Rail Caps

OK its been a while since I have posted here and since I have actually launched the boat and enjoyed some great sailing I had better finish off the build posts so I can get on with the sailing part.

From Knees, Seats and Breasthook - Penobscot 14

So here are some of the finishing parts of the boat. Let start with the rail cap. I used Douglas Fir or Oregon Pine depending on where you are from. For this I started with the caps on the breast hook and quarter knees. These were screwed into place and trimmed for the correct over hangs. Don't get to aggressive here as it is better wait until you have evrything on and then you can shape them as one.

For the mounting blocks for the oar locks, which sit proud of the rail cap, I left the ends at full hight and fitted and screwed these to the gunnel's as well. I then removed the mounting blocks so I could lay full boards over the gunnel's to shape the rail caps as they sweep around. This way I could cut out the birds mouth joint concentrating just on the shape of this part of the joint without worrying about lining up the sides of the rail.

From Knees, Seats and Breasthook - Penobscot 14

Once this part of the joint was right I pushed the joint up tight and screwed the mounting blocks back down on top of the rail cap to trace out the birds mouth joint at the other end. I was conservative in cutting this end out so that when the rail was put back in place it had to be slightly sprung into place between the quarter and the mounting block.

From Knees, Seats and Breasthook - Penobscot 14

Once satisfied with this joint I screwed along the rail cap and then marked and cut the rail cap. I followed this procedure for all the caps and then did the final shaping on the boat. This included using my Dremmel tool to sand down the mounting blocks to the height of the rail.

From Knees, Seats and Breasthook - Penobscot 14

Now typically you would finish the rail cap off with wooden plugs but I decided on something a little different. In New Zealand the Maori have always used Paua shell to decorate their carvings and boats. The Paua is a shell fish in the Abalone family and the Paua is a particularly colourful variety. It just so happened that I had a bag of Paua shell cut as button blanks that pretty much fitted the holes left by the screws. These were shaped and set in epoxy on top of the screws and sanded flat with the rail when dry.

From Painting and Varnishing - Penobscot 14