Hi-

The latest fad is to bevel strips, and I'm sure you'll get lots of advice on that option. I just want to take a minute or two and talk about why bead-and-cove is probably STILL a better option.

When you cut a bead/cove, you are increasing the surface area of the glue joint by nearly 100%. Some people would say that strength in the glue joint is not critical because it will be covered in fiberglass. However, there is also an unsubstantiated claim that if you dye your hull a dark color the glue will get hot and soften, leading to "bubbles" in the epoxy along the glue joint. I sent some photos of the phenomenon people had posted over the years to the engineers at West Systems, and when they inspected them, without hesitation they said that the problem was that the glue joint of the strips was not substantial enough, and when the hull was stressed, like from putting your weight on it when entering/exiting on dry land instead of in the water, the strips flexed enough at the joint to cause fractures in the glass, which show up as white spots that could be mistaken as bubbles.

Bead and cove strips give a better registration, which also aids in a better glue joint, because when you join the two strips one rests in the other. When you join flat edges, even if they're a perfect match, there will be a tendency for them to slide around and it will be hard to keep them in place and put on enough pressure to make a good glue joint, especially when dealing with compound curves found in a kayak.

It is hard to get a perfect bevel when you do a rolling bevel, and many people back-bevel, or cut a sharper angle than necessary so that they only have to mate up the strip at the edge, and not the full width of the strip. Besides reducing the glue surface area of the joint, it will create problems as you sand, and you are likely to open up gaps between the strips that are not just unsightly, but also reduce hull strength.

It may seem like it reduces the amount of time to bevel the strips instead of cut B+C, but my guess is if you did an efficiency study, B+C would come out as faster. It only seems slower because of the impatience of wanting to get started building, not machining lumber. With B+C, though, you do the work once, and you don't have to worry about it again.

B+C helps a lot when you have to do acute angles as well- you plane or chisel off the inside part of the cove, and when you fit the strip the outside edge of the cove helps to register the new strip in place.

Just my opinion.

m