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cabin roof support

PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:52 am
by DanaDCole
I'll admit I know next to nothing about boat design and there is a need to keep the higher parts of the boat as light as possible, but I am concerned that there are no longitudinal ribs or carlins at the mid-point of the cabin roof (deck). No need to add anything at the companionway because the hatch sill will support that area, but I'll be walking on the plywood on the two sides and it is a fairly wide expanse of 1/4" plywood. I plan to walk near the edges, more or less on the toerails, but I'm afraid some doofus might jump right in the middle of the deck some day and do some real damage.

Has anyone felt the need to add ribs in line with the hatch sill and out to the hull sides? It would be pretty hard to fashion the templates and attach the ribs, but doable.

Re: cabin roof support

PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:55 am
by Shudoman
Plenty strong enough as designed. I'm 210 and routinely walk on all areas of it.

Bill

Re: cabin roof support

PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:05 am
by DanaDCole
Good to know and thanks! I'll stop worrying about it.

Re: cabin roof support

PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 1:20 pm
by John C. Harris
Keep in mind that the extensive companionway slider and "sea hood" structure amount to an extensive deck-support framework. All of that structure is mounted on TOP of the deck rather than beneath it, but nonetheless it functions to support the deck very effectively. Years of dockside boatshow boarders and plenty of decktop monkey antics and hull #1's deck is as-new.

Re: cabin roof support

PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2023 8:23 pm
by afairaizl
Just an update from my condition and value marine survey I just had this past Friday - the one thing that was called out was the flex on the cabin roof. The appraiser suggested adding an additional rib in the center of the roof there on both sides. Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just passing along the literal one thing he listed. My companionway hood is bolted through about every three inches. I've not noticed any issues with flex myself.

Re: cabin roof support

PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2023 12:14 pm
by Brent65
The boat probably works fine as designed, but frankly I had the same concern. I did add a small carlin on each underside of the cabin. It can be seen here...

https://wordpress.com/posts/idahopocket ... dpress.com

I'm not saying the original design it's wrong, simply that I felt better about adding the carlins. It was easy to do and they look cool too.

Re: cabin roof support

PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2023 7:19 pm
by BillR
An easy way to add some stiffeners is to cut some vinyl tubing to length and fiberglass it to the ceiling with a couple layers of fiberglass. The larger diameter tubing, the stiffer it will be.

Cover the fiberglass with peel ply and it will make finishing it easier.

If you are still building and can pull the tubing out, it should come out without much effort. It also makes for a nice wire run.