Re: screwing deck beams

Posted by Dave Houser on Jun 30, 2004

The early tortured plywood designs, like the Yare I built, required a huge clamping force to hold the sides of the boat in so the shear clamps would touch the ends of the deck beam. If the screws were not used when clamps were removed the joint blew apart pulling off a piece of the shear clamp. That is the history of the screws.

On a Ches design little or no force is necessary to hold the beam/shear joint tight. The epoxyed joint is plenty strong to bend the deck over the beam without failing. After the deck is glued to the beam and shear clamp the joint is even stronger.

That is a lot of talk just to say I left the screws off my Ches 17 without any problems.

In Response to: screwing deck beams by Mischa on Jun 27, 2004

Replies:

No Replies.