For the Golant Gaffer design (I don’t know if this is more general), the deck shelves wrap around the bulkheads at the top of the hull and provide the base for hull planking and the deck, and so are an important structural piece.
I made the amateur’s mistake of ordering the specified softwood from my local timber merchant for delivery without prior inspection. When I eventually started to work on the plank, it had far too many knots for the purpose intended. So, off to the timber merchants again. Their stock of softwood was all quite knotty, but they did have a suitable plank of Southern Yellow Pine. I couldn’t be at the shed on their regular delivery day, but can’t let that get in the way of progress
First stop is to cut the plank into strips and thickness down to finished size. They scarf pairs of the strips so that I have the necessary 6m lengths.
The cutouts in the bulkheads are all cut square. Now they need to be “faired” to the right angle to fit the curving deck shelf. I used a piece of spare wood to find and check angles rather than using the actual deck shelves.
The next step was to steam the deck shelf so that there was no risk of splitting when it was bent around the hull. The steamer was made from a couple of lengths of drain pipe and a floor steam cleaner. I had to lay the drain pipe along the floor because the steam temperature softened the plastic and it drooped anywhere unsupported.
After steaming, the deck shelf was clamped in position and allowed to cool so that it relaxed into the right bend.
The final step was to glue and screw into position, and cut off at the transom.
Of course, I have the same to do on the starboard side next.