Bell Magic gunwale replacement

[Jsaults]

I will be replacing the ash gunwales on my Black Gold Magic this spring. The original wood suffered "end cap rot" due to many days living on top of my car, and now I have to store my boats under wrap outdoors so I an leaning toward aluminum stock.

Yes, yes I know that ash is warmer and classier looking, and I DO prefer the appearance and feel, but I am an old fart and am less inclined to fiddle with Watco than I used to be.

Northwest Canoe has a few gold-anodized two piece gunwale sets as used by Bell (don't look on the website - their new version is one piece). Very attractive IMO. As far as I can see, there should be no issue with covering the old ash gunwale holes with the new aluminum sets.

Anyone ever go this route? Opinions? Pitfalls I have not anticipated?

Jim

 

[Mihun09]

If it is just rot at the tips, why not just scarf in new wood there?

Just wondering, I understand your want for no maintenance rails.

 

[Alan Gage]

I don't see any reason it shouldn't work fine. You'll need end caps too.

The rivets for those two piece Bell rails install from the inside of the hull, so the only part of the rivet you see is the head. Works great but there's not enough room between the gunwales for the rivet gun to fit at the stems. The final rivet is installed from the outside of the hull and the very end of the outwale is cut back at an angle to expose an opening to get the rivet and gun in place. Hard to explain, probably easier to show a picture. Not the best pics but should show what I mean:


20140807_005 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

This one does a better job of showing the angle they're cut at:


20120828_007 by Alan Gage, on Flickr

Make sure you leave the gunwales long enough at the stems. I nearly cut mine too short when I installed them on one boat and the decks were just barely long enough to cover the ends. The decks are usually attached to the gunwales with 2 rivets/side but I only had room for one rivet/side on that boat.

Be careful when drilling the holes. It's easier than you'd think to accidentally punch a hole all the way through the outwale. Low speed might be better than high speed on the drill.

They're by far the nicest looking aluminum rails I've seen. Attractive profile and a nice color that doesn't show scratches as bad as black aluminum does.

Alan

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I don't know about the installation process, but the idea of aluminum gunwales is a good concept in my opinion. All my boats suffer from poor wooden gunwale maintenance. Water pools under decks even when you flip a boat on your shoulders or a vehicle. They will rot unless they have an end hole or scupper for drainage.

Actually, I think small canoe decks are useless appendages, like vestigial organs. They serve no purpose and just add weight where you least want it. I've removed the decks from many of my canoes. Mike Galt wouldn't build his later canoes with them.

 

[Philtrum]

No Title

Water pools under decks only if there's no drain hole.
My Mad River Eclipse had a bit of rot on the undersides of the deck plates. I applied some Minwax rot cure (can't remember the exact name) and then applied several coats of polyurethane. No problem after that.

Here's what Bell did to conceal the gunwale ends. It's ugly but not quite as bad as without the deck plate. I put drain holes in the ends to keep it from raining on me after getting the gunwales wet.

 

[Holmes375]

Ya know, Phil's picture gives me an idea of something that might work rather well for the fellow wanting a finished trim for his deck-less aluminum gunwales. I wouldn't think it would be all that difficult to carve up a wood mock-up of the bow and stern tip tto use as a form for a Kydex trim. The stuff is strong, holds rivets well and thermo forms to fairly complex curvatures. Its available in a variety of colors and thickness as well as textures. Ya want a carbon fiber style of texture? - no worries.

My Magic is hangin' in its suspenders from the garage ceiling but I just might drop 'er down this weekend and have a look to see if something like this might be feasible.