: Seems like most problems with strip panels arise when the panel is force into
: the curve when stitching. If we make the panel strips thinner (say
: 3/16" or even 1/8") the panel will be a lot more flexible and
: easier to bend.
: What do you think??

Hi there, Tony.

On the hull:

I think that using 3/16" thick strips to assemble the bottom hull panels could have worked. Nominally, I think that they would be almost twice as flexible as the thicker 1/4" strips. But, just to be clear here, the problem was not with bending the panel, which wasn't a problem, but rather with the twisting of it.

The panel was assembled into an arc, but it lay flat on the table. The 3/4" wide strips had no problem with this gentle arc, and glue or epoxy would hold it just fine. With it laying flat on the table, one could also lift each end several feet without any problem. It was the twisting of each end into the vertical position while the middle still lay flat that caused the splitting in the strips.

Joe Greenley also suggested once that perhaps another solution would be to glass the inside surface of these panels, then tape the seams once it was stitched and glued. That could minimize the weight penalty. Or, if you glassed only the bottom hull panels, then when you glassed the upper panels (after they were stitched and glued into place), you could simply overlap the glass an inch or two onto the lower panels.

On the deck:

I used 3/16" thick strips there, and they would not accept the bending into the short-radius bending. However, THE DECK PANELS HAD ALREADY BEEN GLASSED ON THE INSIDE. That side couldn't compress, so all the bending had to be accomodated by the thin wood strips. By scoring all the strip joints, I let the interior glass accomodate the curve to the deck radius; the strips themselves bent very little or not at all. It also gave me that old-timey deck look, which I was looking for, but this was more accidental. Again, I think I was following the CLC manual too closely when I should have made more adaptations to the changes I was making.

Assembling the deck strips over temporary forms, then removing the deck temporarily to glass the inside is the way to go, I think, as in normal strip construction. Remember that in a 'standard' CLC assembly, the underside of the deck is not glassed, though it is sealed. That's okay for plywood, but probably not for strip assembly.

Paul's probably right as well.

Pete Roszyk,
in Snohomish