I never weighted my Quattro 16 so I honestly dont know. A lot lighter than my Tornado and perfectly manageable for one person to rig, launch and retrieve. I have never sailed or handled an other 16 foot cat.

I dont believe you will use a lot more time on strip-planking than on stitch'n glue.

I know that newer designs without front beams uses several 'sub-decks' below the top deck in front of the beams to improve stiffness and strength. Marstrøm Tornado's has three decks in front of the mainbeam. This could be hard to do on a Quattro, but not impossible. Order the plans and ask Richard Woods, he can say wether stringers or sub-decks are the way to go.

The Taipan 4.9 has several deck stringers, but the hulls are othervise build much the same way as the Quattro. Perhaps you dont even need to do anything.

It sounds like you have a firm set of ideas and plans. Go ahead and build it. Even tough I would hate to break a boat I have buildt myself..

Good luck!