Thank you Rob for the detailed response. I would like to say for the record that the plans and instructions that Rob supplied me with have been very, very good. And the North Star even on the forms is a graceful and beautifully designed hull. Rob has always taken my calls when I was looking for advice and he has freely given his time and good advice each time. I like Nicks work also and am especially grateful that he is such a stand up guy to go the extra mile for us and take care of this board. I did order his "coastal" plans first, mostly because it was a nice design and simpler that the North Star. I have no complaint about the plans or methods Nick uses, but I am most comfortable with a slow but sure (hopefully) approach and I just could not accept the method of using a single 2"X4" for a "Strongback" I know it is easier to strip the boat this way, but that is the only "good" thing I can see about this method and that is not a good enough reason to use something that will not in my opinion do the job (I mean do the job with out question). I could not feel comfortable trusting the stability of the entire form to such a hope and a prayer. In the event I did take over a year off of building my boat and left it stripped and unsealed on the forms for the whole time. All I can say is thank the Lord, I did build a truly solid strongback, because my boat is as true and straight today as the day it was built ( and I might add, the wood is definitly dry by now. I do believe that the 2"X4" method does work and maybe the best way for lots of people, but I seem to have a way of getting it "you know where" when I try "the easy" way out, just my 2 cents. Thanks to everyone for their input and especially to George, because although I see he can be abrasive at times, their is no doubt he is creative and independent and he has a definite point of view based on his experience. He shoots for top results and my opinion is he is good and he has balls. Besides he can't really be all that "rough" or he wouldn't keep helping beginers like me. Tonight is the night ! All set up for the seal coat and about to begin after dinner. Night all :-) and thanks