"Knot Again" -- Page 3

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I knew that I wanted scuppered inwales, but also recognized that I needed to be careful fabricating them since I was going to use Alaskan yellow cedar and intended to keep them relatively light. I started by scarfing a piece long enough for the inwale and large enough for both of them plus a saw kerf down the middle. Once I marked out the locations of the scuppers, I was able to drill 3/8" diameter holes at the ends of each scupper.

I'd heard war stories of people tearing out chunks of their inwale while forming scuppers, so I chose to cut out the majority of the area with the saber saw. Once I'd connected the dots, I cut the piece right down the center on the table saw, resulting in two inwales with scuppers roughed in at the same spots. What a concept - maybe they'll match!

I set up the fence on the router table to finish off the slots with a straight bit, and then rounded off the edges in most of the right places in preparation for installation of the inwales.

I coated all of the inside surfaces of the scuppers as well as the surfaces that would be glued to the hull with epoxy before installed. The inwales (and outwales) were installed with thickened epoxy but no screws. The only hardware in the boat will be for the seat and strut installation.

Everyone warns about the need for every clamp you own. Actually, I didn't use any of the big bar clamps and only one of the 6" C clamps. Sure wish I'd had more of the 1" Pony clamps. They worked really slick for installing the inwales!

Once the inwales cured, I fabricated and installed short carry thwarts that are designed to accept the inboard edge of the deck in a rabbet on the top edge of the thwart. Both thwarts are slotted to allow a cam strap to be used to retain gear or float bags. The grey tape forms a parting surface so that the deck strips can be laid up.

The deck was fabricated out of some Port Orford cedar strips that I had left over from my first kayak project. After the glass cured on the decks, they were separated from the grey tape (I used hot glue to hold in place with the tape) and glassed on the inside before being epoxied to the inwales and carry thwart.

The outwales were installed individual with thickened epoxy but no screws. I didn't have enough clamps (the 1" clamps were too small) to install them both at the same time. I radiused the lower edge of the outwale with the router and tapered the last 36" from 9/16 to 5/16 inch before installing the mahogany outwales.