Fitting the Inwales
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| Andrew clamps an inwale in place |
Our inwales are duplicates of the gunwales, cut out of 3/4" stock fir. The cutting of the ends required the most complex cutting so far, really a cut with three different angles represented by the inward curve of the stem ends, the inward curve at the sides, and the joining of the two inwale pieces on the inside. We used small aluminum rulers to mark the bevels, cutting "proud" and then rasping and sanding until they fit. Since we were using thicker sections of gunwale than the original plans called for, the original joints of gunwale and stem did not always yield an easy "pointy" juncture to then match with the inwale. We needed to improvise the shape of the breasthooks, and we got to do some fun problem-solving that yielded a variety of breasthook solutions.
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| Colton's traditional dinghy style breasthook |
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| Another view |
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| Chris's breasthook designed according to Monfort's plans |
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| Overview of breasthook built according to Monfort's plans |
Floorboards
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| Mathias clamps a floorboard into place |
We cut our floorboards from the same ash log that we used for the rib stock. The light duty table saw we used determined the width of the floorboards at a narrow 7/4" and the length of the log (10') determined the length. Advantages: they were easy to twist slightly to follow the interior of the hull and it was easy to use the stringers as a guide to placement. Disadvantages: without a cushion, they might be a less comfortable seat for paddling. We glued them directly to the ribs to stiffen the frame. While it might be more difficult to clean the interior of the canoe, we are confident that with a little water pressure on a spray hose, we will be able to clean out food or other debris that gets under them.
They definitely make the hull stiffer.
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| Detail of 5 floorboards cut to fit and glued in place |
Gussets and Thwarts
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| Gusset and Thwart Detail |
We cut our gussets out of scrap oak and glued up thwarts from two pieces of 1/2" ash and a 3/8" piece of mahogany left over from cutting rabbets for picture frames. The thwarts need to be planed a little on the two ends as the gussets have a slight upward deflection when they are glued to the inhales and gunwales. They also need to have an inset cut to fit around the rib.
