> Shawn, did you have a specific reason for not using cheater strips?

Appearance. Pure vanity! I thought the boat would look better without them. To be honest, with a good job of grain matching, you could put them in and not even notice them. Skipping them is not really worth the hassle; of course, I'm not about to rip up everything at this point just to put them in!

> I might make a point of keeping the "negative" piece of wood that I cut off of
> the form to use to make a clamping jig on those extreme strips neat the bow
> and stern. What stations give the most trouble?

0.5, 1, 16, and 16.5. To some extent, 2 and 15. Keep the portion of the "negative" from the point of the keel down about 2" in those areas--those pieces might come in handy. If you can run a 3", 4", or 5" screw down through the center of that negative and into the strongback, it makes a great self-aligning clamp.

> C&B or bevel - something else I have been debating. Do you have any problem
> keeping the strips aligned inbetween stations?

Not really. I used spring clamps, PVC "Cheap Clamps" or ACCO binder clips, but very little clamping pressure is needed here, so it's not a big deal. Between a lot of stations, the strips aligned well enough I didn't even clamp them.

One other thing I liked about doing the bevel method is that I was able to flip a strip over or end-for-end to get grain that matched the adjoining strips better.

Happy deciding! Shawn