>I assume your are asking about the reinforcement plates that are glued on the underside of the deck aft of the cockpit. If so, here are my thoughts I would recomend the reinforcement blocks aft of the cockpit. Two reasons. 1) They add strenght to the area of the boat which will encounter the most stress as you enter the cockpit. 2) The rear bulk head is possitioned under these plates, and is designed and cut with the blocks in mind. Again, the combination creates a very strong section of the boat which will support the paddler's weight as they get in the boat. Relative to the total weight of the boat, you are adding almost none by installing the blocks I did not suffer from discoloration.

Fritz

Just got all the panels joined to full length on my Pygmy Arctic Tern. I
> used the older Pygmy method of joining the panels, Butt Blocks, instead of
> the glass tape method described in the instructions. Reason for this is to
> avoid the discoloration problem I had on my Coho.

> Question is this: The instructions call for reinforcement blocks on the
> underside of the deck panels fore and aft of the cockpit. The center seam
> on the Tern is very close to the back of the cockpit (so there is a row of
> butt blocks already creating a ring or rib around the interior of the
> hull) Although there is enough room to put another band of reinforcement
> blocks, is this overkill and just added weight?

> Any Tern builders who can advise me?

> Thanks

> Mike in Redmond