Hi everyone,

Scarfing is well underway for our Yost SeaTour EXP 15s, and we're looking forward to the next steps. One quandry we're foreseeing, however, is that while there's certainly enough wood in our 4'x8' sheet of 1/2" okoumé for the frames and bow/stern plates of both boats, the coaming rings appear to be another story.

The manual calls for three rather large rings of the 1/2" stuff, capped by a lip made of 1/4" ply. Since I don't want to buy an additional sheet of 1/4" okoumé, or use up a ton of the stuff I do have, the scheme I've in mind goes something like this:

-Use 1/2" exterior-grade plywood for the first two coaming rings.

-Instead of a third 1/2" ring and a 1/4" lip, simply cut the lip out of the 1/2" okoumé.

-After they've been well sealed, wrap the edges of the ugly lower-grade plywood in some nice-looking bendy wood to preserve the "look".

This plan would leave the coaming 1/4" lower and possibly slightly heavier than it would be according to the plans, but has the advantage of conserving our okoumé, and saving us money, while looking "just as good".

So my question is, is this a foolish thing to be considering? How important is that extra quarter inch? Would a thicker coaming lip somehow be a problem? What about the non-marine aspect? I don't envision the coaming getting persistently soaked, but then again, I don't have enough experience to know what to expect.

Thanks!

-Jonathan and Amy