The part line in this boat is straight and to get the first strip in the correct position I clamped a short piece of strip against the part lines and centre line on the forms. The forms were adjusted up, down and sideways until all these short strips lined up. A strip resting on the short strips helped with this process.
When I was satisfied with the setup I glued the first strip to the end pieces at the stem and stern and tacked it in place at each form with a small blob of hot melt glue.
The edge of this strip was beveled with the Robo-Bevel tool and the second strip was glued to it.
The green tape clamps holding the strips together worked well and more hot melt glue was used where necessary to hold the strips against the forms.
I noticed that the hot melt glue wasn't sticking well to the green (Bear brand) tape so I tried some tests with scraps of strip material. I had another roll of green tape (Scotch brand) so I tried both and found the Scotch brand tape was slightly better. I thought the surface of the tape was slightly waxy and so wiped it with acetone. The glue bond was better on both tape. Coincidentally with this I found a list of tools and materials below one of Nick's YouTube videos. The green tape he uses in Scotch brand and is specifically for rough materials so I put this on my shopping list.
I added more strips until I passed the waterline. The last strip (number 5) then had to be cut back to the waterline. A simple tool is used to transfer the line from inside to outside. A mark is made on the outside of the strip.
A strip was clamped in place at every second mark, above the marks so the clamps would not interfere with drawing a continuous line joining the dots. This strip was adjusted and eyeballed until it was straight and a line drawn.
I cut off the excess with a Japanese pull saw and then planed it down to the line. I found planing quite difficult, particularly past the forms. The first stage in the planing is to get the edge straight and level. I used a Veritas Bullnose plane (blade right to the edge of the sole) with my fingers acting as a fence. This worked but was not ideal. There must be a better way! With the edge leveled and straight (eyeball) the Robo-Bevel was used to add the necessary bevel but taking care to keep the outside edge straight.
I wanted to add an accent strip along the waterline. I had some hoop pine (almost white) for this and cut some strips 6mm wide. To separate the white hoop pine more clearly from the light coloured cedar I added a 1.5mm strip of the darker material. Cutting this narrow strip was tricky because it was very fragile. I lowered the saw blade, put a strip on the saw table and clamped a piece of scrap pine to the fence to hold the strip down. With the strip removed I raised the rotating saw blade until it cut into the pine hold down. This worked well with a finger board to hold the strip against the fence.
I glued the white strip in place, applied glue to it and put the narrow dark strip on. Added tape clamps and stopped work for the day.
With two more light coloured strips added here's what it looks like. In time I will know whether this accent strip is a success or not!
Adding the strips one the chine was tricky because the bevel is quite pronounced where the turn has a sharp radius. There isn't a hard corner at the chine but at some stations the radius is small. I think I have got it right. Stripping from here to the centre line should be easier.
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