> Great design - good for you for trying some difficult stuff. I would
> smooth like crazy from the outside and fill like crazy from within.

> Any how please tell us how you dealt with this problem because I for sure
> am gonna need some good advice on this problem too in the near future!!

> -mick

Mick:

I took half of your first advice. Smooth like crazy from the outside. I haven't gotten to the inside yet, she's still pinned to the forms. I have not sanded/planed through the deck yet (pleaseohpleaseohplease don't let that happen), but I have found that I could plane down a considerable amount of material to fair out the area surrounding the lowest spots. My spokeshave was the best tool for this job. Here's why.

The reason a given spot was low in the first place, except for my lack of diligence to make all the strips as even as possible, was that the part of the boat in question was very curvy, right near the bow on the deck of the Guillemot. Swooping compound curves please the eye and torment the wood. The nice thing is that at the lowest part of the strips, there is a nice tight joint. I shaved this spot lower and lower, and as each curl poured out of the tool, not only did the surface become more fair with the surrounding "high" strips, the joint looked better and better. I took it down close enough to sand the rest and will fill the remaining low spots with my expoxy sealer coat.

So what I have learned so far is:

1 -- Be diligent in keeping the strips close to the same level as much as possible.

2 -- Strive for good tight glue joints. Lots of clamp pressure; hand pressure and staples, or your new idea about a series of index holes along the edge of the forms used with dowels as dogs and wedges. Tighter is better.

3 -- A sharp tool, especially a spokeshave can rescue you from lots of problems.

4 -- If you're using custom design strips, make them a little oversized (thickness) just in case. Much easier to shave and take it off later than cuss and fill it in later.

5 -- Cooperate with the design of the boat. If it is curvy, curve with it. I'm sure the spot I shaved down is lower than the dimensions of the planned boat at that point, but the shape lends itself to some exaggeration there. I lucked out.

Ed Valley