I love Tom's method, and his Sea Rider. However, I'd suggest a change.

Suspending the forms between the gunwales, and then trying to bungie the chines on, and make everything fair took me forever, because it wouldn't stay.

Mike Hanks built his Illorsuit replica upside down - he was able to do so, because Duncan Winning surveyed the Illorsuit with a waterline at each station. That way, you can build a station support on to your strongback all with the exact same height, attach each station upside down, all lined up to the top of your support at the waterline, and have everything stay in place while you lash/peg/screw/glue/whatever your gunwales and stringers to the stations.

If you emailed Tom, I bet he'd put such a waterline offset into a design for you.

So, this method would obviate the need for a perfectly leveled strongback. But as Bill pointed out in his post, something would be off and might bug you, that being the level. But in Mike's method, the boat construction referenced to a flat and square strongback should eliminate minor leveling problems.

Brian

: I'm building a 16' version of Tom Yost's strongback, and the shop
: floor I'm building it on does not appear to be totally level.
: After bolting the 2x4's, together, I set the 1x6's on top and
: checked the level across every couple feet. Looks pretty
: dead-on, perhaps room for a very thin shim in a spot or two, but
: that's it.

: On the other hand, running lengthwise I'm not so sure, and not sure
: how much it matters.

: 2 Q's

: 1. Can I screw in the 1x6's prior to attaching legs/stands to the
: 2x4 assembly, or should it wait until that's been added first?
: 2. Does lengthwise-level matter? I read past threads indicating
: varying amounts of importance.

: Thanks! Hopefully my series of noob questions will provide a
: search-able how-to among other not-so-handy first time builders
: :)