Hi Mitch,

That is some nice stripping work. I am doing my first boat and I've stayed away from "swooping" strips because for a first timer I think I put enough on my plate already. Instead I have gone for carefully arranged wood colors on the strips kept completely symetrical on each side of hull and deck with "accent" pieces that I laid up before hand. I wondered if Rob's warning against stripping accross the hull was due to the large difference in form heights (or some other factor). I too have this large offset but like you I see no problem making the strips conform to the bend thus created. I was thinking it would make the deck more stable while I glassed it. You say you experienced "no real purpose" but I wonder if that is only because you had the stability and did not see the difference that it would have made if you had not stripped the cockpit. I can really understand if it could be a source of frustration for proffessional builders to have to keep telling amatures to just do what they are told. I am not a professional builder and I (like others here) only care about MY boat, so like to pay as much attention to details they may only matter to me. Thanks for passing on your experience, and I assume that you have had no problem in cutting out and fitting out your cockpit using this method ??