Mike and Jim,

You've both given me lots to think about. Mike, your suggestions are all provide "do-able" ways to convert the stitched deck to a stripped one. I agree that rounding it would be better than Pgymy's hard-chined deck. That and your other points have provided me with some encouraging guidance on how to go about this. And Jim, you've given me several good counterpoints on why it might be good to stick with the S&G and move on as soon as possible to a full strip design. Your Storm, by the way, is beautiful. I have been to your web site before and admired it. You've given me lots to think about from the design end of things. One thing I'm now mulling over is just how well the strip deck will blend and be consistent with the S&G hull (I noticed that the pic of the Merganser hybrid makes it look like someone painted the hull, which may be the only way to get the two to fully blend). Hmmm . . . Guess I'll be mulling all this over for awhile, which I expected to have to do. But good advice all around. Thanks much!

Gini