication with my epoxy mixer!
While I like the idea of doing one seam at a time, not so sure about only laying in the #1 panels to start. I get your point about the alignment, but still think I would like to have the #2 panels wired in place before doing the #1 seam. As an average height guy, I had no problem stretching in to do the #1 seam.
Some other tips:
- when wetting out the tape do not go overboard brushing on epoxy over the tape. It should not need much and generally “less is more”. I find that running my gloved fingertips along the tape wets it out from the epoxy and putty underneath and results in a neat seam. As long as it goes clear that is all you need – do not worry about the weave showing through.
- secondly, organization and cleanliness is key throughout. I build a little supply station as in photo below so that I can easily grab brushes, towels etc one handed during the job. Nothing worse than having epoxy gloves and rummaging in a bag or box for supplies.
- take great care to keep your glass tape clean. A drop of hardened epoxy or a splinter on it will cause big problems later.
Go slowly and read and reread the manual and have fun.