: Hi Jim,
: I always leave the forms in place until after the glass is on both
: sides. And be very sure you mask the shear with tape as you do
: one side then the other. This is to keep from gluing them
: together prematurely.
: As for fairing with the forms in place be careful to keep very
: fresh sand paper. Change it more often than you think you should
: and use light pressure with the orbital sander. This is what I
: do to keep the forms from telegraphing through the fairing
: process.
: I try to keep the two halves strapped on the forms as much as I can
: after the glass work. I use the spreader sticks when I have the
: two halves apart for work on hatches and stuff like that. The
: spreader sticks will help keep the shape correct until you are
: ready to join the halves into one.
: If you don't have the Master's two books get them. Nick's books
: along with this forum will help immeasurably.
: I hope this helps. Have fun with the build
: Clayton

I'm at nearly the same point in my project - hull is stripped and sanded, gaps are filled. To fair the shear, I had to remove the staples and after raising the grain with water my staple holes have pretty much disappeared. However, with all the staples removed, the hull and deck have relaxed some and separated from each other along the shear line as it has sat on the form staple-less for the last week. Total gap is about 1" in places and the two sides push together tight with medium-light pressure.

I'm reluctant to re-staple the hull, so I'm trying to figure out how it makes sense to re-train the sides into place. As I understand it, the outside fiberglass layers will add strength but not total rigidity, so would it be a reasonable plan to apply the exterior fiberglass on the forms with some distortion, then train the sides back into shape when I pull it off of the form to do the insides?

Or, should I use the spreaders to true up the sides while the exterior fiberglass is still green? I'm a bit concerned about the spreaders putting dents or other stress marks in the green epoxy. I guess my final option would be to hot glue the boat back to the forms, but I've gotten this far without hot glue and would need to buy a glue gun, etc.

So, is there a preferred method for stapled boats to line up the sides when applying fiberglass on the forms?