The first project I faced was the one that has frightened me the most since I have owned Pompano, building and attaching the coamings. I knew that was going to be difficult because not only do the coamings show off the boat, but in my case, they will be built of four pieces (not including the nosing block) which require steam bending and lots of precision cutting and shaping. I was most nervous about the fit at the front where the coamings angle forward and attach to each other and the aft pieces which finish on the transom and then scrafed to the front pieces. After two weeks, however, my fears were unrealized as the coamings came together.
I had my steamed Wana from last Spring that stayed in shape all summer and ready to go this winter. I began by clamping these in place one by one against the carlin and slowly and patiently shaping the front joint. In the end, a fine kerf saw is used to cut right down the middle of the two pieces of wood for a perfect fit. Once these were fit, I worked on the nosing block, which is two pieces of inch and a half Wana glued together. This was cut to fit all three angles. The first thing screwed in was this nosing block, to hold that FWD joint secure while the rest of them were screwed into the oak carlin. A simple 45 degree cut was made vertically along the after end of the front coaming pieces for the scarf. Then, each aft piece was loosely clamped in place while the aft end was cut and fit against the transom. When happy with this fit, I cut the scarf in the front end to match that of the FWD coaming. This was tricky and took some patience with the sanding board and a lot of trips in and out of the boat. Once these were to my liking, I screwed them in place. I am happy with the outcome. Right now, they are removed from the boat awaiting shaping of the end sections where they come down and finish with a little flare at the transom. Then they will be lathered up with 5200 and G-Flexed at the scarfs to complete the fitting of the coamings. After that they need to be faired before the raised deck/ cuddy cabin top can be framed out.
