Keeping the camber on the Shearwater S&G deck; doing without a front hatch

There was a thread recently (I can't find it now with the search function) about not losing the camber on the Shearwater S&G deck when removing the temporary deck forms.  I'm just passing along my solution, for what it might be worth (and with apologies to the designers, who have done an incredible job with the SW kits).

I kept the front temporary deck form in (the one that is at the same place as the front bulkhead), throughout the tacking and filleting.  In fact, I filleted in the temporary form itself, to make it permanent (trimming the sides to avoid the shear panels), and then cut it to a curve to follow the underside of the deck (see photo).  I could actually get a better fit between the form and the deck (and thus even more curve) after freeing the form from the shear panels.  The fillet went only on the bow side of the "temp" form, so that the bulkhead could fit flush against the aft side.   Not a mm of the camber was lost.

In my own build, I am opting to go without a front hatch, to preserve the amazing beauty of the deck grain in the front of the boat.  To do this, I am creating a removable front bulkhead, so I can reach in and tack/fillet/glass the deck-hull seams.  To make the removable bulkhead, I will use some narrow blocks or stops around the perimeter, and the bulkhead will go up against the stops when installed.  The curved form piece in the photo will serve as one of the stops. 

I will use a minicel foam pad fitted tightly over the removable bulkhead for double-duty -- as waterproofing, and as an alternative foot brace instead of foot pads attached to the hull sides, which I never liked.

http://s945.photobucket.com/user/kaerlud/media/Shearwater/DeckForm-Stop3-22-14_zpsaa16c299.jpg.html

Enjoy!

Alec


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