If you can get to a 3D solid modeling CAD system, you could model strip shapes, including bevels. Tolerance buildups on assembly are always a problem, so every 3rd, 4th, or if your lucky 5th strip would, as you noted, need to be adjusted to get you back on the scheduled location for the next strip.

Until several people try and fail, I would say it's feasible, but expect unforseen difficulties to arise. If you can get these issues resolved, it would eventually evolve into a doable process. But at that point, why not just layup cloth in a mold?

The hand making of the boats is, to me, part of their appeal.

> Sounds like you are developing one heck of a good system there.
> Ever consider mass production?

> Why not set up your production so that you can strip the boat
> in a matter of an hour or so?

> For me, the most time consuming thing was fitting each strip.
> There were a few strips that needed no adjusting, but most seemed
> to need tapering at the ends. While I was planing the pieces to fit
> I had plenty of time to wish for individual plans for each strip,
> so that they all could be cut to size ahead of time, and then rapidly
> assembled.

> Since you are assembling an entire boat without glue, why not
> number each piece, release the bands, copy the specs for each piece,
> (trace it?) and then reassemble the boat, knowing that each piece
> will fit. The reassembly should not take very long.

> You would probably only have to do this once for each design
> you choose to build. In fact, you might only have to trace pieces
> for half of each boat design. (either left half or right half). Hopefully,
> you could clamp two strips together and shape the pair close to finished
> size. One piece would go on the left sude of the hull, the other piece
> on the opposite side. That would assure symmetry, and perhaps cut
> some time off of shaping the pieces.

> Assuming a perfectly round bottom hull, for a 24 inch wide boat
> I'd need about 40 1 inch (25mm) strips for the hull, with 3/4 inch
> (19mm) strips I'd need about 50. I've always made each strip uniquely
> -- one at a time as I fit them to the partially assembled hull. With
> plans for 20 to 25 pairs of strips I could make those strips faster.
>

> The problem was getting the plans. Once a piece was made, it
> was already glued in. I could not remove it to trace it. Using duct
> tape and clamps sounds like a way around that.

> I might worry about how precise those traced plans would be,
> but it seems that even if a third of them were way off, I would still
> be time ahead. After placing two precut strips that came close, I
> could easily adjust the third. It shouldn`t take much to bring things
> into perfect alignment, and then I'd have a quick time setting in
> the next three strips.

> What do you think? Is this possible? Or, am I just hallucinating
> after inhaling too much sawdust?

> Paul Jacobson