steam bending of strakers and chines

[Frosty]

Then you put it in the sea.

[PAR]

Yep, then it goes in the big puddle, but as a result of the heat or boiling, mold spores, bacteria and other beasties or trouble makers are dead.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by PAR

Yep, then it goes in the big puddle, but as a result of the heat or boiling, mold spores, bacteria and other beasties or trouble makers are dead.

Mold spores are in the air.

[waikikin]

Here's a pic of some steamed & laminated jarrah, it's made from 4 laminations of jarrah decking material(remachined but readily available), There's a fair degree of curve just outa the pic, it's in the counter stern of a pearling lugger. I'm not working on it was just there to do some noise readings in the work area & shot this on my ipod as I was getting real environmental noise readings for WHS purposes. Jeff.

[Zootalaws]

Originally Posted by janbo2

Thank you all for your very helpful advice, we are going to try using a 75 mm insulated PVC storm water pipe, with the steamsource fitted to the centre of it and with a vent in one end. We will cut and shape the karri to the right dimensions, drill a screw hole in each end and use the boat as the mould, when we have steamed it for a couple of hours. A bit scary, but it should be fun!!

That was going to be my recommendation - water pipe. And if you don't muck it up, you can reuse it

I use a simple wok burner with a 5L steel bucket and a home-made roofing-iron cover. You can get a lot of steam out of 5L...

My steam source is at the end, with the pipe slanting up at around a 20deg angle. Doesn't take long for steam to be coming out the end...

[janbo2]

I now have some photos to upload. Could someone please tell me the way it is done??

[janbo2]

We also bough a moisture meter and found that some part of the boat had over 35% moisture in the wood. Does anyone have any idea how long this would take to dry to the right moisture content for epoxy to work? The ambient temperature in Carnarvon is approx 25 degrees daytime with a windspeed of around 15 knots, if this helps. The karri frames are around 70x 35.

[Zootalaws]

The last time I was in Carnarvon it felt like moisture was being deliberately ripped from my body by the superheated evil thing you innocently call wind, so I would say in no time at all

But then I fixed it with beer... the rest is a blur...

[janbo2]

Yeah, a great place, when you get used to it.... And thanks for a somewhat un -scientific answer!!

[Zootalaws]

No worries... here to help

As to uploading pics, go 'advanced' and there is an option lower left to handle attachments.

[janbo2]

Thanks for that, didn't find it, but found the Gallery instead, so there are a few pics there of Sarah Ellen and her old age troubles, which we are having fun curing her from. Our main worry now is the high moisture content in frame and ply, so we have a bit of thumb twiddling in front of us, before the interesting work starts, ie ply fixing and epoxying.

[ancient kayaker]

If the wood is still a bit green might be an idea to try bending it now and let it dry out like that while the other work is taking place. Isn't Karri a bit of a $od to work?

[janbo2]

It is not too bad for normal carpentry work, actually, as it tools up quite well. As far as steam bending, though... Only time will tell, in 4 weeks time in other words!