: Any knowledge on installing the decks with bedding compound and mechanical
: fastners, instead of glueing them on?

: I'd like to be able to "get in there" for repairs/modifications
: later on.

There shouldn't be any problems with this as long as you set things up properly.

First, since the deck provides some structural support, add deck beams and cross bracing which are big enough to carry whatever loads might be enountered. These can be mounted with bolts so that they can be removed later, too. Take a look at how a canoe's thwarts are installed for some ideas. The deck, and/or the bracing and deckbeams, would take the place (structurally) of thwarts in a canoe.

Since the strength is coming from these frame members, your deck can be made from thinner and more flexible plywood. Or, you could make it of cloth for that matter.

Since the deck is not subjected to anywhere near the abrasion a hull would encounter, you could go with a thin dacron coated with polyurethane. this would be a fast install. Stretch it over the deck beams and staple it to the sheer chine or gunwale. Cover the staples with a thin rub strip, which could be held on with small brass or bronze screws.

Of course all the wood work will be coated with epoxy resin to make it impervious to water.

You do NOT want a perfect fit between the sheer chine and the deck. If you planed the angle of the chine to fit that of the deck then you wold squeeze out all the bedding compound. Better to have the angles NOT match, Then a thick bead of caulk or bedding compound can fill the gap nicely.

A neat row of brightly polished fasteners (120 grit or finer sand paper does this very quickly!) looks neat a very nautical.

Check that what ever bedding compund you use can be removed without destroying the deck. Some may soften with heat, or they may be "cut" by pulling a wire through the gap they are filling.

You might be able to find some inexpensive household caulk which will do the job suitably, and for less money than a marine bedding compound. A tight physical seal will reduce the area for water intrusion, and that area is not going to be completely immersed for any period of time anyhow. A caulk good for 20 or 30 years on a house might last 5 to 20 years when used on a boat which was stored out of the water. If there are pinhole leaks, a bilge pump would take care of it.

Why not use a gasket of neoprene or some similar closed cell sponge rubber? The mechanical fasteners would compress it to keep out the water. Sitting in the sun for a few years might cause the gasket to stick to the deck or the chine, but I doubt you would have the adhesion of a bedding compound -- or the problems of breaking the deck free from that adhesion.

and then there is the old fashioned idea of leaving a decent sized seam and filling it with oakum caulking, packing it in with a few taps on a caulking iron.

Hope this helps

PGJ