: OK Folks: After I admired my newly precoated deck long enough - I tried to
: separate it from the forms.

: Unfortunately, the hot melt glue that wouldn't hold the &%$#&ing strips on
: while I was laying them, is now stronger than the glue between the strips
: (and even some of the strips themselves). Why I didn't stop, I don't know.
: It was as if I had been taken over - like the Hulk! In the end there was a
: big mess. Cracks along the accent strips, cracks in strips. Some as long
: as three to four feet. I went from being proud papa to demolition man, boo
: hoo. And finally when the damaged peirced my alter-ego's intensity, we
: stopped. Never got the deck separated (or it would be in pieces). I walked
: away for a couple days and drown my sorrows in a flood of tear-tinged
: scotch.

: The cracks almost all go back together without visible seams. I've re-glued
: and taped them. There are a couple, however that would not go back
: perfectly. For the ones with gaps, I'll either fill with wood or dookie.
: For the ones that went together with a ridge, I guess I'll sand and
: re-coat with epoxy. Will I ever be able to get the sanded areas to look
: the same? Or am I better off sanding the entire deck back to bare wood and
: re-coating?

: Lessons: I think I should have glassed before trying to remove the deck from
: the forms. That and stapleless for my first stripper might have been
: ambitious.

: Thanks for this catharsis of this board. I think I'd still be drinking if I
: didn't have this place to go to. . .

: R

Actually it's good that you found the flaw in your deck removal technique
before glassing, otherwise you would have cracked/stressed the glass in
a dozen places and had to patch the glass.

As it is, you should be able to glue the wood together again and have it be
nearly invisible. I'd use epoxy in any cracks you can see and don't worry
about the ones you can't see, you 'll fix those when you glass the interior.

The ONLY way to remove stations, when you've used hot glue to hold your
strips, is to WHACK them out with a great big mallet and pry bar hitting them
parallel to the keel/deck centerline toward the center of your hull.

You can wedge a putty knife between the deck and station edge to break the
hot glue joint JUST enough to squeeze a pry bar between the deck and hull for
the whacking station removal technique.

If you lift or try to pry the deck/hull off the stations and stems the result
will be what you've experienced.

This whacking technique may seem counterintuitive but that's just how hot glue
works. And if you know how it works, it works great.

If you had trouble with the hot glue holding it may be because you had the wrong
formula. You must use hot glue specifically formulated for use with wood.
This hot glue is usually a golden yellow color.

All the best,
Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.laughingloon.com