> I used one above
> & one below the forms (But I like your idea better) and it worked
> fine.

Hi Spidey

I'm making a short wide thin kayak w/ basically no endforms, so it makes a lot of sense to orient the string lines and strongback horizontally.

However w/ a long kayak w/ endforms like most here are making, I'm not sure but that your orientation is the best. By orienting the strings vertically, you maybe can more easily line up the end forms and get better string separation as many of the end forms may be more high than wide. I gotta weasel on this a bit as the big upturns of some long kayaks mean that the horizontal would be best.

There's no doubt that the horizontal orientation is the easiest for checking all along the process.

Summing up, for long kayaks, you have to look at all the sections stacked, and choose the best string orientation - w/ a slight preference for the vertical.