> OK. Try to follow this idea: Imagine being at the beach, sitting on the
> flat sand. You take your finger and draw a line in the sand. the shape you
> have made in the sand is a hollowed out `u' shape. This is a cove. Now
> look at your finger. The tip of your finger is rounded, not square, across
> the tip. If you had a strip of wood and shaped the edge so that it had the
> rounded profile of your finger tip it would have a beaded (rounded) edge.
> If you made a cove on the opposite edge of this strip you would have a
> bead and cove strip. make several of these and you can stack the bead from
> one into the cove of the other. Instead of having a square joint between
> the strips you now have a rounded edge joint which permits some
> flexibility in positioning the pieces.

> The usual way to make the bead and cove edges on wood strips is with a
> router or a shaper. There are several woodworking supply dealers who
> handle special cutters for routers for cutting the bead and cove shapes
> commonly used in kayak and canoe building.

> Now, if you do not use bead and cove strips your strips will have
> straight, square edges. Nothing wrong with that, but this works best if
> you are trying to edge glue your strips to make a flat sheet -- and you
> aren't. You want something that has lots of curves, and those curves are
> going to cause lots of opportunities for creative joinery.

> I don't think so, but there are plenty of modern adhesives to play with. I
> had considered the idea of a monocoque hull made only of wood strips (no
> fiberglass covering), but put that idea aside after considering some of
> the posts on this board concerning the distribution of stresses and the
> strengths of fiberglass over the wood core. That core is pretty soft by
> itself and a lot of the strength comes from the fiberglass that sandwiches
> it. On the other hand Thomas Hill is making his boats from 1/8 inch and
> 3/32 inch plywood (3 mm and 4 mm) with no glass sheathing, so I may
> rethink this idea again.

> Anywhere from an hour to several decades. Since this is not the usual way
> of doing things, there is a limited history from which to draw
> conclusions. You are going to have to do some experimenting here. If you
> use the wrong glue this thing will fall apart as soon as the glue gets
> wet.

> An analogous process would be creating plywood out of two layers of thin
> strips, with the outside layer running lengthwise, and the inside layer
> running widthwise. usa a suitable glue and it should be fine for years.
> With this idea in mind, consider that if you skip 3 out of every 4
> widthwise strips you'll have a boat constructed with wood strips glued to
> narrowly spaced ribs. Every seam is a potential source for leaks. Having
> the interior filled with wood strips ( the plywood idea) reduces the size
> of these potential leaks. So, the answer really boils down to how good
> your glue is, and how accurately you can make your joints fit together.

> Show us how it works out. Send pictures.

> Best of luck

> Paul Jacobson