: ok, i gotta ask... sorry. I had assumed cove and bead would
: sand smoother and be more watertight and provide a larger flush
: glueing surface. In other words the way to build it... OTOH
: it uses more wood, and if you are doing the strips yourself
: takes more time. I remember one guy saying he spent 30 hours or
: so stripping and routering his wood before starting his project.

: What other factors are involved, and recomendations.
: I followed a chain of links from here to a place selling strips,
: but they were THICKER than you guys use and expensive. (an opinion
: without knowledge of market values.)

: John

I use a combination of flat edged strips and strips milled with bead and cove. I use flat edged strips on the sides of my hull where there is not much curve. This is about the first four inches. Then I mill a strip with a cove on one edge and switch to bead and cove for the bottom of my hull.

I don't use C&B on my deck at all.

Depending on the design you're building you may or may not be able to utilize flat edged strips

Using a combination of C&B and flat edged strips is faster since I don’t have to mill all my strips with bead and cove.

The nature of the cove is to hide the joint. I have found that occasionally a joint that looked tight with bead and cove showed a gap after sanding. So I use flat edged strips where the joint is most visible, on the sides of my hull and the deck. I know if the joint looks tight with flat edged strips, it will still be tight after I sand.

On surfaces that have a slight curve, I'll make a small bevel on one strip edge. It's much easier to apply thin deck stripes when I don't have to mill C&B on them.

More care is needed to ensure strip alignment of course when not using C&B.

all the best,
Rob