Dan,

You're right that it's your eye that matters in aligning everything. You can discern exceptionally fine misalignments just by eyeballing them. What you can't see, you can't see. I obsessed over the forms but still encountered some small problems later on. The method allows for a lot of leeway in fixing little problems though.

I printed my forms out with a three-inch aligning grid overlayed on each. I used those gridlines extensively for getting the forms lined up. You probably don't have the benefit of gridlines but that's okay. Give preference to the regions of the boat where straight lines will be obvious. Make the keel and peak lines line up as best you can. Try to get the sheerline strips to make clean curves but don't blow a gasket if you can't. Fudge those strips toward the middle of the boat rather than at the ends.

"Dry fit" each strip. Look along the full length of the boat before you run the bead of glue. If you spot little inconsistencies here and there you can deal with that. Misalignments will appear as waviness or bulges. Shim the strips where they cross the "low" spots on the forms and do that while you're clamping, taping or stapling. It's simple and fast to do. I used the wedge shaped scraps that were left over from cutting the angles for scarfing.