> Jack , I finished my North Bay last month and have paddled it a bit. Instead of the carlin and rear deck beam construction as recommended, I glassed the underside of the rear deck before nailing it on. Then I glued a 1/4 by 1/2 in hardwood strip to the underside of the rear deck,over the previous layer of glass, then rounded the strip and covered it with a 3" bias cut piece of glass. the glass was all 4 oz. I used a 2in wide piece of 3mm with glass tape glued under the deck as a deck beam. I also made a rear deck beam and used a mimicell bulkhead instead of a 6mm plywood.

I think most boats, plywood and fiberglass, are a little underbuilt for the stresses that a 200 lb. person can put on a back deck climbing back in using a paddle float rescue or other weight on paddle shaft on back deck rescues. By the way, I think the North Bay would be a fantastic fast touring boat for a strong 150 lb person, I'm tempted to make another with an extra 1/2 in freeboard, my feet are cramped,size 11.