: Hey, all. I've got 3 strips on each side of my OI (yeeehaaaa!) Everything
: I've read talks about leaving room for the spacer strips since the extreme
: bends will be tough to make. But, even without heating the wood, I've been
: able to make the bends.

: The question - should I start using spacer strips anyway? What am I in for if
: I don't? Will it be a problem later on if I don't? I'm not clear on
: whether or not I'm setting myself up for problems - HELP!

: Rick

Hi Rick not knowing which boat your building I can't recommend one way or the other. but I do know that I have built a guillemont and I am in the process of building a spring run and have not used spacers on either, the first with 1/4" and the second with 3/16" strips with out heat and the second is stapleless.

I did run in to a slight problem win I missed the fact that my strips were not tight on the forms on the bow on about the 7th 8th and 9th strips but I was able to solve that with a plywood halo and some heat. if your strips are running true and tight to the forms I cant see any reason to start running spacers if you dont want.

people do it both ways, but if you do run into problems you can add spacers at that point.

Good luck and have fun.

John

P.S. If you get a chance post some pictures we would all like to see whats going on.