Railmeat

I finally moved forward on the rails this weekend after having them sit in their rough cut state for 2 months doing nothing.  In retrospect, now it seems like I didn't do much, but all told, it took about 4 hours of my time not including the 20 minutes clearing the shed of wasps that had decided to build nests in several spots.

I started on the starboard side by getting the rough cut rails aligned as close as I could tell to the bulkwark. My current caprail plan involves hanging the rubstrake underneath the caprail top so I want to have as much overhang as possible on the outboard side of the bulkwark.

Once I was satisfied with the layout I started at the bow and tapped the first screws with my #14 tapered drill bit with stop collar.  From there I measured out 16 inch intervals on the rail all the way to the stern.  Ultimately, I'll be screwing 1-1/2" screws every 8 inches along the rails, but at this point I just need to get it fastened for further trimming.  I tapped and screwed every 32" or so on the 16" marks to make sure it was solidly attached.

Then I pulled out my router with 1/2" shank flush trim bit (I don't remember the maker, but it was expensive ~$45.00).  The 1/2" shank makes it rock solid no matter how thick the wood, and there are 2 roller bearings on the end so you've got a wide profile for finding the surface to use as the guide.  I started up at the bow and using the bulwark as my guide. I slowly routed the inside edge of the caprail.  I had a lot of excess wood to take off so I made a gigantic mess and it took roughly 40 minutes per side to get the whole thing trimmed.  The nice thing about the mess I made is that now the boat and shed smells like freshly cut wood instead of epoxy and chemicals.  I'll be much happier cleaning this one up.

Next up, I have to start working on some test rubstrakes to see how I am going to bring it all together. I'll need to hit the lumberyard this week and pickup a long piece of Sapelle once I figure out the profile dimensions.