Just got my Guillmont L kit and starting to set up the strong back. Trying to determine if I should you the horizontal/vertical cleat system described in Nick’s book to position the forms, or the spacer/wedge method shown in all of Nick’s video’s.
My Little Auk was partially built and the forms were attached with cleats. I found it a bit cumbersome when I went to remove the strong back. The spacers seemed like a better idea but at first I was too lazy to switch over. I finally did and they only took an hour or so to make. I used plywood from old shipping crates. I like it. The forms are held in place really well and it’s so easy to assemble and disassemble.
If you use hot melt to hold strips to the forms it’s so easy to pull the spacers and knock the forms away.
Now this is my first strip-built boat so hopefully the experts will weigh in.
either works fine. i happen to use an internal cleat system i developed……(the strongback in this system runs through the forms…)
in this system there is a wooden block at each station and the blocks are precisely spaced and screwed into the strong back and then there is a large bolt and wing nut and washer and oversized holes that allow me to hold the form up against the block but make the adjustments i describe below….and when i have it in the right position…i just torque down on the wing nut.
the blocks in this system are always set on the narrower side of the hull so that when you need to remove the strong back, you just undo the wing nut and hit the form to the wider side of the hull with a rubber mallet.
i think a lot of this is also about your workspace, the approach to the strongback that you want (internal vs external) and what kind of adjustments you want to be able to easily make…which also relates to the quality of the strong back….and how much time and money you want to invest in your strongback infrastructure.
the more important piece of the work is your attention to the line up of the forms. for me, i happen to like my cleat system as it allows me to work form by form with all the adjustments i need to make….and then lock it in without impacting the adjacent forms.
at the end of the day, it really does not matter what approach you take as long as you can get a true/proper alignment and be able to physically remove your forms/strong back from the hull you build on it…without destroying it 
while the CLC wooden strongbacks i use are relatively precise, i really like to be spot on and i built my cleat system to allow easy adjustment of right/left, up/down, and twist to counter the little imperfections that arise in the strong back itself.
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I also use cleats. Taking the time to make spacers makes sense when you build multiple boats that use the same form spacing. In my case, I have 6 strip builds that used 5 different spacing. I put the cleats in front of the forms in the bow and behind the forms in the stern, then secure with hot glue (on cleat side only). When it is time to remove the hull from the forms, a couple taps with a hammer will break the form loose and allow it to slide towards the middle of the boat. This greatly simplifies getting the boat off of the forms.
