I've started stripping the deck. I'm using the remaining dark strips to fill in each end and then I'm cutting a curve to fill in the center. To make the curve, I used the template of the cockpit cut out as a pattern. To cut out the curve, I used my Japanese pull saw and bent the blade around the curve...it worked great and didn't ruin the saw.

















Here is the final cut at the bow. The profile view shows the curve I was after. The strips on the deck should end up matching the darkest strips in the racing stripe (there is another dark strip under the blue tape). The Great Auk design has a pretty prominent fore deck and I hope that this pattern will de-emphasize it...we'll see.