Just Had A Thought.

[catsittingstill]

I'm a little iffy about epoxying the thwarts into the boat.  On the one hand I don't want to drill through the gunwales and thus weaken them.  On the other hand, if I epoxy the thwarts in, the only way to get them out will be a hacksaw.  Which will destroy the thwart and maybe the gunwale too, if I'm not careful.

Thwarts are easy to make but a royal pain in the neck to fit.  And gunwales--well, I'd rather not go there.

Now some people epoxy the knee to the thwart and drill through the gunwale into the knee.  See above about weakening gunwales.  But I just had a thought.

What if I epoxy the knee to the gunwale--and drill through the thwart into the knee?  I don't weaken the gunwales, yet I have removable thwarts.

I think I will use two 1 1/4 inch #8 wood screws, philips head, in brass, at each end.  This will keep the knee from twisting when I take the whole affair out of the boat to shape the knee so it blends into the thwart.  That means I need 8 such screws.  The hardware store is closed.  But I bet Lowes is open.

Bye.

Comments

[boywizard.livejournal.com]

That's an excellent idea. I prefer to use stainless steel square drive screws rather than brass; I've had problems with Philips and slotted brass screws. The slots tend to give out, and I have twisted the heads off more than one, which is a real nuisance, let me tell you. The SS screws seem to be tougher, and the square drives almost never strip out. Brass may be a tad prettier, though, especially with walnut. If you proceed with brass, be sure to drill properly-sized pilot holes, and lubricate the screws with paraffin or beeswax prior to driving them.
I notice you will be at OVFF; me too. I hope I get a chance to meet you. I look a great deal like Santa Claus, although the beard has two months to go before it reaches its full glory.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

It would be great to meet you!

Oh yeah, brass in ash (or walnut I expect--but I decided to make the thwarts ash) absolutely requires pilot holes that match the size of the shaft (minus the threads) plus the size and depth of the wide part of the shaft. I have a special combination bit but I often have to drill out the wide part separately.

I found that out putting screws in for Patience's gunwales. Do you know the threads will actually melt?

I have access to brass reasonably easily, and I like the look of it. I agree about the problem with stripping them out, though. I've never stripped one so badly I couldn't get it out and replace it, but I've certainly stripped them badly enough that I removed them while it was still possible.

Stainless steel, I think I'd have to special order. I know Martin (shop teacher in Maryville) likes stainless steel with a star drive but he builds four boats a year, minimum, so he has pretty much all the parts ordered well ahead of time.

I did use marine bronze bolts to bolt in Patience's thwarts but I had to special order them through a specialty website. I'm not very good about looking ahead and saying "oh, I'm going to need seventeen number 8 screws in two week" so I tend to prefer stuff I can get locally.