: Thanks Rob. Do you recommend freeing the strips from the forms as
: well, or just soak them and leave attached?

See what happens when you wet the strips. Wet both sides. You may be amazed at how much water
it takes to have an effect.

Since you said you didn't notice the distortion until you had applied
6 to 8 strips I'd suspect the strips dried and shrunk.

Stripping in the winter can be a problem with strips drying out fast. Be very careful when you have glass your
hull and the interior is un-glassed. The exterior is now frozen and the interior can dry more and curl inward.
Again, soaking the wood with a wet sponge will expand this surface until it is equalized with the exterior.

You can knock the forms free of the hot glue also, and then re-attach the strips with a few dabs of hot glue.

I wouldn't worry too much, if you have small distortions on the sheer line since the strips will run fair once they
are freed from the stations. If you wanted to have a slight angle change in a strip panel by deflecting with one station
it would not stay that way even after one surface is glassed.

A strip joint along the bilge is another story. If you strip up from the sheer line to the bilge and then out from the keel to
meet, stripping what we call the "football", it is easy to have distortions along this joint if you are not careful.

I strip my boats from the sheer up and keel out to make a "football" bottom and I've found that if I strip up from the sheer
line all the way round the curve of the bilge,the strips from the keel meeting the side strips fit together much more smoothly.

The issue you are having with the strips has nothing to do with using hot glue. The more I use hot glue to hold strips the more
I have found it works better the any other method. If you start hot gluing each strip on the center stations and work to the stems
you will have no distortion of the fair curve of each strip.

Use small amounts of hot glue and much less carpenter's glue to bond strip to strip. Learn to apply a bead of carpenter's glue one third
the strip width. And wipe off as much excess on the interior and exterior before it dries. It is always easier to remove glue, epoxy and
varnish drips before they harden. Just make it a habit to check for drips and remove them while the material is fresh.

All the best
Rob