I'm about to begin stripping my build. Canoecraft says to run your first strip parallel to the waterline, and fill in the ends down to the to of the stern/bow later. However I've seen a lot of builds that just bend the first strip along the gunwale line and build up from there. Any thoughts on which is easier, prettier, more efficient...?

A fellow builder and I were just talking about that this weekend. He follows the shear and I usually run a strip straight and fill in later. I feel running one strip straight makes for less stress on the strips higher up at the stems. He feels following the shear puts less stress on the strips in the center. I don't know which is right or that it really matters.

I built my first couple boats following the shear. Then I built a fitness solo with some extreme tumblehome and tried to do the same thing. The stress on the strips in the center was getting pretty severe so I ran a straight strip to relieve it and I've done it that way since.

For most hulls I think you'd be fine either way. Just another one of those personal preference things.

Alan

A few more thoughts:

My first strip always follows the shear. My second one is the one that runs straight. Actually it's not run straight; I let it rise a little towards the ends. This makes for more work when it comes time to fill in the gaps later but it also lets me set the shear height exactly where I designed it to be rather than trying to come up with a method to measure, mark, and cut it later.

Following the shear line the whole time would be the easiest and least time consuming assuming it didn't cause any complications; which I doubt it will.

My next build I'll try following the shear line again and see how I like it. Would sure be nice not to have to fit all those little pieces at the end.

Alan

Alan and I had a great discussion about this topic !

The fastest and to me, easiest is to start at the shearline, and follow it up.
Once you have stripped to the football, strip past center on one side. Cut the centerline. Go to the other side and strip to the center.
Basically it's the Canoe craft method, except I start by following the shearline.

I agree either method works ! It's really the builders choice.

There are others too. The Herringbone method has it's merits, but requires a lot of strip fitting.

Jim

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going to follow the shear, since it sounds like it will be a bit easier and this is my first canoe.

Not to sway you either way, but I am about 80% done with my first build (about ready to install the gunwales, etc) . I installed the shear strip first and then installed an accent strip parallel to the waterline. The funnest part of the build for me so far was fitting the pieces in the "birds mouth" area and football area. It was sickly satisfying to spend 1/2 hour making a 4' long tapered cut that fit (almost) perfectly. Yes, it probably added a couple of days to the build (I also did a herringbone on the bottom) but I think it just looks nicer. In the end, it's really about how it looks, right? Ha, I hope not cuz I sure made my share of oops's!

Nice job, looks gorgeous!