stripping deck of kayak

[chrisk]

I am working on a CLC Chesapeake 17 stitch & glue kayak. I have it all stitched together and will be starting to "goop" up the hull this weekend. Rather then put Okume plywood on the deck I am considering putting strips of 1/8" to 3/16" thick an inch or so wide and then the 4 oz. cloth over that. Maybe get some different kinds of woods for some accent. I have never done any stripped techniques before so I am unsure how to go about it. Should I put rabbets on the edges and overlap them, or just butt them together or use bead and cove. Also, what kind of woods are appropriate and should I try and "curve" them to be parralel with the sheer clamp so they meet in a "V" down the center or run them straight down the center and cut the outside strips to match the sheer of the boat.

Any advice, reccomendations or comments would be appreciated.

[DoyleH]

Stripping the deck would look great. I used bead and cove 1/4 cedar when I built my Spring Run. I had three different varieties of cedar so I had contrasting colors. On my boat, the strips met in a "V" at the bow and the stern and it looks great.

You may want to check out www.guillemot-kayaks.com. (http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com.) They have great discussion board and you will see lots of pictures of finished boats.

[Don Maurer]

Red or white cedar is commonly used, but you can use any light , flexible wood. They should be cut to 1/4" thick x 3/4" or 1" wide. If you cut them yourself you can rip them edgewise from standard 3/4" lumber and end up with vertical grain strips, which are preferred. For the deck, you can get by without cove and bead. You may want to plane a taper on the 1/4" edge with a block plane on some of the strips to get a tighter fit. This is cosmetic, and doesn't affect the strength once it is fiberglassed on both sides. I would run one or two strips full length along the sheer, then fill in the center to fit your desired pattern. Again, the strength comes from the fiberglass, not the core material.

[JimD]

A somewhat modified approach to stripping, but its also possible to laminate strips under 1/4 inch onto 1/8 inch plywood while the plywood is still laying flat on the workbench and then lay the whole thing on as a one piece deck
jimd

[mower]

Having built a few Chesepeake 17s, I am trying to imagine how you will strip plank the deck. As you probably know, there are only two deck beams, plus two bulkheads to help define the shape of the deck. Do you plan to add more deck supports to attach your strips? A panel of plywood bent over a few deck beams will naturally find it's own fair shape. However, strips will probably require more support. The only experience I have had in strip planking, was watching my friend build a conoe. I seem to remember there being a lot of molds required to define a fair shape for the strips. I'm sure it can be done, and would probably look beautiful, but possibly others could offer some advice regarding this potential pit-fall.

[brian.cunningham]

Did you see this thread over on CLC's forum?

http://www.clcboats.com/forum/bbs.pl?read=20083

Beautiful boat!