Doweled deck beam joinery for skin-on-frame building.

I prefer mortise and tenon, but there are still times when a doweled butt joint makes a lot of sense. This is how I do it.

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[nathangill]

Just finished stream bending the ribs for my first two kayaks - a couple of Greenland kayaks for myself and my wife. I doweled the deck beams on them, and every struggle that you mention is real! Next time I'm definitely going to attempt mortise and tenon joinery.

[jaciii]

Really good detail and perspective, very clearly described. Nice to see what works best and why from an experienced boat builder. There's a lot of experience poured in to a short video. Thanks for that.

[noahe]

Like Sakura, the video was very informative and I'm thankful for the share. I'm relatively new at this but I wanted to add a comment. What I find good is tracing the deck beam shape onto the gunnel once deck beam is properly seated. Than drill from inside the gunnel using that trace as an aid. Next when you drill, the drill bit will start off at the deck beam. Can start off with a smaller drill bit and it won't spin the deck beam as much. Leave the smaller drill bit in as a lock and drill the hole for the other dowel.

[nssdesigns]

Been binge watching everything on this channel and your web page, can't wait to get started... on piece of advice for the cameraman is to use manual focus on close-ups i, e, sanding etc as the auto-focus keeps searching as you move around. Manual focis and if light allows a smaller f-stop for a deeper DoF

[-sd]

As a furniture maker I would have reached for a #4 bench plane to square off the ends. That said the lack of precise joints is very appealing, after years of making furniture which need a precise fit. Kind of a breath of fresh air!

[RealLuckless]

Small L-Blocks are really handy for holding pieces like that in place, assuming you own clamps that are sized and low profile enough to fit without getting in your way. - If all you have are large common threaded C Clamps, then it can be more trouble than it is worth.


Set an L-Block fore and aft of the piece you're trying to drill, and clamp the blocks to the gunwale.The blocks keep the cross member from dropping or slipping fore/aft, and light pressure keeps it from climbing.

[Kmuggle]

I don't do doweled joints on my SOF's but to correct those small fitment problems I use a fine toothed hand cut rasp rather than sandpaper. I find the rasp much easier to control.

[domeniconastasi]

Hello,
you did a great job, what thread did you use to tie? and what kind of protection did you give to timber

Thank you!!

[classicfords]

Please get or make a mallet for using with wood

[teamcrooks]

What if you were to glue the deck brace in place BEFORE you drill and dowel? **WinK**