Working On the Edge

After gluing on the molding around the cockpit and motorwell area, it was time for a bit of edging. I needed a roundover bit bigger than 1/8" and smaller than 1/4", so after returning from the Rockler store with both 5/32" and 3/16" roundover bits I was ready to proceed. I ended up with the 5/32" for rounding off the interior edges. For the outer edge of the boat planking, I used a 1/4" but since the deck slopes, the bearing guide rode off the edge so far as to do very little on the aft end of the boat past the dash. That ended up being manual file and sanding to put on the radius. The 1/2" wide stainless steel rubstrip will fit just under the radius on the planking edge and hide the edge of the plywood subdeck and protect the edge from bumps.

Then it seemed like it was time to put on the rear splash rails. I routered a 1/8" roundover on the outer edges of the splash rails on my router table, sanded the surfaces and put on two coats of epoxy. The boat was prepared for the epoxy mess by using duct tape above and below the bond line. The bonding surface was roughed up with 8o grit paper. The splash rails were also protected from excess epoxy by a liberal use of duct tape.

After the epoxy set, the duct tape was removed and a bit of clean up work remains.

I think the next task is final hand sanding of the deck before staining the perimeter planking and king (center) planks.