: Hi.
: I am almost relay to glass the out side of my first attempt at a
: strip built and was wandering when is the best time to cut the
: cockpit opening? I was thinking about doing it before I glass
: the top so it is easer to trim and also cut the opening slightly
: smaller and then shave/ sand it to the proper size so I dont
: screw everything up with the saw... other questions how do you
: get the sides perfectly vertical for glueing the combing on and
: how do you cut around the forms? Razor knife?

: While I am at it what type of jig do you guys like to use for
: holding the combing strips in place while the glue dries?

: Sory if this is a nube repeat question but It is late been sanding
: all night and I am feeling to lazy to look it up in the books,,,

Depends alot on what the shape of the deck is and if it was completely stripped or if there are partial strips where the cockpit will be. If it's completely stripped I'd glass the whole thing, both sides and then cut out the hole, the deck's just alot stronger after it's glassed. Doesn't always work that way, some deck designs can't easily be stripped across the cockpit, so you have partial strips running into the hole, then it's best to cut the hole for the cockpit first then glass, the glass can be draped over the cockpit so it's easy to glass the hole thing, if a bit of epoxy is painted onto the glass over the hole it's easier to cut it out later too.

Bill H.