A Staple-less Construction Technique

Staple holes, frequently seen in the home built variety of strippers are not necessary. Each strip is held in place, until the glue dries, by a combination of other fasteners. As a rule I use masking tape and bungies, but sometimes I must resort to further means: Hot melt glue the strip to the form, and/or keep it in place with clamp combinations and blocking. The curvy ends are the most stubborn, as there is considerable tension in the curve. Here I use even the feared staple, but only at the very tip of the strip, which later will be cut away, to make room for the external stem. After the hull and/or deck is stripped, the strong back needs to be removed: I just tap the station molds which were hot melted to the hull/deck strips to release and then lift it out. It helps to have the edges of each station mold covered with masking tape, so the hot melt glue bond between the mold and the hull/deck strips is actually only a bond between the strips and the masking tape.

In the picture above is a combination of the Ted Moore's external strong back, and the internal 2"x4" strong back used by Nick Schade's Guillemot and Vaclav Stejskal's One Ocean Kayaks.

Cutting away the rough ends and staple punctures at the stem. Note the inner stem appearing in between the rows of strips