Hi Joe

I put a veneer strip on my Shearwater Baidarka on the hull along the shear so it covers the edge of the plywood where the deck lies on the hull. I gives the kayak a nice finished look. It is difficult to get the vener band to lay flat if you do any sort of bending to match the curve of the hull at the shear. I applied the veneer after the hull and deck were joined before glassing. Rather than trying to force the veneer band to bend I let the top edge of the veneer rise slightly above the deck and trimmed the bit above the deck off. It makes for a nice shear-strip that tapers as it nears the bow. I worked out quite nicely. The pic of the veneer decorations on the stern of my Baidarka is below, kind of a lackluster photo but the results after glassing are very pleasing.

Eric at Shearwater Boats has some pictures and descriptions of the process on his website. I've provided a link to Shearwater Boat site below.

Have fun, keep us up to date on your progress!

Ken