<<<<< BUILDING THE GLOUCESTER GULL LIGHT DORY PART (8) >>>>>

I have dry fitted the gunwales a couple of times and found them a bit of a tough bend. Then I read the manual again ("When in doubt read the directions" is a universal statement of common sense widely ignored) and found that the bottom of the gunwales requires a thirty-degree bevel cut on the underside. So I gave one of my very helpful sailor mates a ring who has a table saw, tied the gunwales to the roof rack on my car and took them out to his place in the country. He is well set up with sheds and machine tools and stuff and helps me out from time to time. After half an hour cutting bevels on each of the gunwales and a 2-hour session shooting the breeze over a local bevy I returned to the Dory with a now near complete set of gunwales, With the timber removed with the 30-degree bevel cut I found the gunwales now bend around the sheer of the dory in a much, much easier manner. As I still have to plane a taper into the ends of the gunwales (which will further ease the required bending force) the final fitting, fastening and gluing job should now be a lot easier than I first thought it would be.