On our kayaks, we use integral hardwood keel and shear strips. These are coved, and glued in as the hull is stripped. The picture below shows a drawing of the cross section of our shear strips as they relate to the hull and deck. The link below takes you to a drawing of the keel strip, photos, and more information. Just scroll down past the "Images on Wood".

These can be a pain to construct. The shear strips are all done on the shaper. A different bit on each of the 4 corners - fairly simple. The keel strip is a bit different. It varies in width the length of the kayak and has a rolling bevel ranging from almost horiontal to almost vertical from center of kayak to end (the edge angle changes almost 80 degrees). This bevel is also coved to take the bottom hull strips. Much of the cove can be done on the shaper, but the end 3 feet or so is done by hand. So far, I use a woodcarving gouge followed by cleanup with sandpaper glued around the edge of a thinned beaded strip. A bit of work, and it adds a bit of weight to the kayak, but you might want to try it anyway. The keel strip will probably work on any style hull. The shear strips only work on kayaks with a definite "corner" where the deck meets the hull.

Grant