I split the deck on my CLC Cheasapeake 17 - when I was pressing the deck down myself with a strap so that I could nail the edges I over tightened one section and got a 8" rough tear in the plywood. If you look at the picture you can see the 'artistic' slash across the deck - that is covering the damage. Just happened that the tear in the deck went diagonally almost 1/2 way across the deck.

I didn't even cover the top of the deck with any fiberglass - just a layer of fiberglass underneath and another layer of plywood (3"wide and across the whole width of the deck)

Mark

: Last night, in an act of abject stupidity, I closed the garage door and broke
: 18 inches off the front of my assembled, taped but not glassed deck panels
: (Arctic Tern). The break was relatively clean and at a 90 degree angle to
: the long axis of the deck. I was able to match the broken ends pretty
: cleanly and cut away the portions of tape that had delaminated at the
: break. There was one section about the size of a nickel where the top ply
: adhered to the tape and ripped out near the deck seam. That chunk of wood
: was not salvagable. on the outside, there are a couple of places where
: about 1/8 inch of the top plys tore out along the fracture line.

: After I stopped cussing myself out, I fitted the broken ends together as
: closely as possible and glassed three layers of 2 inch tape all across the
: fracture line (alternating two layers lengthwise and one layer across) As
: best as I can determine by eyeball I have maintained the original angle
: both vertically and horizontally along the deck seam and shear. On the
: outside, I plan to fill the torn out gap along the fracture with thickened
: epoxy then cover the area with a patch of 6 oz cloth prior to glassing the
: deck. That area near the bow does not seem to be a high stress area. Will
: these repairs be sufficiently strong or will I need to glass in some
: plywood reinforcements to the underside of the deck? I had planned to
: paint the hull and leave the deck bright so I'll have to think up a way to
: hide or minimumize the scar on the deck as best I can with paint or
: veneer.

: Does this sound workable or should I just go back to Pygmy for new deck
: panels and start over?

: Larry the Dope