: The stripper I'm building now will leave screw heads showing if I don't do
: something. They're along the top edge of the hull where they go into sheer
: clamps. I saw a nice production kayak with a sheer strip of textile in a
: geometric design. This got me thinking that I could use a piece of ribbon,
: maybe an open sort of weave so it would bond well with epoxy, to cover the
: screws and glass tape over it. Then I got thinking it could be reflective
: material, nice visibility. In the end it seemed to be a wood sheer strip
: for the apperance of it.
: Seriously, though, is a sheer strip going to bash your knuckles on a 24 inch
: wide kayak where the hull and deck meet at abt 80 degrees? I can easily
: use a piece of 1/16 veneer under tape if it does.

hi jim

all your ideas will work better than the last of using the shear strip.

for true life read http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Technique/index.cgi?read=5154 for something similar - think of the problem w/ wider 1/4in strips - like take you knuckles and hit the table edge in front of you with the same force you use to roll or scull - convincing? try it and keep your fingers wrapped around a dowel so they don/t move out of the way so good.

if you at your kayak down from above, do you see the long curve of the shear from bow to stern? think of it next to something straight like a dock - meets at the tangent right? gues where the tangent useally is - the little finglers!

so say your yak is 50# w/ stuff and you are 150# and you raft up with your favourite teenage son in 1.5ft waves. from above doesnt it look like a pair of scissors coming together? and if one is falling and the other rising, how do you think one littl fingler will do with 400# slicing at it with 1/4 in wide strip coming against another 1/4 in wide strip?

if no strips you'll get a smushing maybe, but the other is slicing.

now as far as the aesthetics of the join, try to do something that complements or integrates w/ the rest of the materials used. or a sharp contrast will work but the reflective is too jarring. if you really like the wood, maybe a veneer, if you don/t like the screws, drill out each and put in a plug, or make depressions and put in recessed fittings here, or depress the screws and filler or wood, or the black(put some color in to just move it a bit)over paint line, or just an extra layer of glass or syntex or poly. what are the screws really doing for you anyway - i'd ax them - prob just work for the assembling.

anyway some ideas
-mick