: I'm building a night heron. I'm at the point where I'm removing the staples
: from the completed hull and deck. I've noticed that the deck sheer strip
: has bulged out of line about 1/4 inch for about a six inch length midship.
: Is there anything I can do now to correct this problem? If I wait until I
: expoxy the glassed hull and deck will I be able to force the sheer strips
: to align with tape and muscle? Also, if there are gaps between the deck
: and hull sheer strips can I fill them in and put a fiberglass tape over
: the outside? Thanks for any help to this novice.

Steve,
I too built a night heron for my first project. I don't think the 1/4" gap will be anything to worry about. After glassing the outside of both deck and hull, I found that I had the same issue if not worse. To fix it, I cut spreader bars with notches cut on both sides (for hull and deck) at every frame station. (Note, a spearder bar can also help pull everything together if the notch is cut just right.) I then put the two halves together with the spreader bars in between and put a small ceramic heater inside. I heated the whole boat for about an hour or two then let it cool overnight. If you are successful leave the bars in place till your ready to glass the inside. You may want to repeat the procedure several times and again when are ready to join the two halves. By doing this I had virtually no "struggle" lining everything up for the joining. Doing this may also help you gap problem between the sheer strips. Afterall, if the hull is bowing out, that means it's pulling the stems in to each other becuase the strips are still the same length. Think of that "bowflex" comercial, if you push two ends into each other, the lengths will bow out. Don't forget if the sheers still have minor gapping you can sand them down a little to match.
Tim