hi steve,

the strip builts basically require the book...i think they do have a couple 81/2 by 11 inch pages of some notes but they don't have directions the way the stitch and glue kits do.   

on the forms, i use blocks and screws and not the spacers that nick uses.   i routinely have re-used my strong backs and blocks for different builds.

pictures of my approach are below:

the wood blocks - which are 4 inches by 2 X 2 (and smaller ones for the ends) are wood screwed into the strongback, and then a bolt and wingnut is used to secure the form to the wood block.  the bolt/wingnut is put through an oversized hole so that the form can be adjusted slightly (e.g., alignment, twist) and then tightened down.   the wood blocks are also put on the side of the form that is the narrower side of the boat relative to the form so that you can tap the form out with a hammer to un-stick it from the strips. (e.g., you tap it to the wider part of the boat).

i am sure there are other approaches, this one for me worked pretty efficiently and inexpensively relative to some other options i looked at and gave me the confidence that i could ensure everything would be strong enough and adjustable enough to get a good result.

i would highlight that you actually spend a fare amount of time in this step on a strip built becuase if your forms are not right, whatever alignment problem you have is now going to be built into the boat.  it is not a self aligning process like the stitch and glues.....so you really need to check your work in this phase and there are a lot of little issues that come up like the tickness of the forms and the distance between the face of the form that is in contact with and the point of measurement from the plans.

anyway, it is fun and sounds like you are moving along.

h

   h,

Thank you so much again! You are a wealth of knowledge. You even answered a question I had that I did not ask, and that was how do you go about getting it apart when the time comes. Your instructions make sense.

It's now on the the next step. I can see this will take quite a bit of time to get everything lined up properly.

Thanks again h.

Steve

   Steve,

While the book comes with it as instruction Nick has video how to for the petrel strip on youtube. It's very detailed.