In the original plans, Ross had a 1/2″ thick board that gets planed down to match the bevel of the deck. In the plans I got, he showed an alternate method of making a wider gunwale out of two pieces. However, this leaves a large gap where the deck won’t lay flat. I modified the angles a bit and produced this gunwale design that will fit at the bulkhead with the most acute angle. This ensures there will be material to plane down at all the other bulkheads. I contacted Ross about this problem and he has modified the plans so this shouldn’t affect anyone else.

Next I ripped them out of a 16′ yellow pine board. It took a bit of trial and error to get the blade angle and fence position correct. See the “victory marks” on the table saw? I bought this saw off my old boss when he lost a finger and a half. I look at those every time I start the saw up to remind myself not to do anything stupid.

No pickup truck? Just lash them onto the side of your car!

Epoxying the first layer onto the gunwale with thickened epoxy. It’s best to spring both on a little bit at a time to prevent pulling the boat out of shape. The hull was still pretty floppy at this point.

After the first layer cured, I epoxied on the second layer.

Here you can see how the gunwale is just slightly tall at the bulkhead with the most acute angle. All other bulkheads will have a little more to plane off, but this ensures the deck will have a nice flat strip to land on.

After planing the gunnels,  I trimmed the ends flush and cleaned up the epoxy runs. I’ve also added the king plank up at the bow, and made a small motor well for an outboard. It is made from 1/2″ plywood epoxied into place with big fillets.