Shmoo - the strips are what fasten the boards, they 'clamp' into slots along the edges of the boards - Mike covered the strips with masking tape ... taking the strips off won't bother anything, the strips only attach to the cross sills, the bed itself is held down by the 6 or 8 countersunk bolts that go right to the frame and only hold a couple boards - but if you remove the strips and those main mount bolts so you can remove all the boards, you won't 'misalign' anything either
if you only recoat the top of the boards you're wasteing your time and money, to last, the finish must be applied to all 6 sides of each board to seal against any moisture causing the top finish to fail and the boards to warp or cup
Bill
