Going topless

[ian123]

I m going to be putting gunnels on a L'edge and was hoping to benefit from other's experience.

What did people use to cut the decks?? Was it a clean cut?? How much depth did you lose??

After the gunnels go on, how do you make the little bit of extra hull sticking out past the gunnels flush with
the tops of the gunnels? Can you sand it or will PE melt?

Any advice would be great!

[DougB]

Have you talked to James at HCC? He chopped his top. Not sure if gunnels ever made it on or not. Not sure about finishing - I would guess that once you clamp the gunnels on you can use a dremel cutter or jig saw to take off material sticking above the wood and then sand to finish. You will only loose a bit of depth assuming you want to keep a bit of a deck plate at the ends. More if you want. You can use my L'edge for reference if you want to copy the lines from the factoy. You'll probably do better than they did on my hull which is wonked a little lower on the left!!

[Smurfwarrior]

I used a jigsaw, getting as close to the actual edge as possible, then mounted the gunwales where I wanted them (just a tad lower in the center) then trimmed the extra plastic on the top with a Japanese pull saw. I started with a jigsaw and couldn't get it as close as I wanted, although it would have been quicker. A few guys have left a little more endcap than what the stock open L'Edge comes with, and I think if I cut the top off another I would do the same just so it would be easier to bend the gunwales at the ends. It wasn't easy to try to get them bent like the stock open boat, someone else might have an idea that would make it easier. Since then, I've used an angle grinder on my little SL'Edge when chopping and modifying that and it worked really really well and left a clean edge while cutting pretty quick. With all that in mind, I'd suggest the angle grinder with a thin cutoff disk.

[Gary B]

I used a jigsaw to cut the top off mine. The cut on mine wasn't as clean as I would have liked. Then I clamped the gunwales on leaving a bit of material above, a 1/4" + -, a bit lower in the center. It helps to have a lot of clamps. Screwed and bolted them in place. I then used a jigsaw and cut it close, then a belt sander, then a sharp scraper. The ideal tool would have been a laminate trimmer, but I didn't have one available to me. Ended up hand sanding the gunwales after to clean up the odd hit with the jigsaw.
I strongly recommend you wear safety glasses when you cut that plastic; it fly’s all over the place. One more point, when you attach the thwarts that hold the seat in make sure to drill the holes closer to the inside edge of the gunwales.

[Gary B]

When I say inside edge I mean the edge closest to the hull. You don't want the seat breaking out when you are doing rodeo moves in a hole.

[eddyhops]

Cut with a jigsaw, then use a spokeshave to smooth it and take it down to where you want... it's the perfect tool for this.

[hankrankin]

the title of this thread is misleading

[TheKrikkitWars]

the title of this thread is misleading

Happy now

[Craig Smerda]

Pretty much what everyone above has said.

I figure out where I want my cut line to be and mark it with 2" wide painters tape (the blue or green stuff) then lop the top with a jigsaw, temporarily install the gunnels and thwarts, shave the plastic down smooth and level to the trim, remove the gunnels, stain everything and screw it all back together.

You can see pictures of two examples here...
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 19522e26ea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ian123]

Craig, what did you use to shave down the plastic?
Krikkit, no thank you.

[Craig Smerda]

Craig, what did you use to shave down the plastic?
Krikkit, no thank you.

I use a (long) surform* to shave the high spots down close to the wood... then a belt sander to get to gunnel height... then hand sand for a smooth finish. A spoke shave would work great as well to bring down whatever little bits are sticking up. I almost tried using a laminate trimming bit but I wasn't comfortable with the angle with my router so I decided not to take any risks of damaging the wood or plastic.

* http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp ... +Cut+Blade" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'll need a lot of these http://www.irwin.com/tools/clamps/one-h ... bar-clamps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also... I make a bunch of wood bracing for inside the hull and use cam straps on the outside to pull and adjust things before I screw the gunnels together. Get the center of the boat railed first and work you way towards the ends... this way you can make the gunnels conform to the shape you want rather than have it "football" on you. If you just put the gunnels on without doing this you won't get the shape you want up top to make adjustments throughout the length of the hull. Or just screw the rails on and try to adjust things with thwart lengths and placement... but this doesn't work quite as well from my experience.

Have fun... and take pictures.

[ezwater]

A Stanley low angle block plane can be useful on sections where the plastic is close to level. It's just an alternative to the Sureform and the spokeshave.

Craig, your #1 daughter says that your wife said to take out the garbage.

[philcanoe]

Having done several (dozens) of gunwale jobs; however never a L'edge....

... I'd suggest leaving the ends uncut, as in this from Craig: two boats

As there are substantial benefits that can be gained, with little cost and in fact for free. The round ends present a problem very like that of the Vipers. As it's practically requires steaming is wanting to go from stem-to-stem. Or installing a mini-thwart or rounded insert if wanting to firm up the top. Both of which will fail miserably in a sever impact, as the load is either transferred from one side to the other, or inhibited and localized. Having that bit of flex (from leaving some plastic end parts/pieces) will definitely help increase gunwale lifetime due to impact, blows, and pins.

Even those 2inch micro thwarts on normal boats end up as similar points of failure (the ones under many a deckplate). While a 2inch block of rubber will not transfer impact, or absorb and give, and will help save all your hard (and pretty) work. You can see a lot of wear and tear on the last two-three inches on many wood gunwale'd boats, and having some flex will definitely help in the long term.