: I'm glassing the outside of the hull of my kayak this weekend and will be
: doing the deck shortly there after. My question is how much do I have to
: round over the edge where the deck and hull meet, so that I can run the
: 4oz glass across the deck around the 90 degree edge at the sheer and
: 2" or so down to overlap the deck.
: I have run a strip of light colored veneer just below the sheer and the more
: I round over the sheer the more of the edge of the okoume ply I expose
: above the veneer, so I don't want to round over more than I have to, but I
: don't want the glass to pull away at the edge either.
: How much is enough?

: Thanks,

: Ken

If you are using a loose weave cloth you can leave the corner quite sharp and rap the fabric over the corner. It helps to smooth the dry glass into place a day before you epoxy. The wrinkles tend to relax out of the cloth. Be sure to mask the hull where you want to trim off the cloth (mask with plastic everything else). When you epoxy you can hang clothes pins on the cloth (or use tape) to help pull the free edge to keep it wrinkle free at the corner. When the epoxy sets enough to be sticky but not wet, trim the cloth at the edge of the masking tape. Don't cut into the wood or glass below. The cloth/epoxy should be flexable enough that you can bend the cloth right at the cut and press it back down and it will stick (and leave your fingers dry). I feathered the glass edge, after a day or two, with a scraper. I then ran the deck cloth over it and used the same procedure on it. By adding a few extra fill coats at the seam and with careful sanding I can't even see the seam. A sharp shear will get battered from docks more easily than a well rounded one.

If you are using a shear clamp to secure the deck to the hull you can round it over well into the shear clamp. When I built my Yare I rounded the corner of the shear enough to show a 1/8" wide stripe of the shear clamp. It made a nice looking pin stripe. The CLC website shows how to do this in their "Shop Tips" under "Aesthetic Refinements". Be sure your deck is well glued to the shear clamp or it will lift at any glue gaps and you'll have to inject epoxy and resecure the deck. If you ring nailed the deck CLC style you should have no problems. I used 2.3 oz cloth and lapped both the hull cloth and deck cloth past the shear about an inch.

You also could have left the shear square and added a rub rail, but It's obvious with your accent veneer you went for another look. The advantage of the rub rail is it helps to shed the splash away from the boat and paddler. CLC's "Shop Tips, Aesthetic Refinements" also discusses rub rails.