Re: plywood deck beam, et

Posted by Terry Mcadams on Jul 28, 2004

I tried a minimal deck beam on my last 14. I chiseled shallow notches in the sheer clamps to accept the ends of a 1.5" strip of 4mm. I drew a radius of the beam on a chunk of cardboard, measured the length, cut the beam and sprung (sprang? springed?)it in the notches with a little glue. It gave just enough support to ensure that the deck was the correct radius. I left it in to reinforce the deck between the sheer and the front of the combing, but some folks take the beam out after the deck is on.

Much lighter than the standard beam, strong enough IMHO and it gives you more knee room.

Never built a double, so I can't help you on the deck. I suspect you would install it like a deck for the singles, with a longer piece scarfed on in either the bow or stern (or both) to make up the difference between the nearly 16 feet of two sheets of plywood, and the boat's 20+ feet of deck.

A rental jack hammer should address the epoxy on the garage floor (my cat uses one on his dry cat food to make the point tghat he hates it). The stuff is hard to get off concrete. Watch your toes!

terry

In Response to: plywood deck beam, etc by Al MacNevin on Jul 27, 2004

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