Chesapeake 17 Kayak - Fitting the Deck Beam and Beamlet - March 4, 2015

This is the port side reinforcement tape in the footbrace area with the edges sanded smooth.

This is the starboard side reinforcement tape with the edges sanded smooth.

To fit the deck beam and small deck beam (beamlet) near the bow I used this technique. I held a straight edge against the sheer clamp and made a mark on the deck beam and then cut the beam.

I set the cut edge against the sheer clamp and then marked the deck beam on the other side as in the photo below. Then with a lot of sanding, planing and sawing, not necessarily in that order I got the deck beam to fit without deflecting the sides at all.

The deck beam in place.

I did the same with the  beamlet. You can see both the deck beam and the beamlet just resting in place in this picture from the bow.

The beamlet will be epoxied in place and the deck beam will be epoxied and screwed in place.