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I have used hot melt glue, "pony" clamps, and packing tape to aid me in building a 100% stapleless North Star strip built. I used epoxy to glue the strips together. I applied hot melt glue to the edge of the forms with a heated putty knife to prevent the strips from being glued to the forms. I fit 4 or 5 strips on each side (marking their final position with a pencil) before starting to epoxy them in position. I then used a syringe to apply a bead of epoxy in the cove of the strip. Used the "pony" clamps to hold the strip in place on top of the previous strip by clamping on to the previous strip with the new strip placed in the opening between the spring and the previous strip. This allowed the strip to move along it's leangth as I worked my way down the strip glueing it to the forms. I used a small dab of hot melt glue to glue it to the forms. The smaller the amount of hot melt glue you use the faster it will harden, also there is less chance of it oosing out and interfering with the fit of the next strip (cut these off before placing the next strip). 3 to 5 seconds was a typical time I would hold the strip to the form before moving to the next form. After the strip is tacked to the forms with hot glue I would repeat the procedure on the other side. I continued this till I had about 5 strips on each side completed. Then used packing tape (and scrap strips placed in the cove of the good strip to prevent damage) to clamp the strips all together between the forms while the epoxy hardened over night. Using packing tape to clamp all the strips together worked very well and eliminated all gaps between strips but it added about a half hour each stripping session. I also found that some of the cheaper packing tapes will not stretch as far before breaking so don't use the cheap stuff. After a little practice you can add the proper amount of epoxy so as it will not oos out but wipe off any excess before it hardens. Also a scraper can take it off easily while it is still green. This was somewhat of a slow process compared with other technics but it produced excellent results. I don't know how well this will work on other strip builts but I hope to test it on a Guillemot expedition soon. Hope this helps and sparks some more ideas out there!
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
