: Jason,

: You have opened Pandora's box with this question.... There are
: strong opinions on both sides of the fence on this one.

: I build my first strip boat with bead & cove from a kit with
: pre-milled strips. They went together great and I thought it was
: the way to go. Then, I decided to build a second boat milling my
: own strips. I decided to try the rolling bevel method and am
: about 3/4 the way through stripping the hull using this method.

: So, here's my take on the subject. If you mill your own strips, you
: will save a days work if you skip the b&c and will also end
: up with wider strips since you don't mill off the sides so
: there's some wood savings. I'm finding some of the tapered
: joints are easier to fit without the b&c and using a good
: sharp block plane, getting them to fit is quick. On the down
: side, I've got a few minor gaps between a few of my strips that
: will require some filler that I probably would have avoided if I
: used b&c. Also, applying glue is slightly messier as whey
: you have the cove facing upward, it makes a nice
: "trough" to lay a bead of glue for the next strip but
: this is a minor issue....

: So, my opinion is if you have b&c, it works great so use it. If
: you have flat sides, it works great so use it!! I'll probably
: build my next boat with straight strips but reserve the right to
: change my mind....

: Try both and then decide...

: Bob Beaullieu

Thank you Bob :)

From what I've been reading so far, there could well be strong opinions here, which is fine by me.... I'm not looking for an answer, just experiences so I can get my own answer. I guess one thing I should have mentioned is that I would be routing my own b&c, which I understand could be a bit tricky by itself. for the glue, I found some great cheap cheap plastic squeeze bottles at the local dollar store... big cap with a small nozzle so easy to fill and easy to get a nice fine line of glue.

Jason