: I am building a Greenland SOF kayak from Mark Starr's book. I've made some
: mistakes, but I am convinced that, at worst, it's going to float!

: My question is, the aft deck beam (isserfik) has ended up about 2cm below the
: deck as defined by the apummaqs, as are the other deck beams. The photos
: in the book look the same (figs 1.9, fig 4.8). However, some of the
: drawings make it look as if the beam should be flush with the deck (figs
: 1.2, 5.14).

: My question is, if the deck fabric is going to run under the cockpit coaming,
: either the coaming is going to "float" above the aft beam, or if
: I lash the coaming down, there will be a substantial depression between
: the bottom of the coaming and the rest of the deck as defined by the aft
: stringers and apummaqs.

: Should I attach a shim under the coaming? that would also let the forward end
: of the deck stringers run right up and level with the bottom of the
: coaming.

Hi Robert,
I also used Mark Starr's book to build by and had a small gap under the rear of the coaming. The gap I had was 3/8 inch I had held the deck beam up and notched the rear deck stringers into it. When I stitched the coaming on it pulled down from the tension of the skin until it touched the rear deck beam.I did not stitch the coaming down and when I coated the skin it like glued the coaming to the beam. The slight depression in that area makes very little difference.

You might see in the picture that the deck stringers ended before the coaming that let it be pulled down. There is a shadow in the picture Maybe you can see.

If yours is 3/4 inch gap a shim might help give the coaming something solid to rest on.

I also used Cunningham's book as a reference to build by.