Cutting scuppers

[Gord]

Please provide some feed back on some methods used for cutting the
scuppers in the inwales.

Thanks

[Glen Smith]

Hi Gord, John Michne shows one method of making scuppered inwales on his website which I have tried and really like: http://www.michneboat.com/Gunwales.htm.

On my first canoe I cut the scuppers out of the solid inwales using a dado blade on the table saw and a round-over bit in the router. This method works well also and is used by a lot of builders. You could also rout the scuppers using a template and a piloted straight bit.

[Charley]

I agree that the Michne method works well. I have used it once and I will use it again. I used two different colors of wood.

[Juneaudave]

About using a straight router bit...you have to immobilize the gunnel to make sure that the trailing edge of the router cut doesn't tear out the edges of the gunnel. That means that the piece has to have a backup so when you hit the return edge, solid wood backs the piece and you don't tear out the edge. One way to do that is to build a jig so that you snug up a piece of wood to the surface you are routing. I'm a little embarassed about the quality of this jig, but I routed the scuppers in about an hour after I built it...with no tear out. What I did was take a couple pieces of plywood and three pieces of stock the same thickness as the gunnel to build a base. These pieces of stock were fixed as rails to build the frame and to run the stock thru. A fourth piece of stock was used (with wedges left over from the stapleless building method) to pinch the gunnel between the floating rail and the center fixed rail. The pieces of stock on top served as the template for running the router around. Worked great despite the apparent lack of jig quality. As you've learned, a jig can save a lot of time even if it isn't a work of art!!!

[Kurt Loup]

Here's a couple pictures of how I cut out my scuppers. I made a jig out of 1/4" ply to guide my router. Make the jig cutout the size that you want the scuppers. A fence on the bottom aligned the jig on the ash board. A template guide was installed in the router along with a 1/2" spiral router bit. The scupper locations were marked on the ash board.
Since I didn't have enough room to rip the 16' board on my tablesaw, I attached a fence to the sole of my circular saw. The circular saw was used to rip off the gunwale strip. The process was repeated for the other side.

Kurt