Deck Construction
Cockpit template. The use of a cockpit template (white oval in the photo) helps to avoid too much wasted stripping of the cockpit area. This is one of two templates that I cut out of a dumpster-salvaged scrap sheet of plastic poster material. The second template is a bit larger and is for the hole that will be partially decked-over forming the recess from which the coaming will rise. This second hole also serves to trim the ratty strip ends around the cockpit. At this point in construction I was running out of pre-made strips, so I decided to start using scraps in the decorative dark patterns in the sides of the cockpit area and bow, and later, the stern (although, I did have to order some more short lengths to finish it off). I used a lot of my small waste strips in a side-to-side matched pattern in the rear deck behind the cockpit. It is difficult to see in this photo, but a few wedge-shaped strips are used to flare the lines of the strip pattern toward the stern.
Bow detail. After setting the first few strips up from the shear, I constructed a decorative "king strip" for the center line of the top of the deck from glued-up ripped highly contrasting strips. Note how I took some time to taper (plane) some of them so that they visually and physically merge together to terminate at the bow (also, they do so at a much more limited extent at the stern). The king strip was constructed in a clamped-glue-up (off the boat) on the garage floor, and took about two hours one evening.
More stripping. After the king strip is added and the shears are in place, it is time to get on with "planking" and start building some patterns into the wood skin of the boat. Be sure to inventory your remaining strip stock and sort them by color before starting any construction. Patterned areas of the deck, the coaming sub-deck, and coaming upright lip, can make constructive use of a lot of short and scrap strips... Note the liberal use of spring clamps, bungies and staples.
A pattern emerges. The pattern starts to visually go from looking like warmed-over crap (staple holes, glue, gaps, irregular surfaces) to something really neat. Note the center of the photo where I have Sure-Formed (smoothed) and lightly sanded a spot to illustrate this point.
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