: of the red cedar, but would like to throw in some white to
: offset. I ordered it with 80% red, 20% white strips. Is this a
: good ratio for a white deck around the coaming?
: Since this is my first foray into this type of thing, I was
: wondering what the best way to plan out the deck design would
: be? Is it just trial & error, throw it on and see, if you
: don't like it, take it off?

I suggest you download the drawing of the Georgian Bay from the Laughing Loon website (http://www.laughingloon.com/images/georgian.bay.images/gb.study.jpg), import it into some graphics software (Photoshop or even PowerPoint will work) and draw in some designs to get an idea of how they will look. If you aren't comfortable in drawing on the computer, you can print it out and sketch designs by hand. Certainly look through some of the designs that have been use on Kayaks to get an idea of what you might like. There are plenty of pictures of boats on this site (http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/guillemot/album/gallery_handmade_wooden_boats) as well as most of the other builder/designer sites that will give you some ideas.

As for the 80%/20% ratio, that seems pretty good for giving you plenty of options. You will probably want to sort through the strips to put similar colors together since there can be a lot of variation within one wood species.

Dwight

Dwight