I've learned a lot from reading this site and members build pages around the internet. I just laminated my coaming lip last night, it went well, I used a variety of tips from everyone and I'm posting these pics to help anyone else.

Strips were cherry 1/8" thick x 3/4" wide. I bent them dry with a paint stripper heat gun as I clamped the strip around the coaming (no glue). My strips were long enough to complete one wrap using two strips, so once I finished bending the 2nd strip I could take the first strip off. As long as they were cooled down, they retained their bend (see pic). After all strips were bent, I wrapped plastic wrap around the coaming, clamped the first strips around, then glues up the rest of the strips with silica thickened epoxy. I ended up using all the small clamps in the house and included one funny "desperate" clamping pic.

Thanks for all the advice! The heat gun was essential; with these thick strips it would be impossible to bend normally. I still cracked two but still used them, the cracks are hidden anyway. Questions:

I used MAS slow and was planning to wait total two days for the epoxy to harden before messing with the coaming, but I could finish off the front today. What do you guys typically do?