: 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 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.

I used B&C on a few boats.
Though the cove is a handy 'trough' for glue, there were some drawbacks to B&C for me.
The way the B&C strips lie around a curved form depends on the radius of the cove/bead, and the width of the strip. It was pretty easy for me to expose a bit of the cove surface.
Also, the thin edge of the cove was easily damaged, even though I had a good large shop in those days.
And, sanding tended to expose the joint and make it seem wider than it was.

After glassing, most of these problems were not very obvious, and certainly didn't compromise the strength of the boat.
Like you, I haven't had very good luck using fillers to hide problems, but if you do a search here I think you will find fillers that have worked for others.

When you are glassing, just be aware that you may need to take some care to avoid air bubbles at the problem spots. This may be an instance where a 'sealer coat' of epoxy (before glassing) may help.

Nobody but you will notice, really! Just get that thing headed toward the water. ;-)