Cedar Strip Kayak Building: Installing Temporary Strips on the Shooting Star Baidarka

 

I stapled temporary strips to the forms to secure the forms to each other and the stems.   By looking at how the strips run down the kayak, I can check to make sure the hull is fair.

My goal is to have a kayak with no staple marks, so the permanent strips will not be stapled.  Starting at the temporary strip along the sheerline, the permanent strips will be secured to the forms with hot glue and clamped for a minute to allow the hot glue to cool.  Shellac applied along the edge of the forms prevents the hot glue from bonding too tightly to the strips.  This is done since the completed hull will eventually have to be carefully removed from the forms.  The permanent strips are glued to each other using yellow wood glue (Tightbond II). When the hull is entirely stripped, the temporary strip stapled along the sheerline will be replaced with a permanent strip.