Hi Folks. Well, just as I thought I was getting a feel for using strips, I’ve really messed up on my Wood Duck Hybrid deck and I have no idea how to proceed.
I have started building outward from the kingplank. The problem: I hadn’t noticed the kingplank lifted from the deck form and have glued on an additional strip (perhaps it lifted when clamped it) and now it is set. The end result is a dramatic turn in the adjacent strip, so if proceed and glue on another strip I will have a channel. See photo, again, everything with a staple is glued with Titebond and has set.
What options if any do I have beyond sawing off at the previous deck form and replacing from the deck form to the cockpit. Ugh.
Regards,
Ken
Hi Kenneth,
you have to do better then that to really mess up 
. it’s frustrating, but almost anything in strip building can be fixed. it’s an incredibly tolerant build method.
to start, strips can be sanded agressively compared to okoume plywood…there are no inner layers to expose. so my first question is can the ‘channel’ be sanded out? the diagram below shows the analysis to sort it out:
the purple dotted line is the 'fare sanding line". if you can do that without breaking through…one option is just to sand it out from the outside. when you flip the deck you would put some filler into the channels on that side to avoid sanding through when preparing the inside of the deck for glassing.
another approach is removing the strip or softening the glue and repositioning the strip (pushing it down) using heat. strip builders do this with a heat gun with temperature control…to heat but not ‘burn’ the wood/glue. when wood glue is heated, it becomes soft and can, in a case like this, be repositioned or disassembled.
anybody who does a lot of strip building develops this skill as stuff just happens…and sometimes you have to unwind a step.
it’s best to practice on some scrap if you have not done it before. just take two scrap pieces of strips, glue them like the current problem you have and use a heat gun to see what its like to undo what you did.
a third option…the more nuclear option…is to cut the strip out and reset it. something i have done before…but would be last on my list.
another picture or two, pulled back for the broader picture of the problem area, may also be helpful in generating ideas to help.
h
Thank you. I will try the heat gun approach.
Ken,
IN addition to Howard’s, as usual, great advice I wanted to add that you might want to also consider using some staples to hold adjacent strips together between the forms. Those staples should be 1/4” JT-21 staples not the heavier 1/2” staples that you are using to hold strips together between the forms. Also, a trick I use is to make removal of the 1/2” staples easier is to drive each staple though a small square of cardboard
Re staples:
I use 9/16 T50 staples and this for removing them…
I will note that staple quality has declined and a lot of them break. I use a diagonal cutter that I’ve ground the back edge flat to remove the bits.
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Followup: I used a heat gun. It took lots of patience and dinged things, but it worked and I’ve already moved on to new strips. Thank you!
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