Suggestions for enlarging footwell sole

[Dmksails]

Hi All -

I've gone ahead and enlarged my footwell as described by several blog builders. I'm now thinking of what to do for new sole since the one in the kit will not be wide enough.

I could simply make a new one, but I really don't want to by a full sheet of marine plywood for a 2-1/2-in strip that I need. I'm wondering if the following is viable.

There is enough scrap in the kit so that I could piece a new sole together, but not enough to do a scarf joint. (See pic). The blue represents the original sole and the gray is the new pieces. My idea is to join the 3 pieces as shown and use either a 1/4-in strip of ply to cover the seams, or to use fiberglass tape to do this.

Really bad idea?

Footwell.jpg (86.28 KiB) Viewed 49397 times

[Hooky]

Extending the width the way you described should be OK, but I do suggest adding some extra cleats athwartships and obviously notch them out for the ply strip that covers the seams. An extra layer of glass on the cockpit sole top would also add additional strength.
I added extra cleats, see my December 2023 post called "Cockpit footwell Floor install" on my blog
Cheers mate
Terry from down under
https://hookypocketship.blogspot.com

[dbeck]

We were lucky to find a large enough 2nd piece of plywood and glued both pieces together with a scarf joint. We did not add extra cleats but glassed the underside prior gluing it into the footwell.