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For the hull of my CLC West River 164 I laid out 1.5" cedar strips on the layout jig, then epoxied one side. This glued the pieces together as well as helped to shape the straight strips into the desired curve. It would have been better to pre-epoxy the strip edges before assembly, as simply painting on the epoxy after assembly did not allow enough to soak into the joints everywhere. In my first attempt, about one quarter of the joints had to be redone. A simple glue-up jig where you could coat the edges of several strips at a time is suggested.
For the upper panels on a multichine hull, glassing one side while it's in the glue-up jig is enough, as these panels are not bent very much in assembly. The keeline panels get twisted 90 degrees, though, so I had to glass one side of them first.
For the deck, I finally decided to first make full-sized templates of 1/8" plywood (a beat-up sheet cost $5 at Eagle Hardware) just as if I were going to use it. Then, laying it on a sheet of particle board on the floor, I assembled the deck strips and applied glass & epoxy. Lay down wax paper first!
If you are simply laying out straight strips, that may be all you need to do. For my boat, I wanted curved strips running along the sheer, thus the particle board so I could pin them all down with brads along the edge. For this reason, I must wait until the epoxy is fully cured. If I try to lift it up while still a little green, the bent strips want to release themselves. Even cured, the epoxy in this panel should easilly bend enough to match the desired 16" radius in the foredeck because the glass is at this point all on the inside.
I don't know of anyone else trying this out yet, so I feel I'm inventing this as I go along. It sure is not as easy as it might sound at first, and it's more work. If all I wanted was a deck, the plywood I used for the template would have sufficed. Should look nice, though, when I'm done.
Good luck.
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
