- drilled holes every 5 inches as recommended as well as two on the part that goes on the bridge of the canoe
- sanded the cove part of the band wiht 50 grit sandpaper
- bented and adjusted the band carefully and temporarily fixed it with strong tape
- used the same holes to drill into the wood
- filletted each hole (band and wood) with a steel bolt
- removed the band in order to glue it on with thickened epoxy
- spread the epoxy and fixedthe band again with tape
- used brass bolts and spreaded them with some epoxy before threading them into the holes but leaving the head sticking out by about 1/8 of an inche
- after the hole thing dried out I simply did cut the head of the bolt and filed and sanded the bolt flush with the band
The final result is that the band is well fixed and that the fasteners (bolts) can't be seen unless you look very closely.
Here is a picture of the final result. Of course I selected the best portion. If you look closely there is a bolt just about in the middle of the picture.
![Image](http://charlesc1canoe.netfirms.com/images/img_3691_1.jpg)