Gunwales

[GeirB]

Just finnished glueing gunwales an decks on my new Prospector, using thickened epoxy. Now I`m not sure if I should use (brass)screws or wooden plugs to strenghten the installation or just leave it the way it is.
I think wooden plugs would look good, but need advise on drilling through both in and outwale without splintering the wood on the exit side of the hole.
I would be very pleased if any nof you would post pics and advice on your own installation.

GeirB

[Tim Eastman]

Geir we JUST this last week did our inwales and I was seriously impressed by how easy it was when it could have been disastrous. It's surprising how strong the epoxy is even when it is spaced out among scupper blocks. We did not add screws at all other than for temporary "clamping" (pilot holes).

I really don't think you need the screws in addition to having the epoxy for holding your inwales. I picked up our canoe by the thwarts which are bolted to the bottom of the inwales and it behaved just fine.

We are doing ours like John Michne almost to the letter (exept for the 1/8" roundover bit inside the inwales) http://www.michneboat.com/Gunwales.htm We plan to do our outwales the same way.

[ealger]

Geir, you will find some pictures of my Ranger here:
http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a237/ ... ?start=100

It sounds like you glued on the inwales and outwales just using clamps and no screws. If you did, you accomplished a great feat. From my perspective, if you are worried about the outwales or inwales springing loose, it would be possible to drill pilot holes from the inwale side or the outwales side without going completely through out the opposite side and installing a few screws. The screws could be flathead brass or stainless or you could use flat bottom binder head type screws followed by a plug.

If you drill from the outwale side, you would drill through the outwale, through the hull and part way into the inwale; not through the inwale!

I drill my pilot holes on a drill press after fitting the outwale for length. I drill the plug hole followed by the screw pilot. After the outwales are installed, I remove the temporary locating screws and the holes are plugged with tapered plugs. It seems like this is a common way of doing this task.

This isn't going to help you now, however.
Ed...

[Robbie]

Hi , I'm justn wondering if you could clamp on a block of wood to the inwale side and when you drill through it may not "break out" or splinter.?
Cheers, Robbie.

[GeirB]

My consern is that I squeezed out too much of the thickened epoxy when I clamped for glueing. I used epoxy with thickener, microfibre and woodflour. I like the "clean" look of a installation without screws or plugs.
I also like the look of contrasting plugs. This will ad a decorative element to the gunwales. Last time I used stainless screws covered by woodflourthickened epoxy. Maybe I should try screws and wooden plugs this time.

GeirB