I suggest making a mock-up of a side, with some scrap, and putting some body weight on it, to check its strength. The baseplate that you plan to omit adds a lot, I think . . . .

How do you plan to attach the skin to the plywood coaming?

: I am just finishing up the frame on my Disko Bay - Dave gentry's
: iteration. I was contemplating a laminated coaming but am now
: leaning towards plywood. Just curious if 3/4 x 3/4 for the
: spacer and 1/4 x 1 1/4 for the lip would be sufficiently strong?
: The coaming will not be supported on the sides with stanchions
: nor do I intend to attach a baseplate to the boat - as per Tom
: Yost's instructions.. The 29" x 16" coaming will be
: resting on the masik and "backrest" frame. I will be
: using 17mm (3/4" Russian Birch for the spacer. (After two
: months of soaking it has still not delaminated) This wood has 13
: plies, no voids whasoever and the endgrain can be sanded to
: "satiny" smoothness. It's a bit heavy but I'll take
: strength over weight.

: Anybody see an issue with this setup given the size of the cockpit?

: Sean