The arrow tip is just below, and meant to point to, the bottom edge of the flotation tank's rear wall. It isn't relevant to the question about the compression post, but this was the best photo of the compression post I had - I probably shouldn't have mentioned the arrow and confused the issue.
I've put the arrow where it should be for this topic, so it points to the compression post. Here's the new photo:
- DSII compression post - resized.jpg (188.95 KiB) Viewed 10434 times
The bit that looks like brown 2X4 is a length of flotation foam, as are the two gray bits to the left and the single gray bit to the right. They're too long to pull out through the inspection ports without breaking them, so I suspect they were dropped into the hull during construction, before the cockpit molding was attached.
GL, you're right about the 30 degrees, and the portion of the centerboard trunk, and the two crosswise stringers.
Actually, looking at the compression post, and the compression post in one other DSII, it looks to me like it was made in two pieces, top and bottom. (The top portion is narrower and fits inside the bottom portion, and the drips of goop on the lower portion were probably glue that was squeezed out when the two pieces were joined.)
O'Day must have glassed the bottom portion to the hull and the top portion to the underside of the cuddy floor, then hoped they lined up when the cockpit molding was lowered onto the hull molding. If they didn't line up, well, desperate times call for desperate measures, like maybe the plywood in Kevin's boat.
That's my theory, anyway.