The last real bit of construction was making the gunwales. They are pretty simple. The gunwales (the outside ones) are 3/4"x3/4" cherry and the inwales (inside ones) are 3/4x1" deep. The engineer in me wanted a bit more to hang the seat off of so I went a bit deeper with the inwales. The question you are dying to ask is where do you find 15' pieces of cherry. You don't. I had two 8'x3/4" pieces that I ripped down into 8 pieces and made 6:1 scarf joints on the end. I spent about 10 minutes making up the tapering jig (sorry no picture) and it worked quite well. I then used an epoxy glue (not the stuff for the fiberglass) on the scarf joints, wrapped them up in wax paper, put some clamping blocks on the outside and gently clamped the joints.
OK, now I have 16' pieces of wood. I figured I would be better off installing the gunwales before I finished the edges so I clamped them on the edge of the boat. Ideally, I wanted the top inwale and gunwale to be co-planar and have the hull stick up a little since I wanted to use a belt sander to level everything off. Unfortunately, the hull bent in ways the gunwales didn't want to bend so I needed to plane off some of the gunwale/inwale in spots (block plane was quicker and less scary than a belt sander) and then finish it with the belt sander. To attach the gunwales/inwales to the boat, I used stainless screws on about 8" centers. I made up a 5 minute jig with some scrap wood and a 1/8 dowel rod to get the same distance from the top of the boat and center-to-center on the screws. I installed all the screws and sanded the gunwales flush. One problem I had was on the ends. The bend was pretty severe and I needed a few extra screws. Also, on the ends I needed to put the screws in from the outside. I'll fill those holes with dowel plugs when I'm done.
Once that was all done, I took off the gunwales and rounded off the edges with a 1/4" radius round over bit on the router table. I had trouble keeping wood in contact with the bit, but a couple of featherboards and my able daughter helped me to get it done.
All that is left is a little hand work on the gunwales, 3 coats of varnish inside, about 5 coats of Danish Oil on the gunwales, and installing the seat. I just need another insanely warm weekend (or two).
Once that was all done, I took off the gunwales and rounded off the edges with a 1/4" radius round over bit on the router table. I had trouble keeping wood in contact with the bit, but a couple of featherboards and my able daughter helped me to get it done.
All that is left is a little hand work on the gunwales, 3 coats of varnish inside, about 5 coats of Danish Oil on the gunwales, and installing the seat. I just need another insanely warm weekend (or two).
