> Hi All;

> The tapers needed when joining the keel strips to the sheer strips have
> slowed me "right down." New pix of a 'nearly' completed hull are
> up at the link "Hull Construction" at the bottom of this post.

> The speed slows to a crawl when you have to wait for the glue to dry
> before proceeding - - And these *l*o*n*g* tapers require lots of jigging
> and dry time to get it right. Any hints as to how to speed stapleless
> construction along during the taper phase?

> Best Regards, Spidey (Ken)

Hi Spidey,

The technique I use for long tapers is to use a metal vernier or dial caliper. I lay the strip blank beside the long taper in exactly the right position, spread the caliper i/s jaws to the opening and move the caliper to the blank and just barely mark the wood w/ the same pointy jaws. You don't have to measure, just fit and mark, fit and mark, fit and mark - all along the taper say every 6 in or so. Only takes a coupla secs. Really handy if you have slight variations. Connect the marks w/ a pencil line and plane down to the line. Then some fine tuning sanding (or in my case filing) and it'll get you a pretty good fit. Go slowly for the first 3 or 4 until you get a feel for how much to plane to the line.

-mick