Tag: outwale

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New Gunwales

The graceful sweeping curves of the new inwales clearly show the need for steam to bend them into place.
The graceful sweeping curves of the new inwales clearly show the need for steam to bend them into place.

Gunwale is an old nautical term.  A wale is a plank on the side of a ship or boat.  The top wale on a sailing warship was called the gun wale and was reinforced to carry the stresses imposed by heavy cannon.  Typical of nautical terms, it is not pronounced like it is spelled.  “Gunnel” is the correct pronunciation.  In canoes, it has come to mean the reinforcing strips along the top edge of the boat.  Specifically, there are usually two strips, an inwale and an outwale. Continue reading “New Gunwales”

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Restoring a Strip Planked Canoe

An old strip planked canoe is a good restoration project
An old strip planked canoe is a good restoration project

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about a recent project–restoring a strip planked canoe.  These canoes are built by nailing thin wooden strips to a set of forms, and glueing the edges of the strips together.  Once all the strips are in place, a layer of fiberglass is glued to the outside of the built up canoe.  Then the forms are removed and fiberglass is glued to the inside of the boat.  This creates a rigid, light structure that one person can easily carry by themselves.  And they’re beautiful too! Continue reading “Restoring a Strip Planked Canoe”