Hard spots on keel?

[tuantom]

There are three, roughly evenly spaced, cross members made of 2x12 that run between the main stringers. They follow the contour of the hull down to the keel batten; but flatten off about 3/4" - 1" above it and never touch it. They are fully glassed to the hull and stringers; but not the keel. Is this to avoid hard spots, or just a factory short cut to avoid custom cutting each cross member to fit tight between the flooring and keel (they are an integral part of the floor structure) ? I'll be cutting new ones regardless, so I'm not sure if I should bring it down to the keel or not. Also, because the keel batten is a glassed in 2x4 raised above the contour of the hull, there will still be plenty of room for bilge drainage either way.

[the1much]

sounds like your talking about stringer bracing, some do that as to keep the boat from flexing to much, they say the space is to allow for regular flexing and not let it go to far. but i personally have never done them that waY. and as far as going all the way to the keel, if your boat flexes enough to flex at the keel, i think you may want to find your escape pod quickly ;) because that would mean the top sides of your hull has come to the center of your boat