Once I belt sanded the strips, I found they were flexible enough to fit the curves I had. However, this is a big, open cockpit and your mileage may vary. I used a few dots of hot glue to hold the strips in place temporarily and more wood glue to hold them there permanently. Roughly one dot of hot glue every 3 inches of wood glue.
Caption: Look closely and you can see the hot glue dots between the deck and the coaming. (Click to enlarge.)
One thing I didn’t take into account when making up my bulk strips of cedar was that the height of the strips needs to change over the length of the cockpit. No problem though, I just broke the big strips into manageable pieces and glued them in at the right height for the section I was working on.
Caption: The final coaming strips go in. Note the different heights of each section.
I also had to brace the strips in place overnight until the glue dried, there is probably more bracing than normal required using this approach as you are forcing the pre-glued straight pieces into a curved shape.
Caption: The end result.
One of the other advantages of this approach is that the sanding is cut to a minimum thanks to the pre-fitting sanding being done with the belt sander.
Tip of the Day: Make sure your strips are straight and level when you are bracing them to avoid complications later. Be sure to look from several different angles as the curve of the hull can be deceptive.
