Stripping begins!

The first strips begin at the keel and though it's difficult to see, the keel has been beveled so the strips make a solid, flat contact and don't just meet at a corner.

Although the plans call for starting at the keel I've seen others who have chosen to put several rows of straight strips along the shear and then worked their way up to that point from the keel. It's up to individual taste but this being my first try at building a boat, I'm sticking to the Glen-L plans.

In this picture you'll notice two things.  The strips are applied with no concern for them lining up with the end of the stem or the transom at the back. It's much easier to just trim them all later and sand back to an aesthetically pleasing termination.  The other thing is the use of an adjustable wrench (crescent wrench) to twist the strips.

Look back at the first photo and see how the strips are nearly parallel with the floor in the middle of the boat and then at this photo where they've twisted nearly 90 degrees to attach to the stem.  Using the wrench turns this into an easy operation since you can easily twist the strips into place as you nail them together.

I only needed the wrench for the first rows and once I got about halfway down the sides the bend necessary to attach to the previous strip wasn't so great and could be done by hand.

Each batch of strips was put on the boat by first applying a thin layer of glue all along the previously attached strip then I chose a new strip from the rack and centered it on the middle of the forms making sure that the strip would have sufficient length on each end to cover the stem and transom.  I would then attach the strip at the middle of the forms and work my way to the ends of the boat. Each strip has to be tight up against the previous one so a bit of tapping with a rubber mallet was sometimes necessary.