updated 2/3/10
Stapleless Stripping
When you work on your boat you spend most of the time
with your nose about three inches from the boat. You see those staple holes
and they look big.
A lot of energy, talk and time have been spent hiding,
filling and figuring out stapleless stripping methods. The only time I
notice staple holes on a boat is when I'm pointing them out to someone
as I explain how a stripper is built on forms.
It is unfortunate that so much energy and focus has been
placed on building a stapleless boat. It makes a fairly straightforward
satisfying project much more complicated and slow. So much has been said
about stapleless stripping and so many techniques have been offered, that
the first time builder becomes obsessed, thinking they have to build stapleless.
Almost all the stapleless stripping methods require all kinds of jigs,
straps and devices which take extra work to make, set-up and only allow
a couple strips to be applied per day. This is maddeningly slow!!! I'll
bet stripping like this doubles the time to build the whole boat! I think
if the first stripper I built had been stripped this way I would never
have built another! AND these methods do not fix the strips to the forms,
so the novice does not realize the problems they are creating when their
strips float away from the forms and they have serious difficulty aligning
new strips. Is this some kind of hazing ritual for novice strip builders?
I hope not!
All this can be avoided if the first time builder will
simply use staples. This is how I learned to strip. Stripping with staples
is fast and fun. You can focus on job one, aligning strip edges. You'll
see how a stripper is supposed to go together when the strips are firmly
in contact with the forms. You will see your boat go together quickly.
It's so much fun, you can't build just one!
I've seen many stripper boats that looked great with staple
holes, and I never noticed them when we weren't talking about staples.
I don't have confidence in any stapleless stripping method
that doesn't somehow keep each strip in contact with the stations and stems.
Most stapleless stripping methods use clamps to hold strips
in place and against the forms until the glue has set. Then when the clamps
are removed to add a new strip, the previous strips are free to move away
from the forms. If they can move, they will move, and cause mis-aligned
strips and improper hull shape. The clamps, bands, and tape, people use
to hold their strip in place until the glue joint dries, allows only a
couple strips to be applied per day!
This is not acceptable to me. If there is nothing continuously
holding each of your strips to the stations and stems, how can you expect
them not to move, shift and come away from the forms? Ever hear of Murphy's
Law?
And I have to make a couple dollars an hour so I can't
stop stripping for glue to dry.
The only stapleless method I know of that is simple, fast,
and keeps the strips attached to the forms, is the hot glue stapleless
method I use.
If you are a first time strip builder and cannot be dissuaded
from building stapleless, I suggest you use my hot glue method to strip
and use staples below the waterline of your hull. This is how I build.
It will be fast and fun.
Stapleless Stripping with Hot
Glue
Hot
Glue
What is hot glue? Hot glue is a thermal plastic that is
heated to become liquid and then hardens into a solid at room temperature
in typically 60 to 120 seconds. This makes using hot glue to assemble parts
very fast. And you can use hot glue to hold pieces that are impossible
to hold with clamps. There are many different hot glue formulas. The hot
glue sold in hardware stores is for crafts, and does not work well on wood.
Today you must search for a hot glue online company, to buy a formula of
hot glue intended for use with wood. I use HotStik.com. I list the hot
glue and glue guns I use further down in the text.
Hot glue is best thought of as a clamp rather than a traditional
glue. It is not good at permanent bonds. Large or long surfaces are difficult
to join with hot glue since it sets in seconds. Hot glue can be used to
tack and preassemble parts to be screwed together like a strongback. It
is difficult to make a very tight joint on a large pieces, because by the
time you put on a clamp, the hot glue will have set.
Small parts that would be dangerous to hand hold when
using power tools, can be hot glued to a larger scrap of wood to keep fingers
safely away from hazard. This is very important to remember and could save
you a lot of grief!!!
I've used hot glue in my shop and in stapleless stripping
for twenty years. The more you use it, the more ideas you come up with
for uses.
Rob's Hot Glue Tips for Fast Stapless Stripping
I like hot glue. I learned to use hot glue in
working as a professional wood worker to make all kinds of jigs. Most woodworkers
know what a great tool hot glue is for the temporary holding of pieces
of wood.
The trick to hot glue is that it will release cleanly
when it is sheared off by a blow from the side.
This can be done with a scraper to knock off glue beads
or scrap strip pieces tacked with hot glue. Or you can use a mallet to
knock out stations from a hull stripped with hot glue.
I use hot glue for the deck and hull sides on my kayaks
and I use staples for the hull bottom.
I use 3/16" strips, which are more flexible than
1/4", on all my boats.
Hull stems are the most difficult areas to strip because
they have the most twisted and bent strips. I use northern white cedar
for my hull bottoms because northern white cedar is the most flexible and
easily bent wood for strippers. And I use a heat gun to twist and bend
strips so I don't need force to hold strips in place. See
heat gun use.
