Well this is only my second boat but here is my take...My first boat was a Great Auk built with an internal strongback. I chose to use hot glue to tack the forms to the cleats. It worked well and I only had minor difficulties gettin acceptable allignment.

My second boat is a Outer Island which I am building with an external strongback. Actually I re-used the internal strongback and attached a 1-4 to the top. I just completed alligning the forms and I think I got more accurrate allignment much more quickly. Some of that could be that there was a steep learning curve during the first attempt.

I think depending on design, you could use an internal strongback. One of the things you will have to watch is the placement of the strongback within the form. Depending on how much rocker there is a design, you may have a problem with the strongback "running out" of the forms. I made a template of the strongback and picked a position to mount it...say DWL - 2" and then tried it out on the forms. Eventually I found an acceptable location.

Best of luck,

Jay