I once steped through the deck of a Pygmy Queen Charlotte kayak. I was clearing a jib sheet on my Westsail 28. As I jumped forwards I landed on the deck -CRACK!- and I was pulling my foot out of the jagged edged hole. Decks on Queen Charlottes are 4mm plywood. On a Tiki 26 they are 6mm. Because of this I have added two longitudinal stringers for a total of 5 where the plans shows 3. The Queen Charlotte would have been ok if it had been cushioned by water as will the Tiki 26 be but when pulled up on the beach a similar issue could arise. I don't plan to be jumping around on the bow of the hulls but you never know...
posted by tsunamichaser at 1:09 PM
1 Comments:
That's good idea, Thomas. I feel more flexing than I like when walking on some areas of my Tiki 21 cabins and fordecks. This was real noticeable on one Tiki 26 was aboard a few years ago. Stepping onto the foredeck you could feel it flex and hear the cracking of wood underfoot. It might be okay, but over time this has got to weaken it, and as you say, in an emergency if you find your self landing hard on an unsupported area, it might give way. I plan to reinforce mine similarly.
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