S11N, I just got the plans... does everyone freak out or...

[Guest Oyster]

I had some pretty good freshwater bait for that one. :twisted:

[Greg Luckett]

Ok Ok....time to go out back and chip the ice off the beer cooler and have a drink to your honor. :drinking:

[Dale Niemann]

Matthew,

I may be a little late with this comment. Don't worry about going 3D. I took my CS 17 3D by myself in my one car garage with the help of a few ropes to hold positions as I brought it together.

Dale

[Bud_Wilson]

Greg as best I can tell that was a big yellow jitter bug Oyster was using. Bid

[Howard]

One additional comment for Matthew, having nothing to do with saw horses...ahem...boat cradles....involves laminating up the gunwales. This was the most difficult part for me.

I had no trouble dry fitting them, but once the epoxy was on, they started to slither everywhere but where I wanted them. Am I the only one who has ever had this problem?

Then there is the trick of fitting both sides together at the same time, so as to not to throw one side off. Side to side, front to back.

If I were to do it again, I'd use 1.5" stock, ripped to 1/4 inch. I'd figure out where I wanted the bottom to be and clamp a set of short blocks down each side, so when I was ready to glue, I'd have something to clamp down to to keep all three laminations in place where I wanted them. So they would be clamped to the side and down.

Second part. Right in the bow section, where the curve and twist of the gunwales is greatest, I had a lot of clamping pressure on my laminations. Had to to get them to take the twist the flare of the bow imparted in them. Since epoxy doesn't like clamping pressure (forces the glue out leaving a weak joint), I'd be tempted to mix in some 30/100 walnut shell or plastic non-skid granules into my epoxy to act as spacers to give me a nice glue joint. This type of grit also works to "lock" the laminations together so they don't slither around so much. With some type of grit, you can clamp the snocker out of them and still have a good glue line. Use walnut shell or plastic granules...something you can work with wood tools. NOT Sand!!!

Lastly, I'd leave the gunwales proud of the side of the boat, and when the epoxy was cured (give it days...depending on the cure rate of your hardener), I'd plane them down into the shape I wanted for my sheer line.

Graham was recommending using CCA, 2x stock and looking for plain sawn stock that could be ripped down. I think he called it "Carolina Teak". So that would have been CCA pressure treated yellow pine. The new stuff (ACQ?) is probably still yellow pine, but the new stuff may not stick with epoxy. I did a test glue up on the surface, and it didn't stick. It was almost like waxed wood. The inside might still.

The new stuff is also corrosive to fasteners, so all in all, I might be tempted to use Doug Fir or untreated yellow pine for my gunwales and epoxy coat them.

I might also be tempted to use Tom Lathrop's CB rope trick on my gunwales to act as bumpers. The only downside I can think of is that UV might eventually get to them.

[Hirilonde]

After I had my laminated gunwales dry fit/clamped in place I drilled out countersink and clearance holes from the outside at both the bow and stern where they overlapped the breast plate and stern quarter knees (3 #8 x 1 1/4" screws each end). I then drilled pilot holes through the plywood into the plate and knees and test fitted the screws. When I was happy with how it all looked I scribed along the gunwales the entire length to show where I wanted the gunwales to be during glue up. I then removed everything, slathered my epoxy with cabosil on both sides of every meeting pair and put it all back together. I did end up wearing some of the epoxy, but it all layed out just how I wanted/expected it to. I finished by bunging the screw holes. Because the ends were screwed and not clamped while the epoxy set I was able to control how tight they were, which was snug and not totally squashed. The added fastening can't hurt either, laminations usually come apart from the ends.