The Gunwales

The gunwales are made up of three strips of Oak, one for the inwale, and two for the outwale. On the face of one of the outer strips, I laminated a 2mm veneer of mahogany. I then routed a 2mm channel 3mm deep in the centre of one side of each of the outer strips. Having rounded the outer corners, I then epoxy bonded the first outer strip along the sheer line, screwing it to the hull at 100mm intervals with the screw heads inside the hull. When that had cured, I similarly bonded the inwale to the hull, with the screw heads countersunk into the initial outwale strip. Finally, I inserted a 5mm strip of 2mm veneer into the slot on the outwale. This then exactly aligned the second outwale strip, which was just epoxy bonded and clamped until cured. The pictures below tell the story.

The photo above shows the first outwale strip bonded and screwed in position. The 2mm groove and positioning veneer can be seen in the centre of the strip.

The final result: inwale at the top, then the hull, first outer strip, mahogany veneer, and finally at the bottom the rounded outer rubbing strake. The deck will have a half round edge which will hopefully, fit into a concave half round already machined into the middle strip, thus avoiding the need for screws.