: My (haven't started building yet) question: Are you using cove and bead? and
: would it make sense (for me) to (starting from the sheer working upwards
: on the deck) start with the first sheer strip flat - apart from the
: rolling bevel and bead the other face. Cove the face of the next strip but
: leave it square so all the deck strips can be easily mated to it???

... Pete :

I am following nick book very close. It was hard to understand some things until after did them. It does work out though.

The sheer strips are flat. there is one going up (deck) and one going down (the hull) the coves go up, for a good place to put the glue. the sheer strips are not glued together and i used a few staples to hold them together at the curves.
mating the two unglued strips was dificult and i probably didn't too good a job. but after its glassed it get beveled so ill figure it out then.

one other tip. I did some inaly today for fun, and found that if you push two strips together with sandpaper between them, then pull the sandpaper out, the joint gets very tight. I would do that to the sheers next time for sure. it was more dificult than i thought to get the flat surfaces to mate well.

the keel and center of the deck are also "flat edged," where the coves meet. they were easier because they don't have compound curves. i thought about running a long bead, or dowel down the center. Mabey in a contrasting dark color. I gave up that idea for the next project.

every other strip is cove and beaded. rather than not mill one side of the sheer/keel, i just did all the wood like a production line and sorted them after it was all beaded and coved. i get anxiety attacks if i start mixing tasks. when i picked out the sheers, i put a straight bit in the router and planed off the bead.

one thing i should have done was pick out both the deck and hull sheer strips at the same time from the same stock. i stripped the hull then picked out the deck sheer and it doesn't quite match.

finnaly, i am avoiding making angled coves. all my strips are going in with angled beads its much easier to lay them. the book explains it somewhat. it does limit the design a bit. most all of the stips are parallel to the keel, not the sheer. but ease of build is important to me.