BYYB Forums

Moved from "Fitting Taffrail to curve of transom"
Sorry Keith, I should've clarified: the wheel is going to be a series of 4 concentric rings around a hub of walnut. Each ring will be about 3/8" thick laminated from 2 plies of cherry and 1 of walnut, glued up with epoxy mixed with graphite. Repeat 4 times for each ring. The walnut hub will be 6" dia and the spokes will be 1 1/4"cherry dowel with the master spoke carved enough to be able to feel it through gloves. The spokes will pass through the rings and will be mortised into the hub. That's the plan anyway....
The veneers I've been looking at appear to be all wood. The backing you're talking about, is it paper covering an adhesive or is it an applied coating ?

Wow, That sounds like it's going to be gorgeous Brian, you definetly have to take some pictures of that when You build it.

Brian.

Most of the time on edge tape there is a cloth binder on the back of it, I just didn't want you to find out the hard way that it's not waterproof. Your wheel sounds like a one of a kind, I can't wait to see pics of it. I have a turkshead knot tied on my kingspoke but now it's off center due to some streching of the steering line. Stay busy and send pics of that wheel when it's complete

Keith

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Keith. I'll definitely make sure that it's wood and nothing but. I was concerned that it might not be something readily apparent, like some kind of clearcoat or something.
Hey Bri, good to see you're making lots of progress. Unfortunately, I've lost my building space for the moment, so my boat plans are on hold. I'll be going back to school pretty soon, so they'll be on hold for a while. At least working on the wheel will keep my hands busy - but I've been told I have to build a hope chest (new niece), a wardrobe and a blanket box before I can start anything new. I think I can sneak in an outrigger and sail rig for my kayak though.....plus the 5 or 6 knife projects to finish...plus...plus

Hey Bri, To bad You can't build yet, but going to School is more important,
Heck, if you go to School, you can make more money to build boats with :wink:
Besides it looks like your plate is full as well, Heck, After I get My boat done, your welcome to come on down to the colonies and take a Sail any time you want.
So take some pic's of the wheel,hopechest,Blanketbox,etc,etc,etc, as You build them and post, that wheel sounds like it's gonna be awsome.
I had a cool Experience today, Boss let me off early, I went home began doing some chores and got a phone call from the lumberyard, They could not get My Merenti, so I was like panic, what to do, Then it dawned on me that there was a place called marine lumber supply in Charlston that I got some quotes from waaaay back when I started this project, 8) well I found the number of this place and the guy remembered me from before, He didn't have merenti and the only thing he caried that was compareable was ocume, So I went all the way to Charleston to get it,A four hour round trip, That place was awsome, they only had Exotic, and nautical type wood, Truly I'm not a wood worker so this was acctually my first time ever really seeing Real wood, Wow that was awsome, I wound up getting some hunks of mahogany to make some blocks, Any Way, sorry to ramble, but that was really cool, I am definetly going back.

Brian.

Figured I might as well keep it in the same thread.....

So, I'm starting to draw out my wheel. I figure if it's hanging on the wall it'll help keep my priorities straight !! My only question at this point is diameter. Has anyone, after sailing their boat, wished the wheel were larger ? I plan to use a binnacle and spin-off hub and I don't mind recessing the cockpit seats to make room, the same way it's done on production boats. Not having sailed one, I have no idea what the rudder loading is like. And yes, being able to hold the wheel on course with one toe IS important..... 8)