To add to what Nick had to say, Placing fancy strip patterns to the bottom of the boat where nobody but you looks just adds to the difficulty in repair if you ever hit anything hard enough to require strip replacement. It won't take long before the scratches mare your woodwork as well. As far as the deck I have put some pretty wild patterns in my decks even in the higher stress areas around and behind the cockpit. I used the standard layup Nick recommended on the inside of the deck area around the cockpit and still show no signs of any damage or weakness as a result of stress.