Les,

Thanks for the quick response! I really like the idea of a "female" form that I can clamp down over the top to draw the strips into the concave sections. I will also give the heat gun idea a try...I'm all for a solution that ups my tool collection! (I assume I can get one of these at the Depot) Every time I put a new strip on, I think about the 'cheater strips', but not for long...maybe it's just my ego and the name. :P

You mentioned a method recommended by Vaclav that I'm not sure I'm familiar with. I thought I had read over the internet and build book pretty well, but maybe this warrants another look. If you can give me an idea of where to look, it would be appreciated (page #, web site link?) Thanks for all the other suggestions

---Will

: I'm not an expert by any means, but let me share my (similar) experience and
: solutions...

: 1. I used bungees to pull the strips into place. Sacrificial sheer strip is
: good idea, wish I'd done that.

: 2. I had great success using just a heat gun to pursuade the strips to bend
: and twist at the bow & stern

: 3. this was still not enough though, I ended up shaping a "female"
: shape of the end three stations and mounting it over the evolving hull
: shape, so that I could wedge the strips against the internal stations in
: those problem, concave, areas. (hope that's clear!)

: 4. after progressing around to the bottom of the hull, I had to secure some
: of the earlier strips (between the sheerline and the last-added strip) to
: the stations with hot melt glue, as they were not inclined to hold the
: shape they had when installed.

: It was always a battle, and I'm not completely convinced it was worth the
: hassle! I too have a stubborn streak, and I'm sure that "cheater
: strips" would've helped. Maybe if we called them something less,
: well, perjorative, I might have been able to stomach the idea!

: Also, Vaclav has a novel way to strip those difficult sections that are
: particularly hard to do without staples. This may be worth trying.

: HTH

: Les