Can I ask how you constructed your cockpit. Looks great and I am just about resolved to give it a go with ipe. Where I am hung up is in deciding how to actually construct things.
The current design consists of panels constructed onto a plywood base. So, there is a 3/8" thick plywood rectangle. Bullnose trim runs around the edges of the plywood such that the bottom (underside) of the bullnose is flush with the underside of the plywood. This also creates a 1/4" inch lip around the top edge. Teak strips are inlaid inside that lip (inside the bullnose). Here's a diagram of roughly what I currently have:
With the price of ipe being so low, there seems to be no advantage to using this plywood base when I could just make it solid ipe throughout. I would just edge join several pieces into solid panels, with no bullnose around the edge. But, then I would need to route out a recess to inlay the 1/4" strips. And, frankly, I would only be doing that to keep the look consistent. In fact, at that point, laying up strips really just makes the whole thing more of a hassle to maintain - just to make it look like the original.
What did you do? What would you say were the pros and cons of that approach?