Tom, there are no restrictions where you question. It is not a new thing but it has been found that if you use CF on the rig, it will be good to carry spares. CF is brittle.
Deck support would be an interesting project if you have time. I have studied it and found that weight reduction was not significant to the amount of time in construction and cost. I considered building the frame out of the boat in a jig using a peg board and then installing it in the hull.
Adrian Olson has done a similar thing for the Soling 50. His crafting is to make parts that snap togther, is very light and quite strong. It is also done in mass at the manufacturer level with hi tech computer guided machines. It is wonderful but the boat costs about as much as an EC12 when you are done with it.
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