Hot
Glue
Pros; Hot glue leaves no holes. Hot glue has good
holding power if the glue has enough time to harden thoroughly. A good
option is to use hot glue for the deck even if you use brads or staples
for the hull.
Cons; Strips must be held in place by hand or with some
type of clamping method for at least a minute for the glue to achieve full
holding power. The process is slower than staples.
Get the Right Hot glue, one specifically for bonding
wood. I currently use HS-300 ,10" x 7/16"
sticks from Hotstik.com
Hotstik has changed it's name to Adhesive Solutions
Co. but carries the glue listed below.
I currently use their HS-300
HP Clear Glue Sticks designed for gluing hardwood and softwoods.This
glue has all the right characteristics for strip building.
Hot glue glue guns are cheap so buy a couple like HG-110
Hot Melt Glue Gun Or the HG-208
Hot Melt Glue Gun
Another hot glue source is Glu-Stix.com
Hot glue gun models seem to keep coming and going and
changing. I've had cordless ones and dual temperatures ones that I can't
seem to find anymore. Keep an eye out at local hardware stores. I've picked
up some the best guns there. Again, they're not expensive so if you see
a good one buy it!
Did I say MAKE CERTAIN the hot glue you buy is intended
for use on wood.
If you try the crafts hot glue sold at stores, it will
not work and you'll think, "What the heck it this guy talking about,
it don't hold squat!"
Western red cedar is the best wood to use with hot glue.
The glue holds well and releases without pulling out chunks of wood.
White cedar works well also, with some tear-out if too
much glue is used.
I use plywood stations and leave the wood bare and
unsealed where I will apply hot glue. This insures maximum holding
power for the hot glue. On my hull bottoms I use staples. Here I apply
masking tape to the station edges. On the stems I apply duct tape so the
stems will be easy to remove later.
NOTHING YOU DO WILL BENEFIT THIS PROJECT MORE AND ELIMINATE
EXTRA WORK than taking all the time you need to
insure each strip edge is aligned with the previous strip and each strip
is in contact and remains in contact with the forms.
This is your number one job in strip building.
No other part of the project deserves more attention
than this.
If you do this, your hull will start off FAIR and you
will need to do very little work to finish it! I cannot emphasize this
enough. If after you are done stripping your hull, a strip is as much as
1/32" high, cut through the joint with a utility blade and align and
re-glue the strips.
PRE-FIT EACH STRIP holding
it in place with spring clamps. At the center of the hull spring clamp
the new strip to the previous strip. At the stems or any place that needs
more holding power drive a sheetrock screw into the station (about
3/16" in from the edge) behind where the strip will lie and clamp
the strip in place with a spring clamp. Pre drill holes if you have tear
out problems.This will also later hold the strip in place while the
hot glue sets.
Use a heat gun to bend or twist strips so you have little or no force needed
to hold the strip in place.
Use spring clamps between
stations to align strips. Use small 1" jaw opening spring clamps and
angle them at 45 degrees, so they align strip edges and the base of the
clamp jaw pushes the strips together at the same time! See photo below
left. The strip must fit PERFECTLY. If not, do what you need to do
to make it fit.
Completely clamp each new strip in place exactly
where it needs to be in this pre fitting process before you apply glue
to your strip edges and tack the strip with hot glue!
Mark the alignment of each
new strip to the previous one with an X across the strip joint with a pencil,
so you won't confuse marks from one strip with past ones.
Make certain there is nothing
keeping the strip from fitting tightly like hard hot glue drips, yellow
glue drips, or other debris on station edges or the previous strip edge.
This is important an easy to overlook. If the strip is fitted properly
and there is no debris in the way it should fit tightly with no gaps.
Do
all the above BEFORE you attempt to hot glue a
strip in place. You don't want any surprises when you are working with
a glue that sets in seconds.
Starting at the center stations of your hull apply hot
glue to two stations and press the new strip in place.
Use as small an amount of hot glue as possible usually
about a 1/8" diameter drop. Small amounts of hot glue set up faster,
release more easily, yet hold very well. Big blobs of hot glue drip and
run and take a long time to set-up.
Apply spring clamps between stations to align strip edges.
Tack the strip to each station working toward each stem.
Spring clamp the newly hot glued strip to the sheetrock screw you applied
in the stations near the stems.
Holding the strip in place while the hot glue hardens
is okay in the middle stations but is not the best choice at the stems.
It's easy to become impatient and let go too early. You may come back to
this spot and find the strip has moved out of alignment. If a strip is
not in the right place or if it has moved knock the strip off of the station
by tapping the strip with a hammer. Clear off the set hot glue. Apply new
hot glue and clamp the strip in place with a small spring clamp to the
previously installed sheetrock screws in the stations.
By the time I've worked toward the second stem the first
stem end's hot glue has set and I can remove the spring clamps. By the
time I remove these clamps the second stem's clamps can be removed and
I can go on to applying the next strip.
