Decks Finished
After installing the inwales I turned my attention to the decks. As usual, I pretty much followed the words of wisdom found in Canoecraft. However, there are a few interesting bits to mention. First, I managed to find a nice piece of sapele at a local lumber store. There was about 1 board.ft sitting in a bin of scrap wood that they use for stacking lumber. I still had to pay for the wood, but at least I only needed to buy a small piece. It cost me $10.
I resorted to a few more sluggo special jigs for the deck glue-up and shaping:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/coBYoevmvrAenbgC9
I had some problems screwing the decks into the inwales. First I predrilled with a 1/8" bit for #8 screws. I got a couple of screws in, but then I broke one. Next I predrilled 1/8" into the deck, and then 5/32" through the inwale. I still broke a screw. Finally I settled on this pattern: start with a 3/8" forstner bit for countersink, drill 5/32" through the inwale and deck, then finally drill 3/16" through the inwale.
I managed to shape the decks ok and the fit was pretty good for me. I had some Elmers wood filler that did an excellent job of filling gaps between the cherry and sapele. And used thickened epoxy for gaps between the decks and the inwales. Once it’s sanded I think it will look quite okay.
