Barry, I did this on my CH17.  I basically just used epoxy and glued it to the deck without any modification of the onlay itself....straight out of the wrapper.  Then I glassed over the top of it.  I'll post a pic when I can find it (my laptop crashed, so I have to dig through all my backups).

OK, I have no idea how to insert a photo.

Hey Puff Daddy, Would really appreciate it if you can try gettng the pictures up. Tomorrow I will be closing the final strips of the deck and will lift off to epoxy the underside.

Barry

Is this your picture?Nice compass rose.

Laszlo

Yes those are my photos. 

 Barry, the first picture is the finished product after varnish.  The second two are immediately after glassing.  The only real challenging part was making sure the onlay was centered properly, and getting the air out from the edges of the onlay under the fiberglass.  Then of course when you start sanding, you want to make sure you don't sand too much around the edges so you don't dig into the weave.

Before you glue on the onlay, you might want to plan where you are going to attach your bungies.  As you can see from mine, it it partly obsured.  Not a real big deal, but if I had planned better, I'd have glued it on about 1-2 inches closer to the cockpit.

 Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks for getting back to me. I can only see the last picture which was the one posted today at 9:03 am. It looks great. Today I finished the last strips on the deck and will lift it off to glass the bottom. I am thinking of cutting the points of the rose out (removing the veneer between them), but it might be a bad idea because the points might need the surrounding area to help it lay smoothly. Not sure. What are your thoughts on that?

I would not have thought of planning for the bungies. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Barry

Tom,

There's some kind of an odd thing going on with your pictures. From home, I can't see any of them in these posts, but I was able to follow the properties and retrieve the one I reposted. Once I put a copy on my own web server and linked to it, it showed up just fine in these postings here. Sounds like Barry has the same problem and he can only see the one I reposted.

From work, I can see them all, your posts and my repost.

I think that your photo hosting site may be using some kind of  a script to serve up the images which some web browsers may not be able to handle correctly (my repost is a direct, scriptless link to a jpeg image file).

So if you'd like, I can leave the reposted picture up so that all users can at least see something, but if you'd rather not have me hosting your image, let me know and I'll take it down again.

Laszlo

Laszlo,

 You're right, here at work I can't see them either.  I don't mind if you can repost them, it won't offend me.  Thanks for your help.

Barry,

In regards to cutting out the compass rose from the surrounding veneer:

I'm no authority on onlays.  It might work to cut it out.  As I recall, it was all held together by some sort of resin coated across the backside.  If you do cut it out and it wants to curl and not lay straight, you could tape it down until it dries.  But then you run the risk of having to peel/sand it off if doesn't work out.  The wood veneer would not be a problem, but I don't know what the resin is made of, or how easy it will sand if you have to remove it.  You could cut it and see how it reacts.  If it curls, just cut (no pun intended) your losses and just buy a new onlay.  It's only money...right?

Another option would be to tack it down with some sort of spray adhesive like you mentioned in your first post.  This would be less permanent, and would probably allow you to remove it without too much trouple.  You only need to hold it down until you're able glass or epoxy over the top of it.  Only then is it really permanent.

Tom

I cut out a compass rose on my chessie 17 with no problem

Barry,

I found that the CLC onlays are pretty thick so I start with a piece of glass and sand them down to about .015"-.020" or just before they start loosing their color. (must use a large sanding block).  On my Shearwater I rolled some epoxy on the deck and put a piece of wax paper and then 10-12 strips of electrical tape to hold the onlay down securely.  I use electrical tape since it stretches and really secures the edges.  You won't feel any ridge once you cloth and put on your epoxy coats if you sand the onlay.  You can sand afterwards but a little more risky if you sand through  -- I chose not to go that route.   A smooth finish is what I was after.

Hey Darryl,

Not sure I understand starting with a piece of glass. And also what do you use the wax paper for?

Barry