I've been haunting this site for some time and finally decided it was time to test the waters (feels pretty warm, I don't know if that's from the sun or the guy standing next to me, gotta be the sun:) Sorry about the poor humor, couldn't resist. A short progress report. . . I used Nick's book to loft the forms of the Guillemot, cut them out, put them on a 2X4 strongback. Rather than cutting the strongback to length, I left it a little long and added 3/4" between each form on the strong back as my weight hovers between 215 and 230. The length of the boat will be around 18'. Otherwise, I haven't modified his design. I bought my WRC from a local lumber yard (Liverpool Lumber, okay I'll give em a plug as they were helpful). The WRC was smooth on one side an rough on the other. The strips have been cut which is where I made my first mistake and most certainly not my last. I didn't have a long enough run out which resulted in uneven thickness. Came on here and found the answer using the search engine. Also used two blades on my table which really did work well except I can tell there is a very minisucle difference in thickness between the two strips. I know this because when I routed the cove and beads some strips went under the feather board snugly whereas others were somewhat tight. So, the strips are all finished with cove and bead. Question number 1: I'm thinking about departing from Nick's book and would like to leave the cove and bead on the shear strip. This brings up an issue, if I do this when I stip the hull the the bead will be facing the keel. Should I do this or just do it the way Nick suggests in the book? More importantly, I'm having trouble getting these forms perfectly straight. I've noticed some of you here are perfectionists which is great, I wish I were that way but my patience won't allow it. Therefore I'm a "Good Enough" kind of guy. I guess that's why I'm planning on using staples cause I don't have the patience to wait for glue to dry. Anyway, sorry this is so long, any tips on the sheer strip and an "easy" method of aligning the forms would be appreciated. Wow, I guess I'm patient enough to be long winded! And if any of you live close to me, give me a shout!