Subject: Re: [baidarka] Gunnels
From: brian.nystrom@att.net
Date: Tue Oct 16 2001 - 15:23:56 EDT
> I am moving toward starting my first skin kayak. Do most people split their
> gunnels from one piece of wood or utilize two separate pieces of wood? In my
> area, clear 1X Douglas (tongue and grove flooring). fir is relatively easy to
> come by. Clear 2X material is significantly harder. Does anybody have any
> experience with the boat becoming warped due to the gunnels not being cut from
> the same piece of wood?
Rumor has it that Harvey Golded has built a lot of boats this way.
A reasonable alternative to using 2x stock is to find a flat-sawn 1x8 with symmetric grain centered somewhere near the middle of the width, then rip it down the grain line, producing gunwale boards that are basically mirror images of each other. Rip them again to get the correct width and you're good to go. This is the method that Bob Boucher illustrates in his video. I did this and it worked fine. It's also a lot easier than trying to rip 2x stock down the center, especially if your table saw is marginal in power for the task, like mine is.
I used a fair amount of fit in my boat, though not for the gunwales. The only downside is that it's pretty heavy. However, if it's what you have the best selection to choose from in your area, I'd go with it.
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