Thank you Will. I'll have to cut and fit. This boat started as I wanted to replace my Oday 222 and went with the 8m . I wanted a boat w/ a sail area I could handle myself, a hull that had good performance, a capsize rating under 2, stand up headroom (over 5'8"), and of course affordable. Yes, the sides are high but after stuck in my 222 s' cabin for two days waiting out a storm I wanted a boat I could stand up in to put my pants on so I will live with the sides. Last on the list was a head. My wife hates the under the berth setup of the 222. There were other boats on my list but this one became available. The P.O. had gutted it without much reference for reassembly and lost interest. It's so hard to realize how many hours it takes. I've now gell coated the hull, added structure to the keel, bulkheads, chainplates, deck, and stern. Embedded the ballast, replaced and lowered the floor 2" and now tabbing in the interior. There are so many hours and hours of details as almost all parts have to be altered as the shape or dimension of the place it needs to attach to has changed. The point I want to make is that anyone that is starting needs to keep it simple. Buy something that can be used without much work to make it safe and usable. Use it! Get to know it. Then you will know if its worth the terrible job to replace the stained monkey fur on the hull. But you'll get thru it because now it is your baby and cannot be abandoned.