: Hi John,

: I finished my 11th strip yesterday. I attached four plywood strips ~ 3ft x
: 1" x 1/2" to my risers/forms. This has two advantages. You have
: a place to put your strip and you avoid banging the ends of the strip on
: the floor etc. For beveling I just use another 3 ft long yellow cedar
: strip (3/4" x 1/4") as backing while the strip is supported at
: four places along the kayak lenght and I just hold the strip against the
: previous one very often and check the fit. So far it has been going well.
: The bevelling of an 18ft strip takes me about an hour. Attaching all the
: brackets and test clamping it adds another 30-45 min and 30 min for
: gluing. I only apply the glue to the next station ahead that I have
: sufficient time to place the strip properly in place.

: The fit I get is very good. I only srewed up last night when a strip slightly
: moved on me leaving about a 0.008 gap on the inside at one station. I
: typically
: get a fit better than 0.004.

: I found a mirror really handy to check the fit on the inside.

: Andreas

Andreas, thanks for the mirror tip. I use it on every strip now. My first two strips didn't need a bevel. My dado grove to hold my strip and a the fence for a guide puts on a 5 degree bevel which is the bevel that is working right now. I beveled an 8 ft. strip yesterday in less then 5 minutes. I blue chalked the edge to see the stock I plane off, and droped the strip into the dado slot. I then used a 9" jack plane to quickly run down the strip putting on the 5 degree angle. It fit for 7 feet and the last foot I used a $2.99 cheapy 3 1/2 inch plane to put on the last angle while holding the strip in my hand. I think I can do a simple rigging to change the 5 degree angle to say 10 degrees or what ever I need. We will see.

John