Cocktail Class deck installation

Builder's Forum
1

The instructions for deck installation on the Cocktail Class racer call for joining the two halves of the deck with a splicing board, It's called a "king plank" in the instruction manual.  Then the deck is installed as a single piece (pages 97-101).

This is fine except that the instructions call for about 35 large spring clamps on each side, or about 70 total.  While we have access to a substantial number of clamps, there's no way we can come up with 70 large ones, and I'd rather not buy a large number for this one time we're ever likely to use them.

This leads to the following idea:  Install one side of the deck, already attached to the king plank, let the epoxy set, then install the other side.  Aside from accurate alignment, it seems the critical factor here is to apply sufficient weight to the joint area to completely hold down the second deck piece while the edge along the hull is clamped and the rest of the attachment is done.

Has anyone done this?  Does anyone have an opinion as to whether this is a bad idea?  We don't want to attempt this if it turns out, from the community's experience, to be a bad idea and not likely to turn out well.

 

2

Follow-up:  We did install the deck in two pieces.  In some ways, it made the job easier, in other ways it didn't.  The second piece wound up sitting about 1mm higher than the first at the seam.  I was able to do a combination of sanding and epoxy to eliminate this irregularity, but it was some work.

If I had to do it again, I'd follow the kit instructions.  I'd also do it on a cooler day (60-70F) to maximize the workability of the epoxy.  Many beads of it have to be laid down before the deck can be placed on it.

In the end, our deck installation was successful, if not perfect.