Will Koenig Posted June 4, 2021 Report Share Posted June 4, 2021 I'm building a Stonefly canoe from the Fuselage Frame Kayaks book and I'm almost ready to install the gunwales, but it's not clear to me how the gunwales attach to the frames. The only reference to this that I see in the book is a line on page 97 that reads, "So take a rasp and file the frame down to get a good flush fit since these will have to be glued instead of lashed." I understand how the inwale and outwale are glued together with the blocking between, but is it only a glue joint holding the gunwales to the frames? Is that all there is to it, or should this be doweled or screwed as well? Considering that this connection may take a lot of force, I'm wondering if it might be too weak just gluing the face of the gunwales to the edge grain of the plywood frame. This is my first SOF build, and it's been very straightforward so far. I'm excited to get it on the water! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kudzu Posted June 4, 2021 Report Share Posted June 4, 2021 As the book says, just glue. Just make sure you have a good mating surfaces and it will be fine. PS Should have elaborated a bit more. Use Titbond 3 glue and clamp those joints. The glue joint depends on a good mated surface and pressure on the joint while drying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Koenig Posted June 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2021 Thanks, Jeff! I can do that. Do you have a strong preference for TBIII over polyurethane glue or epoxy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kudzu Posted June 8, 2021 Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 Epoxy works. I just don't use it unless I have to. I don't like the waste, the mixing and mess. Not a fan of polyurethane glues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Koenig Posted October 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2021 Following up on this for others' benefit. The top of the frame needs to be cut wide to make the joint work. It's drawn in the book with the inwale, the top of the plywood frame, and the outwale all 5/8" wide. See attached photograph from the book (Jeff - I hope that's OK. If not, let me know and I'll delete it.). I laid out my frame tops at 5/8" wide in 2D and cut it with a jigsaw, but that leaves the edges square to the face. When the gunwales actually meet the top of the frame in 3D, the gunwales are coming at an angle, so the top of the frame needs to be a parallelogram to get a tight fit. See attached horribly crude sketch. The "too narrow" middle sketch is what I had, and it got to be quite a bit less than 5/8" when I took it down to a parallelogram shape with a chisel and rasp. Also, the angle on the parallelogram changes from the middle (where it's close to 90 degrees) to the ends (where it's a bigger angle), but I had to cut all of my frame tops down by the same amount to get a consistent space between the inwale and outwale. Some of them ended up needing shims. I worried about the weakened joints for a while, but it hasn't been an issue. If I did it again, I'd leave the frame tops 1" wide or more to give me room to whittle them down to fit. I feel like I could have eyeballed it after the frame was assembled and cut it close to the right shape with a handsaw, and then fine tuned it from there. Also, Titebond III worked perfectly. No issues on the glueup once I got it all to fit. The build was an overall grand success. I need to post my launch day pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Koenig Posted October 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2021 Slight edit to correct an error on my horribly rough sketch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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