Hi Martin,
Well, its just my second boat, so I can not comment yet, but just at this moment I was thinking of using the lower deck to test how to plank the upper decks. Mi idea is to use full length planks in some parts (may be the borders), and cut in small batches the rest, so I can see how it looks (the manual uses full length).
One question. In the manual and in your photos, the lower deck is just one piece (number 197), but in my kit I have 2 parts (197a & 197b) .Is this correct, or may be they have change something in the kit?
Regards,
Juancar