: Robert, I am very close to your skill level as I am just ready to
: attach the deck and hull of my first boat and have the hull
: stripped on my 2nd. boat. On my first boat I used B&C - self
: aligning, glue trough, etc. all sounded good. I first discovered
: that if the B&C isn't perfectly centered you will have problems.
: My second discovery was if each strip thickness isn't within a
: few thousandths you will never keep the B&C centered. My 3rd
: discovery was it is very difficult to go around sharp corners. I
: am sure I had the same gap problems as you. I saved the sawdust
: from my ROS and used it to thicken some epoxy to fill the holes.
: When it was set I lightly sanded the filled spots then sealed
: the hull with epoxy and glassed. It came out looking fine except
: the fill was a darker color than the strips. The deck strips fit
: much better as it was flatter but I did have a few holes to fill
: at the bow and stern. This time I mixed epoxy with ROS dust and
: West Systems #406 colloidal silica at about a 35/65 ratio. The
: color came out much closer to the strip color.

: I have made every mistake there is to make on my first boat and so
: far I have been able to find a way to correct them. Don't be shy
: about asking how to fix things, we have all been there. Those
: beautiful boats we see photoed on this site are in our future.
: We just need to keep asking these guys how they did it:)))

: The 2nd boat hull is planed and fitted strips, no B&C. I bought a
: $4 plane from Harbor Freight that fits into the palm of my hand
: and it works perfectly. Fitting strips with a plane is so much
: easier and the quality so much better that I will never use B&C
: again.
: Randy

You're right Robert, it gets easier with every build. I doubt the max characters on this message engine would allow me to list all the mistakes I made on my first boats. I'm still a long way from the experts here, but I find it easier each time now. Fitting a strip that used to take several re-do's and an hour I can now fit in minutes with nearly perfect joints. I gave up on the bead and cove after one boat and got proficient with a small Stanley low angle plane. I now cut my strips 3/16" with one edge beveleled to 5 degrees. Easy to manage and fit with minimal work needed for most lenghts.

Kirk