Kingfisher Drift Boat Build. - Installing the Deck Trim and the Rod Rack Trim

My last post for the Kingfisher drift boat build was on December 12th. It's now January 10th. What the heck have I been doing for the last month. Well, I've mainly been taking care of details. Prior to the holidays  I installed the wood plugs at the deck and the deck trim. The progression was;

• Plugging the screw holes in the decks once they were installed.
• Making the trim 
• Steam bending the front deck trim
• Installing the trim at the decks
• Installing the trim at the rod holder
• Flow coating the deck trim with epoxy

Installing the wood plugs in the main deck. 

The main deck which curves around at the front is screwed to the framework with #8 x 1" silicon bronze screws. There are about 32 of them. I used a 3/8" countersink bit to allow for the wood plug. The decks are constructed with 1/4" Okoume mahogany plywood so getting the depth of the countersink right is a little tricky. Too deep and the screw has nothing to secure or not deep enough and you can't install the plugs. It's best to play around with a piece of scrap to get it right. 

I made the plugs with a 3/8" plug cutter and a drill press. I made a bunch of them. Drill a mahogany board and then rip the board on a bandsaw and you've got a bunch of plugs. One tip is to install the clean up any epoxy that oozes up through the holes when you attach the deck. If the epoxy ooze is allowed to set up you will not longer have a 3/8" diameter hole and the 3/8" diameter plug won't fit. I had some of these and it is a pain to get the holes cleaned up. I used a 3/8" diameter brad point drill bit and carefully twisted it by hand to clean up the hole. Don't do it in a drill or you'll be sorry. Again, I found this out.

The photo above shows the glued down deck. The edge trim has not been installed yet. The plugs are installed and finish sanded. You can also see the epoxy fillet at the deck where it joins the sides.

I used Tightbond Waterproof glue to glue in the plugs. Once the glue set up, I used a Japanese hand saw designed to flush cut plugs to cut the plugs off. Once the plugs were cut off I used a 120 grit orbital disc to sand the plugs flush. Be careful not to sand in one spot or you can possibly sand through the flow coats of epoxy on the deck. This is a big problem so don't do it. Once the plugs are flat, final sand the deck progressively to 220 grit.

Installing the deck trims

The next step was to make the deck trims and the trim for the rod rack. I made the deck trim out of  kiln dried white oak. This is fine for the straight pieces but difficult for the curved piece that is placed in front. I made finished stock that was 11/16" x 7/8" for the deck trim and 3/4" x 3/4" for the rod trim. Once the stock was made I used a carbide tipped dado blade with a spacer to make dados in the stock that were about 1/64" wider than 1/4". This dado goes over the 1/4" plywood that is flow coated on each side. The flow coating makes the plywood thicker than 1/4".

This photo shows the curved deck trim installed and epoxied in place. The piece is bent to a radius of about 19". 

The process of making the rounded deck trim involves steam bending and making a form to do so. You also need extra stock as bending a piece like this will take just the right piece and you don't know if it is until you attempt to bend it and clamp it to the form. I broke 3 pieces before I finally got one to bend to the radius. One trick is to make the dado deeper. I broke the first 3 pieces when the dado was 5/16" deep and the first one I tried with a dado that was 7/16" worked.  Was it the grain or the depth of the dado? Not sure but it worked.

I cut the pieces to size, ran the dado and then rounded the top and bottom edges that would be facing the deck, (the side with the dado) with a 1/4" round over bit in a router table.. This would have been impossible to round over once it was installed. (I rounded the other edges once it was glued into place). I then placed the wood piece in a steam tube and steamed it for about 1 1/2 hours. Once it was steamed I clamped it to the form and let it sit clamped up in the form for 24 hours. Like I said this took all day as I broke the first 3 trying to bend them.

I took the piece out of the form the next day and it sprung back quite a bit. I was able to dry fit it onto the curved plywood deck and clamp it in place. I took it out and then coated the inside of the dado with thickened epoxy. More of a runny mayonnaise consistency. I coated it a second time and installed it with 3 way edge clamps.

Once this piece set up, I glued the straight pieces on that run lengthwise to the stern, I used one long piece that was about 7 feet long and a shorter piece that was about 2 feet long on each side. I fit the rear one first and scribed it to the sides at the rear. I fit the longer one between the front curved section and the rear piece. This was very easy. I held this in place with package tape as the 3 way edge clamps would not fit because of the rod rack. I glued on the rod tray trim at the same time.

Flow Coating the Deck Trim

Once the epoxy had set up that glued the deck trim and the rod shelf trim in place I finish sanded the pieces progressively to 220 grit. I then coated the trim with 2 coats of epoxy. I used Raka UV Inhibited Resin mixed with Raka UV Inhibited Fast Set Hardener. This allows you to tend the epoxy as it sets up and eliminate most if not all of the runs, sags and drips. This is good to remember when flow coating anything that is a vertical or sloping surface.

Next Up - Casting Deck

This was all accomplished before the Holidays and I got started back up with installing the front casting deck.