I'm starting to fair the deck on my RBA. I may have to use the fairing board accross the grain to get the fairness, that only a fairing board will accomplish.

I stripped my rear deck pattern off the boat on a bench. It consists of strips of diagonal, alternating pine/walnut strips, and the pattern is bordered with pine/cedar/pine around its perimeter. The deck was cut to the pattern shape and it was glued in place with epoxy. I sanded the diagonal feather pattern on the bench with a belt sander before installing to try and keep the soft wood/ hardwood the same thickness.
My problem is:
The joint where the inlay meets the deck and where the diagonal strips meet the border, need to be faired flat with each other. This is a flat rear deck and I would like to use the fairing boards I like so much (I use 7 different ones) but, I will have to sand accross the grain of the walnut/ pine strips. Will I be able to sand out the cross grain scratches, if I use the fairing board?

I don't think my ROS will get to the flat surface I can with the long board for the initial fairing. I will use the ROS for final finish before epoxy.

What should I do?

Larry C.