: Has any honourable kayakeur in this club tried to cover a stich'n'glue's deck
: panel(s) with thin decorative stripping instead of going into the tiresome
: jig of constructing the deck from real-thikness strips?

Tiresome? Making something that most people wouldn't or couldn't do is part of the draw of building for me (or doing anything for that matter); that's part of what makes a wooden boat cool, valuable. It's about craftsmanship. You can usually pay for craftsmanship if it is not readily available.

: Will those thin strips keep sticking to the ply deck panels?
: This looks like cabinet-making...meaning a long, specific process, and many
: clamps?

It's easier than it looks. Most difficult tasks have tricks to them. Once you learn the trick (and develop the talent) then it's pretty easy to pull off. I can't see where applying thinner strips would be any easier than thicker ones. I would do more research into it if you're really interested in a stripped deck.