: Well, I'm about ready to place the first strips, the sheer strips,
: and have a question ....
: My strips are all bead-n-cove. It seems to be a good idea to have
: cove up, for holding the glue as I go.
: However, I've been reading and most advice says the first strip
: should be flat at the sheer line.
: Is this that important? Should I plane the bead off the strip so
: the edge is flat?
: I was thinking it would be no big deal to leave it as a bead.

: Thoughts out there??

I am no kind of expert but I can share with you on how I did it. The way I did it opposes convention per the responses on this thread and written documentation, but it worked out perfect for me.

1. bezeled first strip on the hull to 30 degrees on my band saw this provided a seat for the deck. (cove side UP)
2. bezeled the first strip of the deck to 30 degrees also, this meets the hull when you drop the deck on top of the hull.

After a dry placement and all is OK, be sure to epoxy the deck-hull seat.

there was no problem with getting the strips tight on the forms as I took scrap pieces of strips 1 inch long with a bead and pressed down on the strip at the stations with it and stapled it in place
which holds the strip tight to the strip you're gluing to also. This procedure is kind of slow as I place a pair of strips in the morning and a pair of strips in the evening (1 on each side of hull.)
I shoot the staple onto both. 1 leg of staple onto the scrap 1 leg onto the full strip. (Make sure the strip is flat against the form edge)
I have never tried to do more than 2 pair a day, being a novice, I was not sure of the consequences of trying to place a whole bunch of strips at the same time. I read on this forum that a builder
used fishing line wrapped around the strips to keep them tight to one another and pulled against the strip already in place. I will experiment with this technique on my present build. The builder
who posted also used this technique on a Wee Lassie.

I would also like to add, I like Cove-Up. But, as I gain experience I may go to cove down if there is sufficient evidence to show that this technique is better. I do not believe in my humble opinion
that there presently is. I should also mention that whenever I try to re-invent the wheel, my success rate is about 25% (this is my disclaimer so, you're on your own if you decide to try what I did).

Good luck,
Douglas