You mean vertically? Well ... I can't say for sure, and I may be wrong, but seems to me ... the bent gunwales of course want to spring back straight ... having the tenon on the bottom of the deck beams allows the surface above it to put a bit of pressure higher up on gunwales which helps them to maintain their 73 degree angle a little easier. I suggest ya just follow conventional practice on this one ... tried and proven as they say.

BTW ... when making the tenons I use a very fine toothed rasp (a hand stitched Bludan) to fine tune the fit ... for me, it works much faster and more accurately than a chisel ... it's been useful for all kinds of stuff I'd normally use an edged tool for.

Ken Blanton

Hey Folks,

I've noticed in many pictures I've seen that the tenons for cross beams are not in the middle. This link is an example of the tenon to the side....... What is the reason for this? My gut meter tells me to put the tenon in the middle....

Thanks,
Bill