Crossbeams assembly and hull line up.

[Éric Bouvéron]

Bonjour,
Back and center crossbeams have to be in contact with the cabin bulkheads, or is it necessary or possible to leave a gap?
Thanks and best regards,
Éric


Éric Bouvéron

[Budget Boater]

Eric,

It helps to know what you are building.

What do the plans say to do? Do that.

[Pius Bielowski]

Salut eric! 

In the moment I can't have a look but I am pretty sure they touch the cabin in our case. My opinion is that it's not so important as long as you keep the lashings tight. Which I highly recommend especially when confronted with waves. (We get a bit lazy about lashing tension on the lake.) You really want to avoid every movement of the beams in the beginning. They only do harm mainly to themselves if they start to slide. So if you still have a choice lock them up.

Keep on track! Bon courage!

Pius

[Brad Ingram]

Hi Eric, 

I have a small gap of maybe 1/8 inch fore and aft of each beam in their sockets. I glue rubber motorcycle tube onto the edges that come in contact with the cabin tops for a little bit of a bushing and use thinner bicycle inner tube on the beam sockets themselves. My mast and rear beam do have a little bit of a gap. The thin bicycle tubing lets me get the lashings super tight (wrapped with polyester and frapped with dyneema) yet still give a little cushion and avoid the wood squeaking. I'm pretty sure from when I was on Little Cat that Roger has some hardwood blocks glued up to the front and back of his cabin tops to seat the beams in properly where they won't rub. 

Brad

[Éric Bouvéron]

Thank you all for your responses!
Éric

[Brad Ingram]

Definitely frap your lashings with some dyneema