: Hi Victor,
: Hot glue can hold the first strip to the molds fine and it breaks free of
: cedar fairly well.
: You could use a sacrificial strip and work from that, swapping the
: sacrificial strip for a good one later. That can be done as a feature.

: Hope this helps,
: Mike Savage
: South West Cork

This is not an attempt to talk you out of foregoing staples (if you have that fortitude, power to you!), just know that (at least on the Guillemots) the deck striping sans staples is pretty easy. Not much bending, twisting or pressure required to get the deck strips to conform to the forms. I found simple masking tape, with the occasional clamp/rubber band or bungee chord did the trick for most all of the deck. The hull is a different story. Staples are pretty hard to beat for securing hull strips. Things to consider are that 1. your hull will be underwater, and out of sight, most of the time, & 2. w/ very little effort, wood putty will fill any staple quite nicely. They're certainly not invisible, but they really don't draw much attention, either.

Todd