Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

Wow, the trim, bottom paint and bootstripe really brings the Daysailor alive. Looks beautiful.

You know what you really need in your shop... A steambox. I bet you could have gone with your first idea, which was to use your toerail profile on the cabin trim, if you had steam bent the trim. Nothing makes a boatshop look more authentic then a steambox outside puffing away either.

I suppose this late in the game with deadlines looming who has time to design the ultimate steambox. For the next shop, add a steambox to the list of 'must-haves'.

-Britton

bcooke wrote:I suppose this late in the game with deadlines looming who has time to design the ultimate steambox. For the next shop, add a steambox to the list of 'must-haves'.

Absolutely. I want and need one, but it seems to always come down to the need to build the boat rather than fuss with shop accessories.

Someday, I may be able to breathe again, and take some time to upgrade the shop with some of the things that I need.

This month's "Fine Woodworking" (August 2005) has an interesting concept for a steam bender. They bought 6 mil poly tubing, which is available as packaging material in rolls with widths from 1-1/2" to 48 ". They cut a piece of tubing slightly longer than the workpiece, tied one end closed, slipped the piece inside and injected steam from any source to the other end sealed with rags. This particular guy used a steam cleaner but even a tea kettle would do. When the piece is limber, he left the tubing on and tied the other end to retain the moisture and heat. He put it in his clamping fixture while in the tube (which also protects the wood from the fixture), then slit the tube after it was clamped so it could dry properly. He says the poly tube held up for over an hour of steaming. ...........Kind of clever.