Coaming Finished

I started the coaming a few weeks ago. At the time, I cut the 4 rings, epoxied them and glued the bottom ring to the kayak. Life got in the way for a while, but I finally got around to mounting the coaming to the kayak. This involved measuring and marking screw locations, drilling, counter-sinking the holes and tightening up the bolts.

The counter-sinking the holes was the scariest bit. I don't own a countersink bit, I didn't think to borrow one and I'm trying to avoid any new tool purchases! I went with the poor-man's method -- I simply chucked a larger drill bit and used a gentle touch. One of the holes is a little deep and another had a tiny bit of tearing out. BUT- all in all, it went pretty OK. Again, I know my limitations; I'm not after a perfect finish.

The coaming stanchions turned out to be a little challenging. The stanchions are blocks of wood that support the sides of the coaming. I reviewed Tom's pages on making the stanchions and I have to admit, I still don't understand how he goes from a square block of wood, draws a few cut lines on it and ends up with a usable product. My method was to get the general cuts out of the way and then use trial and error to fit the stanchion into place. In the end, I probably have 20-more cuts than Mr. Yost does... but- I got it done and I'm pretty happy with the results. (For the record, I used a piece of 1x6 pine that I had lying around.)