: but perhaps there's an easier way.

Hi John,

Even hearing about the whole hammer thing made me nervous.

The secret knowledge here is that builders string cuts through glue. As a kid I had a job installing swimming pools where I learned that you can cut PVC pipe with builders string. I put that experience to work on the glue. I figured out that you can use builders string to cut through the glue without damaging the wood.

So I did essentially the same thing you are doing with the internal strong back. The main thing I did out of the norm was to release portions of the deck as I built it out. Just saw the string across between the form and the deck. As I progressed with the deck the narrower forms would be covered up first. Just before each form was completely covered up I would cut through all the hot glue on that form. As the deck progressed there was very little glue still left holding it to the forms. Only around the perimeter. With only a small amount of glue holding it on the deck was very easy to pop off. I then sawed through the glue holding the hull to the forms and removed the strongback.

It was pretty easy and I didn’t use a hammer.

Hope this helps,
--KT--