I'm in Everett Washington, just north of Seattle. I'll definately be at the West coast meet next summer. I stopped by R2K for a couple of hours and got to see your boat and about half of the rolling demo....you went under but....
Just kidding. Your boat was my inspiration for attempting a complicated design. It looked so cool with the contrasting colors. I spent most of my time talking with Jerry about his great auk and was encouraged that a first time builder could turn out such beautiful work.

The reason I think your method is better is because I started out with 1/4" thickness strips but will end up sanding down from that to even out the pieces that were slightly higher or lower. I got better at clamping them down but my first attempt, a test strip, I ended up with 1/8" thickness in spots by the time I got both sides smooth. I would rather have been smooth at 1/4" so I wouldn't have to worry as much about which sanding method works best!!