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i am lying around this evening feeling like i have been snow boarding for several days strait. what have i been doing to deserve this level of pain and exhaustion you may ask?? i have been busting my booty on the vacationer, of course. :roll: i have a couple of odds and ends to do and it will be redy to flip and the finishing chapter will beggin. all rub rails are on save the starbord top inside rail and the seat backs are all that are left to be done. i forgot how much work goes into those stupid rails! my arms feel like they are going to fall off because of those blighters. sooo much screwin! (i went every 3 inches) and now i have the pleasure of picking slivers and saw dust out of places that i formerly did not know existed. i think i am going to take a brake tomorow. i want to live to finish the boat. :wink:

There will be no breaks allowed sailor! :twisted: The beatings will continue until moral improves or you get that boat in the water.
You'll feel better in the morning, take some advil and you'll have that last rail on before you know it. Just think about how great it will be after the boat is rolled over and you get that glass stuck down. You'll then get to sand, and sand, and sand, and sand......and sand. All those glass fibers will find more places you didn't know you had and the itch will begin....it's been 3 years and I'm still scratching. I'll bet the folks that helped talk you into building didn't mention all the pain you would be in. Well I guess we can tell you now that you've come too far to turn around, "It's gonna kick your ass everyday till you launch it!" ***


Keith


***For those of you who have not yet started building your dream boat the above message is fiction. Building a boat is a tranquil labor of love. The boat actually seems to build itself while you sit back and drink a cold beer. The cost of building can be offset by recycling your beer cans, as a matter of fact you'll probably have money left over. Now go purchase your plans and spend some quality time with your tools. I'll see you on the water in no time.

I was wonderin' what all the fussin' was about till I read your footnote and you told the truth. Probably sittin' around with a tube from one of your new kegs hangin' out of your mouth watchin the drill screw in screws. Oh, wait Keith. With that new keg thingy you have you won't have beer cans to recycle. How are you going to pay for your repairs from now on?

truth be told, i couldn't stop building if i wanted to. i am having the time of my life watching this boat come togeather. and i really can't complain about the cost because these designs are so simple compared to other projects that i could list. if i do get this done by spring, i am deffinitely going to sail across the great salt lake and check out some of the islands on the way! the lake is known to be a bit unpredictable but this boat is so big i think it is going to be even more solid and stable in the weather than my weekender. i will try to miss the bad stuff if i can though. thanks for the pep talk captain sir! it helps

Now where was this little bout of honesty when I started this project :?
Aaron just to let you know, I did find the galley rail at lowes. Now to install it. I wonder if there is a way to bend the rail as my shelf is cut for forward compartment access. maybe I can steam it or boil the heck out of in in a big pot. I would only need to do the top rail as I am going to remove the bottom like you did.

Brian.

That rail has some flex to it Brian. When you buy it look for straight grain and you might look at oak as it will bend better than maple or birch. And by the way you got the pep talk on the lake, all you had to do was go for a ride and the rest was easy.

Keith

cool to see you found one! they sure are salty. while i still consider myself an amature i must say that i have never had a good experience steaming wood. if i may say how i would do it, i would remove both rails, trace the curve of the shelf and cut a new rail. a router would clean up the edges really nice and it is not any different a prosses than what you would do around the deck when making curved stringers for the cabin sides. less time consuming too. after all, spring is just around the corner and closing like a freight train. but that is only my humble opinion.

Yeah, yer right Aaron it is coming fast fer sure. I may have to press some folks into service around here
I think I may do that Aaron less time consuming, and the shelf is really curved kind of like an s. But I may boil the rail tonight just to see if it will bend, Boat building got cut short last night as the wife ran out of propane for the grill and I happen to have a nice full tank attatched to my shop heater so for the sake of dinner I gave up my heat and sanded for a little while till it got cool and dark, about eight PM.
Uh huh, ok Keith yer like a pusher huh, here ya go heres a little bit, ooooh fun now aint it. But you for got the last part, You Must now pay!!! and dearly I might add. :lol: just joshin' I wouldent trade it for nuthin' now I wont lie I can not wait to be done with it and on the water but it has been quite an experiance, and when it is over I already have two more boats I want to build, If the admiral will give me liberty and not throw me off the home port hock:
Brian.

It helps to soak wooden pieces for 24 hours in room temperature water before steaming or boiling (weight them down so they are fully covered). It fills the cellular structure of the wood with water and makes it more pliable. In many cases, if the curve isn't too bad, the soaking is enough.

As has been pointed out, bending wood is dependant on the wood used, both species and more importantly the way the grain runs in the piece.

Bending it with a sister piece at the same time or with a strap of metal around the outside of the curve also helps. This keeps the grain from opening up and starting a split or crack.

Keep it hot. When steaming, you have only 3 to 5 minutes of working time (at most) to get it bent. If you take longer, the wood cools and it breaks. Towels with boiling water poured over them can extend this time, but not by much. Boiling usually will not permit as tight a bend as steaming.

Cold bending is also an option. This takes a long time in comparison to steam. The idea is to provide the wood with a "memory", much like a 2x4 standing up against a wall, eventually taking on a bow, which then stays in the wood. You weight or clamp the wood into a jig, but work it in slowly, over the course several of days. Again wetting the wood, keeping it wet and hot wet can help.

When bending wood, you have to over bend so account for spring back, which is the wood "relaxing" after release from the mold. If good, fresh cut, straight grained ash, alder, live or white oak is used a 10% tighter radius on the bends is all that's needed. If using a wood that doesn't bend as well or is kiln or well dried (below 17% moisture content), then you'll want 15 to 20% less radius in the bend.

Thank you Paul I appreciate that. So I will soak it tonight in water, then tomorow night I will attempt to steam it. Also I like the metal strip idea as well, I will bring home a gas tank strap tonight, and use that it should work it is flexable I bought like 4 of those rails they are kind of dry, but I should be able to find a straight grain in the bunch.
Again, I appreciate your advise Paul it will be well used.

Brian.