There is a lot going on in this pic. The sheer strips have been moving around some, despite having been hot glued to the forms. A sacrificial strip fastened to the forms was an improvement, but that didn't stop the strips from flaring out and over the top when the straps were tightened. These U-blocks, based on Ted Moores' book are a good solution. They are fastened to the forms with two screws each, at the exact elevation of the sheer line, and with enough play that a wedge can be inserted to force the sheer against the form. They work well with the strap clamps, but at the ends more help is needed.

At both bow and stern the strips tend to spring away from the forms when strap tension is released to set a new strip. The hull is stripped all the way up to the horizontal run of the stem on both sides, so if stripping were to continue the defect would be permanent. This is the last opportunity to fix it. It isn't just that the shape is not what the designer drew, but also the defect is not symmetrical from port to starboard. The straps alone work just fine on rounder sections of the hull amidships, but they do not exert much force perpendicular to the sections that flatten out at the stems, so help is needed. Exterior forms were cut out of scrap with a round outer profile, so the straps can force the flat areas against the forms. A staple through the strap into each external form makes the tangle manageable while being positioned and tightened. Nevertheless, the sides would spring outward again once tension was released unless further steps were taken.

A seal coat of epoxy has been applied to the areas between straps, and squeegeed into all gaps between the strips. This is prior to any planing or sanding, so all the epoxy on the face of the hull will be removed, but the epoxy that oozes between the strips will tend to lock the hull into the designed shape. The hull will sit with all straps and clamps in place for a week in order to get well up the cure curve before tension is released. This is outdoors with hard freezes at night (and 8" of snow last Thursday!), so the epoxy takes its own sweet time to cure out. At the bow the epoxy was applied between the straps up to Form 4, while at the stern everything aft of the last form was coated. It was only then apparent that one more clamp was required, and that's the reason for the big baggie (actually a 55 gallon polyethylene drum liner). The aftmost clamp was cut out of 2"x4" scrap, and clamp notches bandsawed, then installed over the baggie to really nail down the flat profiles at the stem. The epoxy will not adhere to the polyethylene, and the stern (which extends out from under the carport roof) will be protected from rain for the duration.

Now it's time to hurry up and wait.