Senor Ebb -

Par for your course, the work is excellent and shows much thought and even more labor! The 1/2 solid dodger - great idea, will have to ponder that one. I have been planning to build (make?) a firehose-frame dodger, a la Yves Gelinas on "Jean-du-Sud" . Combining the two ideas deserves some consideration...

Anywho, I've begun (de)construction belowdecks. After dropping the mast this past Sunday, I decided to go ahead with the strongback modification while it is down, and before I put it back up.

The past couple of days I've been battling a head cold, but today I got fed up with just lying around feeling ill, and took out my aggression on the strongback and bulkhead. The strongback is now lying on the cockpit seat, and the bulkhead is cut away to within 2" of the top of the standard locker countertops. The "main cabin" is now open to the v-berth, and it really makes a difference in how the interior "feels"!!! I love it, it's like the boat is bigger already. Hopefully by the end of the week/early next, I'll begin reconstruction of the structural components I've removed. I'll be posting pics in my Gallery thread soon...

So anyway, I have a question for you concerning your strongback -

Basically - What are it's dimensions? That's to say: How many inches thick is it in its vertical and horizontal cross section? I'm trying to get an idea of what I'm seeing back on page 1 of this thread, and in the latest pics...

I've decided to go with a wide, low-profile design for the strongback, about 2" 'thick', and 8" wide (or more - I'll be removing some of the headliner to do this). Reasoning: keep the interior as visually open as possible, while making sure that my non-engineered solution is far and away stronger than what was in this boat for 40 years (which was surprisingly slapdash, once I could see it upon tearing it apart). I think it'll be all composite, glass and foam, mostly glass.

I drew a line onto the bulkhead and s/b before tearing it apart, to get an idea of how much space that was, and I think it'll be sufficient for getting the material I need in there. Yours looks to be about the same size as the strongback which was original - is this so? Thanks!