> Hi All,

> I am in the initial stages of making a Guillemot - forms, strongback,
> cutting strips, excreta.

Ewww....don't get any of that on you!

> I would like to get some comments about stapleless construction. I know it
> can be done - I am trying to decide if, for my first stripper, I should
> attempt this construction or not.

I'm doing it on my first stripper. Other than a few minor difficulties, I think it will be well worth it.

> Putting in staples to hold the wood in position for 30 minutes while the
> glue sets and then having to remove them - leaving all those holes - is
> something that I would rather avoid if there is a practical alternative.

I agree, holes detract from the appearance of your well-built boat.

> I was thinking of using 2" binder clips to keep the strips aligned
> between stations. To keep the strips tight and against the forms, some
> sort of clamping or "hold down" (elastic cord or rope &
> weight) at each station.

Elastic cord or rope & weight would be way too slow. I have been screwing a scrap strip to the form that presses the glued strip against the form, and will also hold it tight against the previous strip. I usually have to put a shim strip under the other side of the scrap strip to keep the scrap strip flat against the glued strip. I have also used some masking and shipping tape to pull strips together.

> Regular glue with strategically located dabs of hot-melt glue for the main
> construction and maybe some 5-minute epoxy for the higher stressed areas.
> Might even resort to some steam bending to pre-shape some of the
> "extreme strips".

The extreme strips are the ends that run right onto the inner stems. If you use "cheater strips" then nothing is too extreme. If you don't use cheaters (like I did) and no staples, it is a major PITA. I wouldn't recommend skipping the cheater strips, especially if you're going staple-less.

The extreme strips are those strips that have either an extreme bend or an extreme twist. With my method of staple-less, the extreme twist wasn't too hard to work with. The bend was, because there isn't anything out on the ends above the strips to screw to, and it takes a lot of tape to hold down that much pressure.

By the way, I'm also using the "rolling bevel" rather than cove & bead. It's working pretty well.

> I recently saw an advertisement for "90-second epoxy" that I
> have to look at - might be real useful in stressful situations.

Or even to avoid stressful situations!

Good luck! Shawn