Hi,

I also use a slightly different sequence than you seem to have in mind, and I use staples on the hull. However, if I were in your position as I understand it, the following is what I would do:

1. Mask off the sheer joint with masking tape to prevent epoxy from getting into the joint and preventing you from separating the hull after glassing. Cover the first cedar strip the hull edge below the sheer joint with the tape, and hang garbage bag plastic off the lower edge (the hull is now pointed up, the deck down) to prevent epoxy from running onto your deck. If you position the upper edge of the garbage bag plastic at or slightly above the sheerline joint, you will have less trouble getting the hull off later.

If , rather than masking above the joint, you try to glass all the way to it, you will have a devil of a time getting the glassed hull off, because epoxy will seep into the joint. The bare strip along the sheer of the hull gets covered by the strips of glass you use to join the hull and deck.

2. Glass the outside of the hull. If you take the hull off without glassing it, you are more likely to damage the hull structure during form removal, or have the hull change shape before attaching the deck., either of which could present very serious problems. I would leave the hull on the forms until you are ready to immediately glass the inside after you pull it off the forms, preferably during a stable weather pattern so changes in humidity do not cause the hull to warp on you.

3. When you are ready to glass the inside of the hull, first make spreader strips, each exactly the width of each form at the sheer line. You will then need to mark the positions for the spreader sticks on the inside of the hull. You could use masking tape or pencil lines to do this, marking the form edge which strips are seated against. However you do it, watch that knocking the forms out doesn't destroy your marks. Mark both sides of the hull so that you can precisely locate the spreader strips.

4. Do whatever you need to to get the forms out of the hull. I assume that this will involve knocking them clear of the deck strips as well as the hull, but you will have to figure out what will work best given your setup. Once the hull is clear, I would immeidately re-attach the forms to your strongback, and re-position your deck strips. You will want to be very careful here to ensure that your forms are re-aligned properly or you will end up with a deck shape different than your hull.

5. Glass the inside of the hull, install the spreader strips as soon as the epoxy is firm, and set the hull aside. You can tighten the hull onto the spreader strips if necessary with masking tape. Support the hull evenly so that you do not introduce a twist during storage.

6. You can now continue stripping the deck, and glass it with the same sequence as you did the hull before joining the two.

7. Before you join the hull and deck, you will have to remove the glass and masking tape along the sheer of the hull. I would taper the glass with a carbide scraper down to the edge of the tape, and once it was nearly penetrated to the tape edge lifting the tape and folding the remaining glass at the tape edge should allow final trimming with a utility knife. Make sure that you are nearly all the way through the glass or it will tear free from the cedar rather than breaking along the tape edge. Once the tape is out of the way, you can finish tapering the glass to the cedar while you are truing the hull and deck joint.

If I have missed anything, I trust that someone else will fill in. There are no doubt other ways to skin this particular cat, but the bottom line in my opinion is that you need to glass the hull before taking it off the forms, glass the inside of the hull immediately thereafter, and store it carefully with spreader strips installed.

Good luck,

Allan Edie