: Why do you want to do this? Do these pieces of wood offend you or take up to
: much interior space? Is this an engineering problem you wish to solve?

Weight mainly. The advertised 36 pounds of the Chesapeake 14 seems a little heavy. The shear clamps are a good portion of this. I don't know how much weight this will save substituting epoxy and tape, but it should be some.

: Certainly what you propose can be done, but it will take you longer, and cost
: you more. After all, you are paying for the shear strip and also for the
: glass tape and resin that will replace it. You'll need to fabricate
: something to serve the purpose of the deck beams, too.

Yes it will cost more. I have extra glass and epoxy from another project though. I have scrap plywood for a temporary form to replace the deck beam while building. I will need a permanent solution for the strength and support that the deck beam provides. A formed fiberglass or carbon coaming will provide some of the strength needed. I installed a knee tube on a coho and ommitted the deck reinforcement plates. I lost no strength by doing this. This is something I am considering on this boat. Maybe 3 or 4 strips of carbon or glass tape spanning the inside of the deck where the deck beam would be.

: The analogy I am thinking of is that you are trying to build a house with no
: foundation or rafters.

What I ommit I am trying to compensate for strength wise, just a little lighter or with something more functional like the knee tube.

: The sheer and deck beams serve roughly the same structural purpose in kayaks
: like this as the gunwale and thwarts serve in a canoe. They are the
: skeleton. Now there are lots of animals without skeletons (clams,
: lobsters) and they are held together by strong shells. If you want to
: build a boat that has no "skeleton" then you'll have to create a
: strong shell-like structure. Strip built boats do this. Some stitch and
: glue designs will also work, but not all.

: In your case you are replacing a wood gunwale, or sheer chine, with a molded
: in replacement, in the form of a strong fillet. That will probably work
: fine, as the fillet will be a nice continuous length of fiberglass. A lot
: of S&G boats do that. But, you may want to totally redesign the deck if
: you are going to leave out the deckbeam. You'll need some internal support
: to keep the boat from squeezing together from the pressure exerted by the
: water on the outside of the hull. The more you load the boat the greater
: it submerges and the greater the pressure. A difference of 1/10th of a
: pound per square inch adds up quickly, as you have a lot of square inches
: of hull under the waterline. You have reason to worry about whether the
: beam will remain the same as the design -- and that is with the boat still
: on the land. Put it in water and it will get narrower. If it compresses so
: much that it fails, you certainly don't want to be trapped inside such a
: thing. Think safety, and either keep the deckbeam, or design a deck that
: has strength in that direction.

The strength from the deck beam is where I am looking for ideas. I don't want to compromise safety or strength. A molded coaming and knee tube will give me some of what I am looking for, maybe all I need if designed in a way to give the lateral strength needed. If the knee tube spans the deck to the shear where the deck beam would normally be I should have the lateral strength. The front cover of the knee tube should add strength for weight apllied to the top of the deck. Will it be enough. I don't know yet. If it is not, I can either reinforce it with more glass or rip it out and install the deck beam.

Still looking for thoughts.

Bill

: Hope this helps

: PGJ