Deck Supports

[John in CC]

According to the manual the supports that extend forward of bulkhead 7 to support the cockpit deck are 24 inches. When test fitting the deck I noticed the supports extend forward of the decking about 3/4". Is this correct?



A picture is worth a thousand words...



A view in context.

[craig]

Mine was only slightly too long, maybe 1/4 inch. I sanded it down. Maybe yours are slightly too long? You can cover that up maybe by stitching the cabin bulkhead rested on them, which would eat up 9mm.

[truenorth]

Those cleats don't really do much. They hold the cockpit deck in place while it cures. After that, they provide a little structural support but mostly get in the way. If they're not where you want them to be, you can either cut them down to match the specs of the cockpit deck or extend the cockpit deck forward. If you extended the deck forward, you will likely need to add some cleat extenders to the transom and do some other tidy work back there. That wouldn't be a big deal to do.

The most important thing in my view is that it aligns with the other cleats, such as the ones running alongside the centerboard trunk. Since you'll be spending hours staring up at those cleats, they should look neat and aligned from the inside.