> I installed the deck on my Chesapeake 17 this past Friday. It was a
> harrowing experience, due mainly to an 'improvement' I made to CLC's
> plans. I was not pleased with the butt-joint between the two main deck
> panels and so I scarfed and joined them before joining the resulting
> single large panel to the hull. The result was that the rear deck wouldn't
> flatten out as without a big ripple in the new scarf joint area. I was
> left with a 1" space between the rear deck and the rear bulkhead.

> My solution was to cut a crescent shaped plug to fill that space. The deck
> is very sturdy - fully supported in this area now.

> My question is - am I going to have any other unanticipated problems due
> to my 'design change'? I expect that rolling will be more difficult,
> right? Anything else?

Craig, With one long piece, did you cut out the cockpit hole before joining the top to the hull? If you did, I would think there would have been enough flex in the two narrow pieces on each side of the large cockpit hole to have allowed the rear to come down to the rear cross pieces.

My front deck piece was arched far above my rear deck piece until I cut the cockpit hole, then they joined easily with a reinforced butt joint. I don't think it will make much difference rolling, I often have a deck bag or rolled up sleeping pad on my rear deck without interference.

Randy