Wale Strake

[Alan Peck]

I just cut out the wale strakes for my 15' runabout. They are made from 3/8" marine plywood.

I cut them out with a jig saw and then smoothed the edged with a belt sander and then a pad sander.

I thought they looked okay, but when I temporarily clamped them in place, the exposed bottom edge looks pretty bad to my eye. Lots of ripples and waves.

I guess I have run into a lack of skill on my part.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to obtain a smoother profile before I fasten them in place. Or should I just install them and try to smooth the edge with epoxy filler?

Any thoughts would be appreciated as everything has looked great up to this point and these wale strakes are spoiling the effect.

[Nicholas Carey]

Originally posted by Alan Peck:
I just cut out the wale strakes for my 15' runabout. They are made from 3/8" marine plywood.

I cut them out with a jig saw and then smoothed the edged with a belt sander and then a pad sander.

I thought they looked okay, but when I temporarily clamped them in place, the exposed bottom edge looks pretty bad to my eye. Lots of ripples and waves.

I guess I have run into a lack of skill on my part.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to obtain a smoother profile before I fasten them in place. Or should I just install them and try to smooth the edge with epoxy filler?

Any thoughts would be appreciated as everything has looked great up to this point and these wale strakes are spoiling the effect.Can you say...longboard?

Get some PSA sandpaper, sized to fit a longboard/airfile/jitterbug. You should be able to find it at an autobody supply store if nowhere else. Or call your local 3M coated abrasives distributor.

Cut a pice of 1/4 ins plywood to match the sandpaper—the sandpaper is maybe 2-1/2 x 18 ins.

Affix two wooden knobs, one at each end. Make sure you countersink the screws so the bottom face is smooth.

Stick you sandpaper on the bottom and go to town. You now have a flexible, bendable abrasive plane than will let you fair your edges quite handily.

[Jon Etheredge]

the exposed bottom edge looks pretty bad to my eye. Lots of ripples and waves.
A sharp plane.

My guess is that the edge is wavy because the tools you are using are too short. As a result, they are able to follow the preexisting waves in the surface. Now you just have very smooth waves smile.gif

In general, when you are trying to put a fair edge on a piece, you want to use the longest plane that is comfortable to use. You might try a smooth plane (Stanley #3 or #4) or a fore plane (Stanley #5) for this task but even a block plane can be used. Clamp the piece up on edge. Get your eye down on a level with the edge so you can see the high spots. You may want to back away a bit so you can see the whole edge. Plane off the high spots. As the edge becomes more fair, your cuts should be getting longer until you are able to take a single cut the full length of the edge.

In my opinion, producing a truly fair curve with abrasives is extremely difficult. It is much easier to do this with a sharp plane. Yes there are the folks that can do amazing work with an 8" disc grinder even those that can do a good job of fairing a carvel planked hull with one. But those folks are few and far between.

If you insist on fairing with abrasives, courser grits will produce a fairer curve than fine grits. Use course grit to fair then progressively finer grits only to eliminate the scratches from the courser grits. Try not to change the shape of the edge with the finer grits or you'll end up with very smooth waves again smile.gif

[Nicholas Carey]

Originally posted by Jon Etheredge:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />
the exposed bottom edge looks pretty bad to my eye. Lots of ripples and waves.
In my opinion, producing a truly fair curve with abrasives is extremely difficult. It is much easier to do this with a sharp plane.</font>[/QUOTE]Not on plywood.