Combing start

With the decking complete, the combing is next on the list. Its one of those things shown on the plans that leave much up to the individual boatbuilder regarding its shape. In my case I'm making a steep pitch to the front end to make for a look of "sleekness" it's a little tricky but this part is one of those areas where the measuring tape don't serve any purpose and it's all about how it looks to the eye, "artistic form". Cool.. I suck as a carpenter anyway. Free form I can do.

I started at the bow (front) with the sloped part of the combing/spray rail. I cut a piece of 8ft long paneling 1/4" thick laminated junk wood. They probably use alot of this stuff in making holywood sets for doors for the "hero" to break down. Off topic I seen People down south crush beer cans on their foreheads while in a drunkin stupor. I wondered how it was possible since a large welt is the result when this is done with canadian beer cans. Until I seen the southern cans. They practically crumble with gravity with no fluid holding it up. Things are not always as they appear. Nuff said, though it would be funny to see someone from down south attempt a can crush with one of our canadian cans... I am sooo off topic.

Anyhow I cut a piece of paneling and roughly cut the shape forward to where it meets the centerline of the deck. I screwed it in place to hold it for the next step.

Since I have not thought about the template method for this part I just looked around to see what I could use to help make a template... Stir sticks! I have a full case for mixing epoxy. I placed them to where they hit the deck and stapled them in place. It was removed from the boat and placed on a sheet of paneling to make my main template. I made my marks and ran a batten over it to draw my line. Cut out the whole thing and checked against the boat again.

I came pretty close to what I had in mind. Note that the width of this is to be trimmed down considerably once the length behind to the rear of the boat is cut and palced. The main part of this is to make the proper match to the curvature of the boat.

The template is close enough and with a small adjustment I made a copy onto 1/4" plywood for the installed piece. Some small amount of fairing and this piece is ready to copy for opposite side.

Time: 4 hrs