Hmmm. Would you do it using a veneer for the diamonds, which would require cutting out a trough for the diamonds to fit down into? Or would you go ahead and cut out the half diamonds on the top and bottom strips, glue on the first strip, glue on the diamonds, then glue the second strip on top of the diamonds? Guess you could do it either way, depending on whether you wanted the diamonds to go all the way through or not. Either way would require a certain amount of precision,although I guess the second way would be less labor intensive.

Would there be a problem with applying glue to all the tops of the diamonds as well as the top of the bottom strip and getting that top strip on before the glue dries? Keep in mind, please, that I haven't built a boat yet and have no idea what I'm talking about.

Good to hear that staining really is an option. I had given up on the thought, even though I really like the looks of a two toned boat. I'll reconsider it now.

Patsy

: Thanks Patsy, the other method would be to glue each diamond in place,
: one-by-one on the boat. It's not as hard as it sounds. Gluing up a
: "loaf" off the boat like I did has its share of pitfalls and I
: ended up doing a lot of one-by-one gluing anyway, correcting problems as
: they happened.

: Epoxy will bond to some stains: analine dye, gel coat... water based stains.
: I hear selected others will work too. There are a fair number of posts
: floating around re. what does/doesn't work (here and at www.clcboats.com
: ). The big thing is to do a swatch test first. My Chesapeake 17' is over
: three years old and it's fine.