Attaching channels?

[Brewerpaul]

I had the channels all in place on m Pride of Baltimore, but yesterday I accidentally put a bit of pressure on one, and it came off.  I had cleared paint off the area where the channels attach, then glued the channel with CA glue.

I'm glad it happened before I started rigging! How can I attach them better? I'm thinking of adding a piece of square stock to the wale where the channel rests on it for more glue surface. Maybe carpenter's glue? Pinning it would be great, but the channel is too thin for me to want to drill it.

[Chuck Seiler]

    How thin?  I used very small ( 1 or 2 mm) bamboo pegs for my channels on SULTANA and it worked great.  I use that on alot of the fragile deck furniture. 

 

    Drill an appropriate sized hole using a micro drill bit.  I believe I used #76.  Using my Dremel as a lathe (kind of) and fine sand paper (220 or 400) I work a small piece of split bamboo BBQ skewer to the correct diameter, then glue in using wood glue.  Test fit first.  Bamboo is very strong for its size.

[allanyed]

Paul,

CA cannot take shear stress very well so is a bad choice (my opinion only - I know there are proponents of CA who swear by it where as I swear at it)   

You can drill and use brass rod for pins in addition to wood glue.   Rods are available to  0.01 diameter and smaller.  I would smear a bit of epoxy on the pins when inserting in the channel and the hull as it will give you working time and is incredibly strong.  I would also use carpenters glue on the wood surfaces as it will cure quickly and hold everything tight while the epoxy cures.

 

You mention the channels gluing to the wales.  Channels do not typically get attached to the wales but rather would be just below or just above the wales.  The photo below of the modern P of B shows that they are not attached to the wales.

Allan

[Kevin]

i made a policy a long time ago that anything i add to the side of a hull or mast to be pinned, never had a misshap since

[Jaager]

Looking at Kevin's picture:  I have always had a mistrust of being able to get the holes to exactly match up with the dowels.  I just thought of a way to do it.  Use a third piece of wood.  One that is as wide as the channel is thick.  Make it thick enough that a drill bit has to go in perpendicular. Site the dowel locations as holes in it.  Use it as the gauge to drill the holes in the hull and in the channel..  I beg forgiveness of this is standard practice already.  I just solves a long standing  how-to-do-it for me.