I'm building a skin-on-frame kayak, and I'm thinking about adding bark canoe-style decorations under the gunwale, and perhaps some big voyageur seals on either end.

Anywho, I'm wondering the best way to apply these.

The skin is a 14oz polyester from dyson, it'll be stapled into the gunwales with a rub strip to make it look nice.

I was nominally planning on polyurethane to seal the fabric, but I don't have any major issues painting either.

Thoughts:
- Should the decorations go on before or after the polyurethane?
- I can't really sand the polyurethane (beyone a little scuffing) or the paint, so should I apply the paint/polyurethane (whatever ends up going on top) while the bottom coating/paint is still a little green (like maybe when it's just a little bit tacky, but won't smear)?
- I will use oil based paint and polyurethane
- What kind of paint? I'm thinking some exterior oil-based paint (maybe rustoleum?), could be sprayed on or brushed on, will probably be stenciled either way (although I could brush on without a stencil)
- I'm not opposed to just painting the whole hull if it's going to be hard to get the paint and polyurethane to play nice together. If I do this, then I probably have nothing to worry, just paint everything with a base color and then paint on the decorations. I'd be sad to loose the cool look of the polyurethaned skin though.

In case you aren't familiar with what I'm shooting for:
http://www.birchbarkcanoe.net/images/furtrade1sewingbow-sm.jpg
http://www.stevecayard.com/art/canoes/010701/010701_05.jpg (probably not that elaborate, but you get the idea)