Ok, I am a little confused. Are trying to bend strips of Redwood to form the hul or are you bending strips for the inside or oustide stems. If it is stems, I have bent many hardwoods for stems by simply cutting them thin enough and using resin as glue while clamped to end forms over night. You should have no problem. If it is strips to form hull and you are trying to bend and torque them at same time, the glue gun is used to hold the strips to the forms with clamps or staples temporarily while glue dries. All hot melt glue will come off afterwards. For short strips of wood which are thicker such as for canoe keels, I have great success placing them in boiling water on stove top in large tray and boiling for about ten minutes depending on thickness. You need to leave it clamped for several days to let wood completely dry. Good luck
Rod