: My question is, how tight should they be to allow room for thickened epoxy?
: When I coat both the inside of the canoe and the gunwales with a layer of
: thickened epoxy for gluing, am I just going to squeeze most of it out
: getting it in place because it fits so tightly?

Why are you gluing on the gunwales in the first place? These things take a beating and may need to be replaced every few years. You just need to use some screws to attach them to the canoe. Get stainless steel screws or bronze. Brass screws are too weak. You can use zinc coated steel screws, or deck screws, as a last resort.

If you glue them on they will be murder to replace.

Definitely coat the gunwale pieces with two coats of epoxy if you can. I found that just coating them with varnish was good for only about 7 years of service.

Just clamp the gunwales in place by the bow or stren, drill a pilot hole for your screw, install the screw and you can remove the nearest clamp to use further along the length of the canoe. You can just march down the length of the canoe until you reach the other end.

You can install the screws from the outside of the boat and then cover the heads with short plugs or dowels, whih are sanded smooth and coered with a coat of epoxy or install them from the inside of the boat where you can cover them or not. I happen to like the bright look of a neat row of bronze screwheads running the length of a gunwale.

The strength is basically the same whether you screw the gunwales on or glue them, but screwing them on makes for much easier maintenance a few years down the road.

PGJ