ready for fairing.

: 1. Should I round the bottom of a blockplane as Nick suggests in his
: book? Has anyone on the board tried this and if so did you mutilate a good
: quality plane or just a cheapy?
Definitely a cheapy, I'd go for it even for one boat. I found a nice old Stanley at my used tool source with a bottom damaged by some nasty corrosive. I had no problems altering it.
: How about other tools such as an ROS, paint scraper, or belt sander?
I hate to admit this here but one of my favorites for these areas is the Stanley surform with the 1-1/2 by 2-1/2 inch blade and an offset handle. Others here like reground scrapers.

: 2. I have done some decorative stripping on the deck with walnut and pine,
: which runs diagonally to the main cedar stripping (similar to Ben
: Staley’s). I think a plane would make a mess.
I'd start with a sharp low angle block plane set for a shallow cut.