Thanks Gents, we have paddled and will paddle again this weekend at the same lake. It was indeed a lot of work, especially since Keith can't read (dislexia) so I had to talk him through the process and help him build his to some degree while keeping pace with Linda's kayak. That said, this winter is gonna be real interesting. Keith's son and wife want their own Solaces so we have two to build and I will start ripping the strips for my Night Heron this fall, top all that off with getting the finishing work done on my S&G NH complete with neato art work. I have some metal flake I aim to use on her deck. I will trace out a maple leaf, tape it off around the edges, wet out the deck, then embed the metal flake into the epoxy, then seal the flake in. I am also thinking of letting parts of the maple leaf trail down along the sides somehow. Interestingly, the metal flake is multicolored so it will have bronze, brass, copper and other colors in it, just like a real life maple leaf during the fall season. I also need to give the kayak a name and maybe do some other art work on her decks. If you recall, that is the kayak I onlayed real maple leaves a couple of years back. Well, some of the leaves let go the epoxy and now appear opaque. I tried injecting epoxy into them to repair that problem but it didn't work, so I am gonna sand 'em off and do something different. I think metal flake is a great alternative.

Robert N Pruden