: Great job! Interesting construction technique, too. If I understand
: correctly, you didn't use any glue between the strips, but rolled on a
: coat of epoxy after the hull was complete. Did you have any trouble with
: the strips coming apart during fairing and sanding?

: Jim

Thanks for your kind words. I used System Three Clear Coat, which is a penetrating epoxy, for this. I discovered it quite accidently about 10 years ago when I left a stir stick on a plywood bench. Even though only the tip had epoxy on it, it wicked the entire length and I had to sand it off the bench. I did many further experiments before I had the nerve to try it on a strip built boat. Then, I found that if any of it got on a staple, it would wick down the staple hole, but other than that, it worked like magic. Regular epoxy won't work for this, by the way.

Clear Coat doesn't set up nearly as hard as regular epoxy, but it bonds better and for holding the strips together for sanding and filling before glassing, it works just fine. I had to move my deck clear across my shop, which was over the top of a 26 foot sailboat I'm building in the middle of the shop. It was only held together by the Clear Coat and I had no problems at all. The hull got glassed before it ever left the molds.

G**rg* R*b*rts is the only other person I know who uses Clear Coat this way.

Al