Corel Toulonnaise Build Log

So, next step was the handrails which was trickhy. The kit said to immerse the wood strip in water, then bend to desired angle and leave to dry. This didn't work... I felt there was too much force being exerted by the strip to return back to its original shape. Instead I built a jig (which I've lost unfortunately) that had a 1:1 scale diagram of the deck and hand rail with guiding nails for the strip to fit into. Effectively, something which would force the shape of the hand rail so it bent over time before fitting.

In a way, this was lucky as I stopped working on it for a year or two and left the handrails in this jig for that period, so they came out thoroughly bent into shape. Then attached nails to the underneath, drilled these into the bulwarks and attached.

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Hi Rufus, excuse me ,but in handrail in one axis (one piece) in my opinion is not possible.Frank
 
Hi Rufus, excuse me ,but in handrail in one axis (one piece) in my opinion is not possible.Frank
It was very difficult! But it has mostly worked. Although over time it has pulled out a little bit (1mm) at the bow. I've inserted another piece to cover this and I'm lucky a ring mount goes there, so it's not noticeable. Definitely won't do this approach next time!

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A month or so after starting, I've finally finished (the majority) of the fittings for the boat. All that remains are the anchors, culverins and side boat supports, which I'm going to leave until the end as they'll get in the way of the rigging. Ready to move onto the masts, yards and spars!

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Disaster!! So, while drilling the holes in the crosstrees, one of them shattered into pieces. This one I think had a manufacturing problem as the others were more malleable. So I've got the options of; make my own out of wood, repair or order replacement.

I decided for repair as i didn't fancy making my own at this point. (Just want to get on with the masting!)

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So my chosen method is to brace the whole thing with a 1mm wood strip that can be used as a base to epoxy all the broken bits back together.

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Then it was a case of sanding, painting and finishing. I'm happy with the end result and it is only 1mm thicker on the 'bars' coming out from the side which i can live with.

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