Hey Tom ,Lennie, and Steve,

Thanks for the kind words. Its easy to get inspired when I look at all of the pics posted here of everyones handywork - like the "L" that Tom built. (thanks for signing my book, Tom).

Steve, I didn't think that I could capture the effect that I wanted by running the strips parallel to the deck peak and then cutting the curves. Also the way I did it created a lot of work with all the fitting, and . . nearly all the strips had to be heated and pre-shaped. I used only a few staples on the deck, but only in the walnut - just enough to hold things in place.

Lennie, the walnut is about as much fun to plane as red oak, if that tells you anything. The grain is fairly tight and somewhat crooked. I started out this morning (yesterday now) with a low angle block plane and made a ragged mess of the walnut (plucking up the wood in many places)-- about like I did with the red oak on my wifes Guillemot single. I was about to give up with the plane and just sand it down - like I did on the oak. Then I made a very "anxiety reducing" discovery. I got out my Record spokeshave (which I had never been able to use with any measureable degree of sucess - and had really considered throwing it across the road into the woods) and started trying it on the pine without much luck. I kept adjusting the iron, the angle of my stroke, and the amount of pressure that I was applying. Well, what do you know - an old dog can learn a new trick. I went over all the pine on the deck with the spokeshave and then started smoothing down the mess I had made with the walnut. The spokeshave is really a relaxing tool to use after you get the hang of it! And the slower I went, the better it worked. The walnut is fairly smooth now. Boy was my wife glad - things sure quieted down after that!

Anyway, maybe this little spill will help someone else who is having a similar problem. I'm including a pic of the planed deck with the cockpit recess cut out.

Happy Building.

Charles.