: Les,
: to ease yor dread: consider that he is bilding a "hybrid"
: kayak, which is based on a design meant to be build with
: plywood. The decks on those designs are meant to be made from
: flat, wide panels--with maybe some gently curves and bends. Some
: designs use a peaked centerline and straight sides, and others
: use curved deck supports and the plywood goes over them, bent in
: a large radius.

: You may see similar deck shapes on strip-built boats simply because
: (I think) most decks are designed by eye. As long as they don't
: catch a lot of air, which would affect weather cocking, and are
: high enough to let people get their feet in, deck shapes don't
: affect paddling characteristics.

: For such simple deck shapes B&C strips make it a snap to strip
: a deck as fast as you can apply glue and lay down the strips.
: Let them overhang the hull and when the glue dries just cut off
: the overhang. OK, I'm overly simplifying this, but if there is
: no design worked into the deck stripping it goes much faster
: than the hull stripping.

: Of course with most builders of *Hybrid* kayaks they want to do a
: work of art, executed in wood strips, for their deck. That takes
: time, and fitting square-edged strips makes more sense.

: Now, maybe someone can expalin to me why we don't see any
: "reverse" hybrids, where the hull is optimized and
: stripbuilt, with a strong, functional, but quick to apply
: plywood deck? You would get paddling performance and cost and
: time savings. You would give up the artistic inlay on the decks,
: or replace them with veneer "onlays".
: Just wondering why we don't see that permutation.

: PGJ

I suspect most people want the pretty deck where they can see it. Can't see the hull when you're in the boat paddling.

Plywood limits you to either a simple arc shape deck or an angular one, not impossible to get a compound shape in plywood but it's a heck of alot easier to do it with strips so there really isn't a point to trying to do it in ply, unless you just love challenges or refuse to take no as an answer :)

Bill H.