David Tyler wrote:
The cabin sole is looking splendid.
The unstayed mast puts quite severe loads on to the deck structure. Because there is minimal framing in the boat, and there are no hanging knees, I am going to stiffen up the deck with some more layers of plywood. Two layers of 6mm ply will run fore and aft on either side of the tabernacle (and in front of and behind it) and a further small deckbeam will be fitted abaft the tabernacle to allow for the same thickness of plywood to be carried out to the sides.
As I've said before - don't overbuild! 'Nuff said.
I wonder if you need a lot of extra strength here. Footprints only has an extra thickness around the immediate area of the deck cutout for the mast, which only extends 100mm beyond the diameter of the mast. And the deck beams fore and aft of the mast are joined with some 12mm bronze rod running fore and aft either side of the mast. I have always wondered whether this actually does anything. Every little bit extra added into the boat can add up to a lot of weight at the end of the project. Maybe I am still thinking like a multihull sailor!