F17 First strips

[Roscoe]

I'm about to start stripping the F17 and was wondering whether or not to follow the sheerline with the strips. As this is a fairly flat canoe with no recurve it shouldnt look like a banana or would it? Would it be much more difficult to plank the bilge area?
I placed a batten on the 7th and 9th molds level with the sheerline, placed a strip on the battens and let the ends find their own position on the stems to see how this would look. Since this is not a symetrical canoe the strips came to rest at 4" and 6" bow and stern from the strongback. Do I make the strips level at each end or go with these measurements. I can't imagine how a 2" differance in planking would look on the water. Since this is my first effort I'm looking for the easy option.
Best wishes to all
Roscoe

[Glen Smith]

If you look at the Freedoms in the photo gallery you will see that some builders chose to follow the sheerline and some preferred level strips. Which looks best to you?
http://www.bearmountainboats.com/gallery_Freedom.htm

[Oshan OkaPini]

Roscoe,

I have seen photos of the Freeedom 17 stripped in both configurations and due to the design, they both worked out fine. It just comes down to personal preference.

I made mine with the strips parallel to the waterline, laid out the shear and trimmed.

Norman in MS

[Snowman]

Let us know which way you decide - we will judge your personality by it... Just kiddin'. Seriously, I would be curious to see what you decide.

Snowman

[Roscoe]

I had a look at the pics of the F17's and there isn't a lot of differance between them unless you are using accent strips. I fitted the first strip yesterday and ... I went with the book and let the end of the strip find it's own level. So now the fun begins.... Hi Snowman. What does this tell you about my personality? Have I even got one? :twisted evil
Thanks for the input from you all.
Roscoe

[Snowman]

Roscoe,

Being that you are Irish, I have no doubt that you have a great personality! I will also comment on an admirable trait - you made your choice and are going for it! Keep us informed of your progress - the F17 is on my list of things to do!


Snowman

[Pete in the Deep South]

I just finished putting in cheater strips to solve just the problem your describing. I could have saved myself several hours work by keeping the strips close to level towards the stems. Since I'm using cypress(uniform color), the curvature of the strips or lack thereof would have not been noticealble.

Keep the strips level as possible to make construction of the hull easy to build. It's easy to add strips below that first strip, but a lot of curvature when you reach the bilge area is no fun.