It feels like we've rebuilt the front of the boat! we've just fitted the next piece of the jigsaw.
Here we are halfway through fitting the new beam to support the aft end of the foredeck, propped in place to check the fit

and here it is in place, it's a 4" square piece of sapele which goes the full width of the deck, and joins to the piece we fitted yesterday.
After getting it in place we sat down in the sunshine with a beer to celebrate :)