First of all, Thank you so much for your quick response, I really appreciate the help. The deck is actually supported by two sets of girder beams, both 27' in length and are spaced 5'9" apart. It is not my intention to have the post follow through to support the railings. My intention is to cut the posts off even with the top of the beams and lay the joists over top of the beams. I'm fairly new to the deck building buz and wasn't quite sure how the boards for the beams should be attached to the posts to achieve the full 27' using 16' board lengths.