Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Railing for 18' drift boat
Once again wooden boat people, thanks so much for your help. I am wondering what people are using for railings. I am building a 18' drift boat and am having a little trouble finding long white oak for the rails. I figured that I would cut the rail out of 1x4 stock or 5/4x4 stock. My boat is looking pretty dark and I am leaning towards a lighter colored wood. I can get and ipe(ironwood) locally but thought the weight might be a bit much. Thanks, Bryan
Views: 300
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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Why not scarf white oak into the length's you need? Same concept as scarfing the plywood. You can make them any length you want. I believe Dave Z had a post concerning the scarfing of gunnels/gunwales/railings on his page or blog.
Rick Newman
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Peak on
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I scarfed oak for my gunnels. If/when I replace them, I'll consider laminating some out of leftover 1/4 plywood. they look real nice, and theres no wrestling them into place...
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Permalink Reply by Bryan McDade on
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Thanks for the suggestions. The plywood method sounds interesting. I am guessing you've seen it done. I assumed that it would not hold up to the abuse the rails receive. More scarfing, oh well my kids have all ready forgotten my name, guess it doesn't matter if the dogs don't recognize me either.
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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on
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Bryan,
Yes, If you can get continuous, all the better. I just hate scarfing it, but sometimes you need to do it. On the outer rails, scarfing can actually be done in place. you will be fastening those raisl every few inches, and if you use glue, they will never pull off.
Ipe is great wood. (ee-pay) Extremely dense, and will last forever. My tree book says 69 pounds per cubic foot. Extremely high bending strength, extremely rot resistant, even unfinished. You might reconsider using it. As for weight, lets see...White Oak is about 46 pounds per cubic foot. So yeah, Ipe is about 50% heavier.
As for the laminated rails- alot of stitch and glue guys are doing that now. Sandy Pittendrigh is a pretty big on doing that.
You could also look into douglas fir or ash. I have used both on previous boats.
I do not like an inner rail that is scarfed, unless the scarf is located at a point where it will be fastened. If you use a 10:1 or 12:1 scarf, you will indeed have a large surface area for epoxy, and it will be pretty stiff. Putting the scarf up front or near the transom is pretty good spot if you can.
Contact a local sawmill that specializes in hardwood floors. See if they will sell you rough stock. usually they get this as long as they can. Thats where I am getting my stuff. On the most recent boat I got 4 pieces 18' and 2 that were 20'. they were almost too long to handle!
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Great thanks, the reason I am trying to stay away from ipe is theat I have all ready used it for the frames, chines and battens. At some point I started worrying about weight. At least I have the fact that the boat is large going for me. I can easily get 20' milled stock in the ipe, but I think I will start calling some mills instead. I still have a few connections as run a small lumber wholesale company. Does anyone know if Maple works? I really like the look. Thanks again.
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on
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Brian- don't use any mple on a boat- very poor rotresistance and can stain easily with fungus
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thanks
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Bryan: Dave Z's comments on scarfs are right on the mark- location ,etc.When you make the "rails"- called the inwale and outwale- spelled gunwale- and pronounced "gunnel" let them sit for atleast a few days before you start to "horse' them arround onto the boat.- to let the epoxy develope full strength.
Good Luck
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