Rolling Bevels and Stapeless Construction

Click on the photos for a larger, uncropped version

People often ask about what techniques I use for building stapeless boats. Review of this website starting with my first boat will show that I've used a number of different ideas before settling on my default techniques that I use now. Holding the strips to the form is accomplished by a plywood "U" bracket clamped to the form with a 1" Pony clamp. Sandpaper glued to the "U" brackets is an essential part of the equation. Initially, the brackets were made out of 3/8" plywood, but when I used some 3/4" MDF for forms, I ended up making brackets out of 1/4" baltic birch plywood so I could keep using the existing Pony clamps. Between the forms, I most commonly used a strip of inner tube looped around a group of stripes and clamped with a binder clamp.

If you're in a hurry, once the strip is clamped in position, a heat gun can be used to set the glue. Hot glue comes in handy if a strip wants to spring away from a form. The form will still pop loose when it's time to remove the hull from the forms, and the remaining hot glue can be easily removed from the inside of the strips with a scraper.

Rolling bevels sound much more difficult than they actually are. I start by checking how much bevel I'll need at each form, and writing a 0, 1, 2, or 3 on the stripe depending on the amount of bevel needed. In this case, I've marked this location with a "1". Unless there is a severe change (like the "tuck in" portion of the Soul Mate,) the bevel is often a "1" with some "0" and some "2". Other than a sharp, low angle block plane, the only other tool is a shooting board.

My shooting board consists of a length of 2 x 10 that has a groove cut in one side to accept all but about 3/8" of the strip that will get the bevel. I clamp the strip in place so I don't have to worry about it moving. Originally, my shooting board was 8' long, but somewhere along the line I decided I needed a piece of it for something else, so it's now about 5' long. Plenty long enough, and easier to store. In this photo, the plane is in position to cut a slight bevel (i.e. a "1"). The plane is angled out as far as it can go and still cut the full wide of the edge of the strip.

Moving the plane so the heel is closer to the strip will increase the angle of the bevel being cut on the strip. This position corresponds to the "2" in my system.

Moving the plane so the heel remains on the shooting board but as close to the stripe as possible corresponds to the "3" in the system I use.

It will take multiple passed with the plane to cut a bevel across the full edge of the strip. Be careful to not continue planing once the full edge have been beveled or you'll end up with a stripe that doesn't have a straight edge. It takes a little practice, but I find this system to be as fast or faster than machining bead & cove, and I can see immediately how close the strips fit.