securing bulkhead to thwarts

[DougB]

The bulkhead in my L'edge keeps coming loose and I get significant side to side movement. I plan to glue wedges along side the front and rear of the bulkhead and I also plan to connect to the thwarts with dowel. Typically how far down into the bulkhead should the dowel go?

[Wendy]

I use plastic dowel 4 inches.

[boatbuster]

I second the plastic dowel suggestion. Use a slightly smaller hollow piece of metal tubing such as a tent pole to cut a hole and remove the foam where the dowel will go, coat the dowel with contact cement and slide it in flush with the top of the saddle. Then drill out a hole smaller than the screw that will go into the dowel through the thwart. You can do this on the front and rear of the saddle if the thwarts cross both, I could not find a solid plastic dowel so I had to improvise using a piece of PVC pipe with a plug in one end and a nut and bolt instead of a screw.

[Eheason]

4-6 inches length
1 inch diameter
Todhunter from ridge spirit outfitting sells poly dowels with appropriate stainless steel hardware.
Could also go to a Canadian tire/ American equivalent hardware store and get wooden dowels. They will rot but do the trick just fine