Clamp strips between stations with spring clamps and
use beads of hot glue on the strip joint to hold the strips in alignment
after the spring clamp is removed in 60 seconds.
Once I've applied the strip to the station, with hot glue
(or staples on the hull bottom) I use spring clamps to align the strips
and tighten the strip joint BETWEEN stations. By applying beads of hot
glue on the strip joint (like stitches on a stitch-n-glue hull) I can remove
the spring clamps in about a minute and apply my next strip. 
When I started using hot glue to hold the strips to the
stations I still had to wait for the glue to set before I could to apply
the next strip, because I couldn't remove the spring clamps holding the
strips in alignment between stations.
How could I get rid of the spring clamps so I could strip
faster?
I knew I could use scrap strip pieces hot glued across
strips to hold them in alignment instead of spring clamps. 3/4" wide
strip pieces seemed like overkill. I tried making 3/16" x 3/16"
strips cut into 1/2" long pieces. This worked, but cutting all those
little bits became old fast. Then I came to the idea of using the hot glue
itself in the form of beads on the strip joints to keep them in alignment
and it worked!
These beads (use the low setting on glue gun) must be
thick, so when they cool, the thickness of the bead will be hard enough
to hold the strip edges in alignment. To get an idea of how well these
beads can do this try placing two scrap strips together and tack along
the joint with beads of hot glue. You will be impressed with how well they
hold.
When you buy a glue gun try to find one with a high and
low heat setting. The low setting will allow you to make beads easily.
You are unlimited in the number of new strips you can
apply since all clamps are removed after 60 seconds.
All the hot glue beads are easily removed with a paint
scraper along with all other traces of hot glue.
The trick to removing hot glue beads is to hold the
scraper so the scraper handle is nearly perpendicular to the hull surface.
THIS WILL POINT THE SCRAPER BLADE EDGE AND THE FORWARD
FORCE OF THE SCRAPER, TO SHEAR OFF THE HOT GLUE CLEANLY.
If you have any trouble with large glue blobs or strip
bits held with hot glue, use a chisel to pare away glue or wood before
scraping
To remove deck and hull from hot glue, start removing
the deck from the stations by wedging a putty knife at the outside edges
of the stations. Lift the edge of the deck JUST ENOUGH to insert a large
screw driver blade/shaft or flat pry bar.
Do not pry because this could crack or stress fracture
the epoxy/fiberglass on the deck.
CAUTION Please only use this knock out technique on the
stations by hitting them from the side.
DO NOT PRY!
Use a very large screw driver to reach the stations through
the gap between the deck and hull. Lay the flat of the screw driver blade
against the station. RAP VERY FIRMLY on the middle of the screw driver
shaft with a mallet or dead blow mallet to knock out the stations without
damaging the deck. Hit stations toward the center of the boat where the
larger beam will facilitate removal. You will be surprised at how easily,
quickly and cleanly the stations will pop out.
Hot Glue Tricks
In difficult stripping spots you wish you had more stations.
I strip my hulls from the sheer up and from the keel down.
Sometimes these two surfaces don't to want align as they meet, especially
near the stems. I'll use a scrap strip of northern white cedar, cut it
to a 1/16" thickness for flexibility and hot glue and clamp it under
the two surface edges to bring them into the same plain. See photo
at right. This 1/16" thick cedar scrap makes it more flexible
to follow the needed curve. Be very careful not to push the hull in as
you hot glue one of these strips behind the surface because you will create
a depression.
Different thicknesses of scrap strips can be utilized
to flex and form to the surface of your deck or hull and work as a clamp
with hot glue.
I use staples on the bottoms of my hulls and I use hot
glue tricks to help add holding power in tough spots.
I hot glue short scrap pieces of strip perpendicular to
the hull strips to align and support hard to hold areas while the glue
on strips joints dries.
I hot glue scrap strip supports across multiple strips
at the stems to clamp the stem strip together while the strip join glue
dries.
When I'm beveling/ fitting short strips ends into the
hull or deck I use 3/16" X 3/16" scrap pieces hot glued under
strips to prevent a strip point from diving below the hull surface
or to support a strip between stations. In tight quarters I use needle
nose pliers to inset a piece of 3/16" x 3/16" strip under the
strips and pull up to hot glue in place.
I will hot glue scraps of strip on top of hull strips
and apply spring clamps to close a stubborn joint.
You can use hot glue and Western red cedar scraps of different
widths and thickness to clamp in any spot you can hold with your hand.
The more you use hot glue the more creative you can become on using it
to clamp in places you didn't think possible.
At right; In a hard to clamp area, a stubborn strip is
held with bar clamps hooked onto a hot glued scrap strip.
I've used hot glue to hold a router jig to cut holes for
deck fittings by applying tape to the deck first then hot glue the jig
on top.
I've used hot glue to tack deck fittings under a deck
while thickened epoxy cured to make a permanent bond.
Hot Glue can do it, if you can think of it!
Try hand beveling strips instead
of bead and cove.