The idea of book matching works well with highly figured wood and large flat pieces like a table top or a guitar back.

You might be putting more thinking into a project that actually won't show. Having a design with strips or colors would be more visually effective on a kayak than an entire boat with matching pieces of the same wood.

I hate to be the barer of bad news but unless you have very highly figured wood and plan on having a few pieces parallel each other with a joint in the center deck reflecting the opposing grain. you are probably working towards something that will be lost especially with deck lines etc. Why not just plan a nice bookmark figure on the deck that is striking and that would be enough.