: I am working hard to perfect my strip building and i am wondering
: how much of a gap is reasonable to expect from this style of
: construction. I would like to think I am fitting my strips as
: perfectly as strip building allows but I only have my work to
: compare to pics and text on the Internet. Having my face 6
: inches from my boat I see canyons in every flaw.

: I am now using 3/16 strips with b and c and staples. The gaps I see
: in my work are small, maybe 1/32 of an inch or slightly larger.
: Not enough to creat an opening between strips but expose the
: bead and cove to some extent. These gaps seem to demand filling
: and I have found filling them causes more harm than good.

: Am I being too critical or are these gaps typical of the bead and
: cove process.

Can you provide a few photos of the worst spots?

The trouble with B&C is the cove naturally hides the joint.

You'd think it would be easy to catch, but working with long strips, one
dosen't apply equal pressure along every inch to seat the cove on the bead.

That's why I stopped using B&C on my deck almost from the start and stopped using it
altogether years ago. With a pre-milled 3˚ bevel on one strip edge, or a hand beveled
strip joint you can see how tight the joint is immediately. And not have a surprise gap
show up when you sand, like can happen with B&C.

I fill gaps (who me! have gaps!) only on the inside these days, with "Durham's" water putty
wood filler and I use artist's acrylic paint to color the filler.

Trying to fill gaps usually ends in emphasizing them because it is very difficult to match
the color of the filler to the wood color. And when you coat the hull with epoxy the filler
changes color. You COULD make it a design feature and really emphasize the color different,
make your hull look like a chinked log cabin! Or maybe not!

My advise is to wet the wood down well, with a sponge and water, to bring out the color
and run across the room, take off your glasses and if you can still see those gaps, go for
the log cabin look!

all the best,
Rob