Seat back tops laminated and installed

Before doing any more painting I next wanted to create and install the tops on the seat backs. This is the last structural part of the boat to be built, so getting this done is a great milestone.

I've been thinking over time how I wanted to handle this part.  Some builders don't have any trim installed in this area, and some builders have fairly wide tops installed, the better to sit on. Because I don't yet know whether I'll want to perch up there much, and don't know where the favored location will be if I do, I decided to just install a medium wide top, as I can always modify that later if I want to.

I decided on a top that is about 3/4" thick and 2" wide.  I laminated this up from four 1/2" strips of pine, which take the bend fairly easily.

I put clear packing tape on the tops of the seats, so that I could laminate the tops in place. It was another glue-up that took most of my clamps.  I used C-clamps to clamp sticks to the seatback on the inner part of the curve, then pulled in the ends with the handscrew clamps.  I used lightweight bar clamps down to the bottom of the seat back to pull the top down to the curve, some small bar clamps with sticks to align the top of the lamination, and some small bar clamps and c-clamps to hold the laminations together.  Quite a conglomeration.

After the epoxy cured I had two tops that were curved just right to fit the seat backs.

I knocked off most of the squeeze out with a scraper, and then a quick trip through the planer had them looking nice.

The next step was to determine the edge profile.  I cut off a bit of the extra length and layed out three different radii on the edges.  My largest roundover bit is 1/2" radius, so I used that on the inner top.  I didn't want the outer edge to be completely rounded over, so used a smaller bit on the bottom edge of that.

The only tricky part to fit was the return at the front of the cockpit.  This has a compound bevel where it meets the cabin side, and it's easy to get too short as you sneak up on the right fit. 

But I got this side just about perfect.  As for the one on the other side, well, that's what thickened epoxy is for...

I primed the bare wood with unthickened epoxy, and then used silica-thickened epoxy to glue down the parts. After the epoxy cured and the clamps were cleared away I was pleased with the way things were looking.

And a little sanding dresses it up even further.

When I clamped these for gluing, I tried to let them hang over to the inside just a bit, so that I could bring them back flush with spokeshave, sandpaper and scraper.  This shot is from before I did that.

After bringing the insides flush and cleaning up a bit of squeeze out on the underside I sanded them all over and then finished up with a fillet of epoxy.  Here at the cabin junction:

And all along underneath the edge.

I climbed in the boat and tried them out and found this bit of wood provides a really nice arm rest with no sharp edges, and sitting up on top for a bit to stretch my legs if wanted should be very doable, too.  All in all a nice looking and functional addition to the seat backs that finishes things off nicely.

Seat backs installed

Time now to install the seat backs.  I didn't have any clamps that would work for this job (though I am thinking I will make some of the deep-reach cam clamps in the latest WoodenBoat magazine for future jobs like this), so I resorted to using screws.  This worked pretty well,

though it left a bunch of screw holes to fill.

With the seat backs in place I cut and installed the little triangle transition pieces.  The ones included with the kit didn't fit quite right, so I cut my own from scrap.  Masking tape holds the part while the epoxy cures. 

I then rounded the outer edge and filleted the inner curve and appliet a bit of fiberglass cloth.  I like the way the cloth shifts to cover complex shapes like this without the need of cutting any darts or anything.

I saturated that with epoxy.

and put a piece on the inside, too. 

And also took this opportunity to put fiberglass tape along the deck/cabin side joint. 

Here's my first pass with the fairing mixture.  It sagged a little on the vertical surface.

And here's after a bit of sanding.  This still has a ways to go before I'm done.

I then turned my attention to the reinforcing rail on the seat back.  I made this from two thin strips, so I was able to clamp them in place without steam bending.  

I first laminated them  in place on the seat back, but not glued to the seat back.  After the epoxy cured I then took the lamination off and cleaned up the bottom edge, tapered it toward the rear end, and rounded over the bottom corner with the router.  Then I took the result and glued it in place on the seat back.

I cut and fit the return on the front edge,

And trimmed the back to length. 

A little bit of sanding finished it off.

I plan to install a cap on top of this about 1/2" thick.  That will cover the exposed edge of the plywood and allow me to put a nice generous round over on to make it more comfortable to have an arm resting against.  I may also add a wider section if I find that I like to sit up on the rail.  I didn't know where the best place for that would be at this point, so that's a future item.