My quarantine project!

[Evilbevis]

This past winter I was able to buy a barely used (two times) Silverbirch Covert! I spent several pool sessions working on my roll, until the ymca was closed down. As a trim carpenter by trade I couldn’t live with myself if I left the simple ash on my beautiful black covert. Now that I have had the time to tear it all apart, I have milled its replacement. For my wood I picked out some deep red Ipe. Today I was able to get everything cut out and it’s first coat of tung oil on it. A few more coats and it will be ready for reassemble. I liked the contrast of the black and light ash, but I wanted something unique and I think this will look great. Once it is all back together, I’ll post some pics and see what everyone thinks.

[Evilbevis]

80396E81-46AE-47F0-9546-AFDE2C3FAFA5.jpeg (37.38 KiB) Viewed 7031 times

Some before pics

[Evilbevis]

So after a few issues with cracking it worked out.

[riversideramblr]

looks good!

[poetry_heckler]

Holy moses that's handsome.

Funny when wood guys get some crossover action like this. I'm sure ash (or hickory) is the choice wood for gunwales because it's common in North America, you can find it straight, it bends, and it has incredible shock resistance. It's baseball bat material. Takes a licking, etcetera.

I know that Ipe is much more dense, though weight won't be much of an issue in a short boat like the Covert, and it's nearly impervious to rot. My question is how it holds up in the flex-y shock-intensive application you've got it in now. I am eager to hear about it. And again, it looks amazing.

(future essay on boaters being vain and making decisions based on appearance like wearing minimally protective metalflake helmets and low profile vests, even though they don't see them while they're being worn and potential mates are few and far between, plentiful color photos of the author illustrate every point)