> Has anyone had experience they wish to share doing this without nails or
> screws? I'm interested
> in getting it on there without nails simply for the clean look I believe
> it would give me.

Roger,

Hiding the fasteners, or eliminating them completely is a perfectly good goal, but I don't completely agree about the `look'. I'd like to offer you some *contrasting* ideas.

I think a neat row of polished brass screw heads looks very nautical and prim. If you use screws to hold this together, rather than brass nails, you get a bigger, more dramatic look. While this is 180 degrees from what you were asking for, I point it out only to show that the exposed brass work is also a clean look.

If you like the idea of NOT hiding the construction materials, but accentuating them, you might also like another, yet different, approach: Use nails or screws to hold the deck on, but carefully mark the exact placement for them before you drive them in. Space them evenly. Then get some veneer in a contrasting color (adhesive backed veneer is fine) and cover the heads of the fasteners with a diamond, square, or circle cut from your veneer. This can create a pattern on your deck which can be highly decorative. Use more of the same color veneer to create a design on the deck, and those diamonds or circles over the fasteners become a border that matches perfectly.

If life give you a lemon, serve it over a broiled fish. If you get stuck with fastener holes, turn them into works of art.

Best of luck with this.

Paul Jacobson

-- my opinions on art and good taste in boat decoration are offered for free, and they are worth every cent.