philip cosson ) writes:

I have also been encouraged to bias the boats weight by having lighter
fore and aft transoms and a heavy daggerboard case. What am I trying
to achieve? keeping the weight in the middle and low down? What
materials can I substitute for these areas that are lighter and
heavier than standard 6mm exterior ply wood?

I was being humourous with the "tradtional" remark.

Since you are building an Optimist pram, a one design racing and training
sailing dingy with a large class association, I'd look for websites
dedicated to the class for detailed advice on construction. One design
boats have to meet size and weight specifications in order to race. The
specs pretty well determine the materials. I doubt anyone lays the plywood
on the bias. I'd wager it all runs fore-and-aft as the boat will be be
lighter and stiffer that way.

If interested there are some numbers on the bending radius of plywood in a
file on my website (see below). Click on "Boats".

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