: Hi,
: Very very new to kayaking and building myself, soaking up info like
: crazy! I saw these U shaped clamps in the videos that Nick has
: done and made some myself on the tablesaw. I ripped 3"
: strips from plywood left over from my kayak forms, then using
: mitre gauge on table saw sliced off 2" sections. had about
: 40 of em in less than 10 minutes. The slots were just as quick.
: clamped 10 together with bottom and right edge flush, clamped on
: top left corner. Used a dado (about 3/4" thick cut), set
: the fence on the tablesaw so it would cut where I wanted the
: groove to be and started dado blade off low then progressively
: worked it higher as I ran this block thru. Clamp provided a nice
: out of the way handle on the block and the dado made quick work
: of cutting out the slot. I cut slot only about an inch deep,
: hopefully that should be enough...

I have used an approach like this that is outlined in Ted Moore's Canoecraft book. The idea is to find a way to clamp the strips in two dimensions - edgewise to the previous strip, and sideways against the station mold. The clamping blocks he recommends are about 3" x 5" with a 3" x 3/4" slot cut in from the end. These are clamped to the station molds with c-clamps and long 3/4" wide wedges are used to jam the strip in place.

I am just finishing a 13' double paddle canoe that I used this approach on. It does slow down stripping, you can only do 3 strips max at a time, then you have to wait for the glue to dry and move the clamp block. I often did only one or two, especially around the curve of the bilge. The final product is really cool though and you don't have to pull staples.