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Completing the bow

I completed installing all the strips in the wings - finally. The last few pieces are tricky to shape and install. In particular, for the last three pieces, the triangular final piece is easiest to place first and then work back from that corner.

Next up was working on the bow. You shape the bow with the plan tube - the tube has to be able to fit into the opening in the bow. So I tried to align it along the strips, then cut a straight line on a diagonal downwards toward the centreline. This removed much of the cedar, but getting a perfect fit still meant wrapping the tube in sandpaper and sanding down the hole. The trick here is to make sure that when you're done, the tube lays straight along the centreline strip - adding a straight line along the tube helps.

Next up, I wrapped the tube in plastic, and three sheets of 8 oz. s-glass, left over from glassing the hull. Each is 10" long, and either 6 or 8 inches wide - 6 is good for the final piece (closest to the tube) but having 8" helps for the outer pieces. Wet these out on the tube, let it cure, and then place in the hole in the bow you've made.

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Sanding the gunwales

Did two things this week. First, I continued installing the strips in the step. It takes an evening to cut one 8' strip up to fit in the hole - and having cut strips for both port & starboard, I glued all the pieces I had friction fit in place. This took a while - lots of clamping to ensure a tight fit.

With all three strips completely cut, I found out I would need a fourth - I miscalculated how many 8' long strips I would need. I figured three at most, but it turns out that I'll need at least four.

So, while I waited for the weekend (and the ability to go over to Max's house and cut another strip), I decided to sand down the mahogany gunwale strips. This was dusty. I used the cheap belt sander I bought to shape the bowpiece. This one was worse - dust all over the garage. The centre strip, and the 1/4" cedar strip, were the thin pieces. So most of the material had to be removed from the top and bottom strips. For the first side I just plowed into it with the sander, but on the other side I started with the plane, and came back with the sander. Be sure to press evenly, so you remove the same amount from both top and bottom strips. All in all, it worked out very well, the gunwales look (and feel) great.

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Installing darts on the step

Started on the darts. The darts are strips of 1 1/2" mahogany, 1/8" purpleheart, and 1/4" yellow cedar. Take all of these, cut them into 1/4" tall strips, and glue them up in a long strip, like this. Do a bunch at once, because while they're drying you can't make much progress.

The darts are installed at 60° off the centreline. To find this 60° measurement, I found parallel lines to the centreline, and marked them on the wing. I then put a strip down on the marks, and used my protractor to find the correct angle. Then shape the initial piece for the very top of the hole - this one is the most important, since all the other pieces will follow its edge.

Cutting the strips doesn't take too long - 8 feet of strip took about an evening to cut and shape correctly. Gluing all those pieces in place took more time because I had to worry about good fits and clamping things together - that took a couple nights. One strip fills up a little less than 1/2 of the hole. All told, it will take about four 8' long strips of mahogany to fill the entire hole. It sure does look pretty, though.

[Update 2008 Mar 25: Check out this fabulous inlay, built by John Harmuth (USA 085):

Very nice woodwork.

I have to say, if I was building another deck, I would probably put in something like this (which I really like), as well as a single centre strip of mahogany with two narrow strips of white cedar alongside. Having these accents just makes it look that much nicer.]

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