Inwale Advice: Does the bevel end? When to replace inwale?

[Brian J Knudsen]

I have a 1923 17' Otca. I plan to replace the inwales, unless I'm convinced otherwise. The tips of the inwales on both ends are gone. They are cracked and broken in various places on both sides and the canoe looks misshaped.

I have read some great threads about how to steam and clamp the new inrails/inwales to the old inwales. I have a few questions though that I have not found answers to.

I put a caliper up to the rail at the center of the canoe and there is a bevel as I expected. Does anyone know what is the angle of the bevel?

I also put the caliper up next to the inwale where the inwale had pulled away from the deck and the caliper sits flush on both sides of the inwale, so I don't believe there is a bevel next to the decks. Do you have suggestions on how to cut the correct bevel into the inrail?

Lastly, for now, when should I replace the inwale? The canoe needs to have stems repaired, tips of the decks repaired, ribs replaced, and planking. Am I correct in believing that the rails should happen first?

Thank you,
Brian

 

[Andy Hutyera]

If you go to this site and wade through the photos you can get a fair idea of how I proceeded:https://andrewhutyera.smugmug.com/Rebuild-of-1943-Old-Town-11-Trapper/
I made a full set of pre bent new Inwales and new decks. The whole thing was assembled as a unit and laid over the existing inwhales and decks to assure that the curves all matched reasonabley well. All this was done before starting to deconstruct the canoe. Next the old inwhales and decks were removed and any rib tips that needed replacement were taken care of skipping those ribs that would be replaced. Once the rib tips were done the new structure was clamped and nailed into place. I recently did exactly the same thing to an 18 foot OTCA. The upward curve at the ends of the inwhales were steam bent individually before the new inwhale - deck structure was assembled. Unfortunately my photos of that project do not adequately show the process.

 

[Brly]

Similar to Andy, I made a form and bent the inwales individually for my 18' Otca. That was after I tried forming the inwales under the existing rails. The form is made to overbend the curve, allowing for springback. I would've saved a lot of time had I went straight to the form method vs bending under the existing rails. The Otca has a significant amount of curve. Mine came out extremely close to the correct profile.
Regarding the bevel to the inwale, you just have to look things over and realize (seems that you have) that the bevel is needed near the center of the canoe's length where the tumblehome is the greatest. As you move from the center of the canoe towards the bow or stern, the tumblehome gradually runs out to the vertical tips, so no bevel is needed there. I put the bevel on my inwales by hand with planes and a spokeshave after adding a scribed line and a hand drawn taper. Once the inwales were nailed on, I made small adjustments where needed to true everything up.
Ben