Scott, not a problem at all. In the end, the design I end up with will definitely be my own. Like you said, this is "MY" boat. But, for discussion's sake, I'll elaborate on why I want to "see" things (other builders photos) as opposed to imagining things.....

I think that the 10% of strips I've mentioned in the original post are beautiful (at least when they are laid out on the gara... ahh, boat building shop.... floor), and I want to show them off in the best possible way on the boat. But, my brain is wired such that by the time my imagination places them on the boat, with the boat widths, curves, cockpit cutout, darkening affect of the epoxy/glass/varnish etc., I can no longer envision the result - it becomes too blury in my minds eye to see the final outcome. I need to be able to actually see some representative photos of those types of strips placed closely together on a boat, not imagine it, to ensure that I'll like the result of my design. In this instance, I'm not really seeking photos of the exact design I select, as much as examples of how those types of strips look when placed together on a boat, then I'll be the judge of whether or not I like the result, and make my decisions.

As a non boat building example, I once painted my house three times in the same summer. Each time, I thought the various colors would compliment each other and look attractive. I was wrong. The end result was not what I had previously imagined. Prior to the 3rd painting, I stumbled across a house of my basic layout, with the color scheme that I was trying to achieve. I inquired about the colors and went to the paint shop with those color names. Individually, I didn't care much for the color when viewed on 1" square color chips, although they were in the same color family as those I had already tried. Once they got up on the house, in full scale and so forth, it was EXACTLY what I was going for the first 2 times.

Anyway, I hope that made sense. Bottom line --- pictures help me put my vision into focus and determine if I'll end up with what I think I'll end up with.

You may have noticed that recently, I've asked a number of questions about WRC colors, how they darken, what the raw wood looked like before it was "finished", etc. I'm just not wired to imagine the end result, so sample photos are VERY, VERY useful to me.

By the way, I've already selected a very light colored cypress(compared to other cypress boards I've sorted through)for the football area. I'm in agreement that light colored footballs hide scratches and look nice.

Thanks for your comments and concerns! This forum is making my first venture into boat building much easier and pleasureable!!!

Rick