: Listen to what Nick just said. This is very true. It is the only good way to
: tell.

i could imagine a scenario of the s/b twisting or the end(s) warping down in a 'fair' manner and then the strips appearing fair on that, even though totally screwed up.

a stringline for the forms w/ assure their location; curved strips could curve nicely on a nicely curved/twisted base.

making your strips run fairly to me implies possible problems w/ the form design or form locations that should be checked to see if the problem actually exist. (could be irregular grain, formspacing or other possibilities too)

this is nit picking, as i/m sure most boats are built this way. but as an uncertain builder i would want to be assured to the best of my ability that the forms lined up first and then fair the strip and then ask questions of why it/they wouldnt.

want to be confident of the baseline.