I have my Chesapeake 17 ready for the deck except for the forward deck beam. The one provided in the kit is too short to fit across the hull at the specified 24" from the bow. It does fit in at about 20". I am gathering from other posts variations on the bulkhead location and shifting the center deck beam a bit forward all work out OK. I think there is little reason not to place the forward deck beam where it fits instead of the location in the directions. Anyone done this? Suggestions?

Charlie D