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Clark Fork Drifter - Fiddy Bits When last we left the Clark Fork Drifter, we'd installed the seats, hatches, and done some fancy painting. Now it's time to install wales and get this baby ready to move.
If you remember, using Painter's Tape to get an edge sucks - there is ALWAYS bleed under the edge of tape. It looked terrible. I asked around and people said to lay your tape, then go along the edge with the background color so the bleed-under won't be noticeable. Although I was skeptical, I tried it anyway:
Aw yeah! That's how you do it. That's a fine looking paint line.
Next up was attaching the gunnels. For some reason, I'd decided to use Bronze Silica screws and while completely corrosion resistant, they are not very durable (they strip out easily) so we pre-drilled all the holes using a countersink bit we'd gotten from Lowes.
We are bedding the wales in PL Concrete Crack sealant. This is my favorite caulk/bedding material - once set, it sticks like nobody's business. We decided to bed instead of epoxy because we'd painted the surface - paint sticks to epoxy, but epoxy doesn't stick to paint. We wanted a flexible sealant between the wale and the boat so no rot-causing water gets trapped between the two.
Pre-drill and countersink ALL the holes.
Even pre-drilling wasn't good enough - the bronze screws were stripping out (and at 32 cents EACH, it was concerning.) We widened the hole a little by driving and backing out a drywall screw.
And that's what the wales look like on. Pretty purty, don't you think?
We were nearing the end of the work session, so we caulked the edges of the seats with PL Concrete Sealant and called it a night.
The next task was the inwales. This is a harrowing step because we only have one chance to get it right - the lengths have to be cut perfectly or the ends will look really shabby.
We were shaving a 1/16" at a time - easily done with one of the Detail Pull Saws from Duckworks.
That's what they look like on. That's one fine looking boat.
The important thing to remember when using PL Concrete and Masonry Sealant is to CLEAN ANY EXCESS. A) This stuff gets EVERYWHERE and B) Once it cures, it's not coming off. Mineral spirits is your friend.
And there we go - a little final sanding and some touch up and she's ready to go. |
