Marc, Excellent tutorial. Makes perfect sense, stacking everything vertically, not side by side.

Mark

: Mark,

: You are a great straight man. I just answered this over on
: Boatdesign.net so this is a repeat.

: I had to go stage some pictures. Before trying to build the boat I
: made several "test pieces" to work out the bugs. The
: pictures are of a flat boat like shape representing the gunwales
: at the bow of the boat.
: I am going to give you links to the pictures in order with a little
: description, cause I am not very sophisticated at providing the
: pictures directly.

: An illustration of one gunwale with the skins, splines, cap strips
: and glue. Hope this makes sense.
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JTwMuJQS0VA/UBRPZ-nkACI/AAAAAAAAAqI/HQvw3IOfpN4/s912/Geometry%2520of%2520One%2520Gunwale.jpg

: Feel free to skip ahead if I show too many baby steps.

: First two pics are just one of the test pieces. You can see the
: previous install trials. There were grooves on both sides, the
: other side is completely filled up.
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LejUBbED91s/UBRDK3fUCxI/AAAAAAAAApg/75fQN0fDsdU/s640/IMG_3560.JPG
:
: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AaougSwXvn0/UBRDJU5VgUI/AAAAAAAAApY/hG0DWXinNy8/s640/IMG_3559.JPG
: Next is just the nose area I'll use to illustrate. This is the only
: area not filled up on the test piece, and it is impossible to
: get the cloth out by pulling. The grooves are 1/8" x
: 7/16" deep. This is probably not critical but you need some
: depth.
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-x_3BN6wTsWg/UBRCje8g68I/AAAAAAAAAmA/7Zff5GVsdHk/s912/IMG_3531.JPG
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1GcHCCJPbVI/UBRClOYTq7I/AAAAAAAAAmI/p8HgS4cw6FA/s912/IMG_3532.JPG
: The tools used to install the skin are shown. A piece of angle to
: press the cloth and the spline down into the groove, the glue, a
: trimming shield made from roof flashing (just thin steel with a
: right angle bend to go into the groove), and a razor blade to
: trim the skin. Ignore the wooden V, it was the form I used to
: laminate the curved nose piece to finish out the cap strip.
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zAkpXPBKXRg/UBRCm30IRxI/AAAAAAAAAmY/RBk04nTHW04/s912/IMG_3534.JPG
: You can see the test piece thru the cloth. Trim of the cloth is not
: critical, just leave around 2".
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p9uP48qa9_Q/UBRCq8oEYFI/AAAAAAAAAmw/AdmVSPyqhBg/s640/IMG_3540.JPG
: The spline going inside the groove is on the right, on the left is
: the cap strip before I cut it loose from the beginning strip.
: The cut would be made on the table saw at and below the pencil
: line. The spline actually was cut with 5 degree angles on each
: side, to act as a wedge going in.
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dyEoovWEUMM/UBRCpVty0FI/AAAAAAAAApw/iCfzAGlkWnE/s912/IMG_3538.JPG
: First step is to use the angle to press the cloth inside the groove
: on one side. I then used short pieces of spline with no glue to
: temporarily hold the first side in place
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xSdVOozHz6M/UBRCuEQ5kiI/AAAAAAAAAnA/iBbmgLY88xY/s912/IMG_3542.JPG
: Next I repeated on the opposite side, taking a little care to get
: the cloth taut but not really tight. Just try to make it smooth
: so there are no wrinkles you have to really work out. This is
: still temporary. Nothing really holding it in.
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rChPj6NaK44/UBRCwBRlMBI/AAAAAAAAAnI/nA5AiCSiffg/s912/IMG_3543.JPG
: Starting at the middle of the boat on one side, run a 6" line
: of CA glue. Push a 6" piece of spline to the bottom of the
: groove with the angle. 30 seconds later it is permanent.
: Continue down the same side, pulling tension on the cloth as you
: go to the ends.
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5RkRwWoH45U/UBRCxobbw3I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/oWRq8FP0viM/s912/IMG_3544.JPG
:
: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-pmtp1xcc6v8/UBRCzTu_NQI/AAAAAAAAAnY/04kFzV01vX0/s912/IMG_3545.JPG
: Move to the opposite side. You may want to reinsert the temporary
: splines to make the skin smooth. Start at the middle again.
: Fill the groove with CA 6". The reason for the short length is
: to insure you get the spline completely into the groove. If not
: you might not have room for the second piece of cloth and the
: cap strip. I was a little slow when using a longer spline and
: got it stuck at the top. Very difficult to fix that, I just
: abandoned the try. This is a good reason to get confidence with
: a test piece.
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-lPxsnrAKKG0/UBRC2iwr0MI/AAAAAAAAAno/Lh7X4Z2n3bs/s912/IMG_3547.JPG
: Force the spline to the bottom, holding onto the free edge of the
: skin. It is possible to fold up a big wrinkle below the spline
: and fill the groove too much. Finish that side.
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-oepWzRgoqDc/UBRC4N8dpLI/AAAAAAAAAn4/7x_OduTuPkQ/s912/IMG_3548.JPG
: Both splines inserted. These are not forced to the bottom or glued.
: It will be difficult to see the first spline when you are
: finished with the deck skin.
:
: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2qAEJ5kpL0Y/UBRC6ES8rvI/AAAAAAAAAoA/EWxeSc_qvso/s912/IMG_3549.JPG
: Trim the free edge, cut away from the skin you want to keep. You
: will be cutting down into the top of the spline. Won't hurt a
: thing. The cutting shield is there to keep you from cutting the
: skin you want. I had to use thin CA to bond the cut to the
: gunwale, and it didn't look very good. Mostly covered by the
: cap.
:
: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rSQDeBLqeyQ/UBRC7qBpYtI/AAAAAAAAAoI/YPKiGpUYLOU/s912/IMG_3550.JPG
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KNED93GZXlM/UBRC9owzN3I/AAAAAAAAAoQ/TT8RcQjhN74/s912/IMG_3551.JPG
: Repeat the whole operation with the "hull" skin. Trimming
: the free edge is the same problem, you just have two skins to
: worry about. Not as hard as it might seem. You can just see the
: installed skin on the outsides of the gunwale with the excess
: sticking up. This picture has too little excess, that makes it
: hard to constantly trim the excess.
:
: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rYHXPbS8aTU/UBRDEqzeesI/AAAAAAAAAo8/nS3jT8deH7A/s912/IMG_3556.JPG
: This is a picture of the nose without the cap. Ignore the lifting
: strap in blue.
:
: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TthDyM7ZUY4/UBQa7TNsbnI/AAAAAAAAAdw/4zQVx4WnveM/s912/IMG_3506.JPG
: Cap bonded in with thick CA. Please ignore the tip piece, I remade
: it.
:
: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-WyMsJyaSiMk/UBQa_lGKShI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/cRYZhO5Ik0k/s912/IMG_3509.JPG

: I know that was over kill. Questions welcomed.