Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, Paul. I appreciate it. FYI the large glue drips are hot glue, Rob recommends in his instructions to use hot glue as "clamps" between two strips. I did that for the first four or five strips. They knock off easily with a scraper, I've already begun knocking some of them off.

I'll get right to work on the rest, thanks!
Darel

: Looks like way too much glue--you'll have fun scraping it all off.
: But the strips bending in is from clamping pressure. Too much.
: Although sometimes it is from a tight fit with bead and cove
: strips.

: Hot gluing your strips to the forms may prevent them from springing
: into a natural curve. clanping strips to adjacent strips can
: twist them into a straight line along their seam. When the clamp
: pressure is released and they try to lay onto the forms, there
: is a long piece of wood trying to fit into a shorter distance,
: and the excess wood has to go somewhere. If you are using a lot
: of hot glue to hold the strips to the forms that could add to
: your problem.

: You shouldn't need to clamp your strips to each other between the
: forms. If they are not fitting well just by bending them, then
: you need to adjust the fit with a plane. Trim off the excess
: wood so the new strip touches the old one evenly along their
: entire shared seam. Make the strips the right shape, don't use
: clamping to force them into an improper curve.

: To fix the uindented areas you need to release the pressure on your
: seams. You can try cutting them open with a hot utility knife,
: or even with a cold knife. You can also try softening the glue
: line with a heat gun and see if the wood will spring free. If
: so, when it cools again it will be reglued. Or, you can keep it
: warm and totally remove a piece. Use slow gentle passes with a
: sharp utility knife to cut through the strip at a form, heat the
: area where it doesn't fit until it comes free (this takes a
: while) and pull it out gradually, keeping your heat on the area
: you are trying to loosen and remove in the next few seconds.
: Once the old strip is out, you may need to scrape off the old
: glue to get a new strip ito fit in. Get a new one and just butt
: it against your cut to replace the indented one. Use staples or
: brads into the forms to hold the new strip in place while its
: glue sets. An occasional staple hole looks like a natural
: feature in the wood and will not detract from the looks.

: Try to break some of the hot glue free of the forms around the
: areas which are affected. While it is nice to try to build a
: boat without using staples, using staples is certainly much
: easier. If you break off the hot glue as you build your current
: strips can float over the form with slight changes in
: temperature and humidity, and it will not be a struggle to get
: the boat off of the forms when the last strips are installed.
: Now that you have a few strips installed it doesn't take much
: adhesion to keep those on the building forms. Take advantage of
: the open area you have to loosen a few of them.

: Why not try holding your strips to the forms with something other
: than hot glue? You could staple a scrap of wood NEXT to your
: strip, and use that to clamp the strip to the form, but still
: allow it to move a little as it curves into shape.

: Right now I'd get out a paint scraper and try to reduce the volume
: of excess glue drips. That may hellp you see the lines a bit
: better. Some of the bulges and dips in the strips will come out
: when you fair and sand the hull, too. It it noce to be a
: perfectionist at all stages of the building process--but
: sometimes you have to allow for a good deal of slack. You want
: to turn strips with square edges into a rounded curved hull and
: deck. Geometrically it won't work. But if we start with a piece
: which is slightly bigger than we need, we can scrape, sand,
: file, chisel, or carve the wood to get the desired shape. Don't
: try to get the seams fair as you install the strips. Let the
: center line of each strip lay on the building forms, and the
: edges will probably ride a bit higher. let it be that way for
: now. Once the glue is hard you sand off the excess height to
: attain the curved shape. Don't rush the process, and don't let
: excess glue get in your way.

: When you apply the fiberglass your epoxy resin is going to seap
: into the seams between your strips anywhere you have a gap
: between puddles of glue. The epxoy is a lot stronger than the
: glue you are using--and you are probably using a very strong
: glue as it is. Using LESS of your glue when gluing up strips
: will still keep the strips together, but it will allow more room
: for epoxy to get in to eventually do a Stronger bond. Another
: case of "Less is More".

: Try to use just enough glue so that when the strip is installed the
: squeezeout looks like a row of beads 1/4 the size of a grain of
: rice. These beads should sit on the seam where you can easily
: knock them off with a dull scraper when they dry. If you have
: any drips or flow from your glue then it is a sign your seam is
: too loose (poor fitting) or has too much glue and capillary
: action between the pieces is not sucking the glue in.

: When you go to sand--and believe me there is plenty of sanding in
: your future--excess glue creates a nightmare. Most of the time
: it melts and smears, clogging expensive sandpaper in seconds,
: and wasting time and money. a coarse grit sandpaper will work to
: get the bulk of the mess off, but it mush be used delicately, or
: it will cut deeply into the soft cedar--and delicate work is not
: the nature of coarse grit sandpaper. So you'll still go slow.

: RIght now you are at a point to put on the rest of the strips with
: less glue, and in your spare time, work away ast small sections
: to get off the current drips. By the time the boat is stripped
: it should be looking good.

: Hope this helps

: PGJ