Thursday, October 2, 2014

Rubrails installed

Rubrails are just about the last structural item to install.  

But before doing that, I put on this trim piece on the bow.  The plans call for the bow transom to be completely flat, but when I installed the deck I noted that I had a bit of extra length, and so left it in place.  I now cut this piece to finish off the bow.  No steam bending or anything here, it's just cut to shape.  It has beveled edges top and bottom and fits in nicely.  There will be a shadow under this and I think it will look better than a completely flat front.


For rubrails I elected to use some clear fir I had on hand in 14' lengths, old floorboards. They were pretty dirty to I cleaned most of that off with a sander, then ran them through the surface planer, and cut them to width with a circular saw.  The sheer curves horizontally, vertically, and twists, so I had to soften these up with the steamer.  It took a lot of steaming, and even then this wood didn't bend too well, but it was enough.  

I clamped them in place below the gunwale to hold their shape.


And after they cooled down removed the plastic back and reclamped them to dry.


Then installed them with epoxy and used screws to clamp them.



All trimming and rounding of edges will be done with them installed on the boat.


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