Thats what I do. It's been about 20 minutes of shaping with a block plane to get the fit right on my strip canoes. I place the second last strip before the football, then fill in the football within that last strip area. then mark and pull the football. fill in the last strips, then fit.

: Take a look at Newfound Woodworking's web site. There Michael suggests laying
: the strips for the football first, without trimming to shape, then strip
: the hull from the chines till you get to the football opening. You then
: mark and trim the football that you glued up earlier and drop it into the
: hole.