Wood Bending question

[DCatSea]

Reading "New Hard Top" thread I notice that WillieC and AmblerFC are talking about curved ceilings (very nice idea BTW), and this makes me think about how to bend a 9' x 6" x 1/2" section of routed white oak to replace the 3 pieces of wood that currently cover the seal between the for'd section of the wheelhouse and topsides on Mazboot without the resource of a long, narrow steam table or chest.
If anyone has ideas on how to do this, I would be very grateful to read them.

Update on relocation: We are currently on the hard in Deale MD prior to an April '22 move round to Alexandria VA.

[WillieC]

Have you considered laminating thin sections to a form? Of course you'd have to cut your stick into thin slices and build a form and figure out how to do epoxy, but hey, it's still December!

I should have started this whole boat thing when I was younger.

There are plenty of videos on steam bending and laying up laminates on the interweb. For my little curved hardtop improvement, I need to keep it light so I used cedar struts to hold the closet liner (tongues and grooves removed, just square edge butt employed.) I ended up kerfing the 1X2 (nom) about every four inches almost all the way through then filling the kerf with thickened epoxy and adding a band-aid strip of glass over the cut side and laying the stick on the inside of the hardtop and weighting it down overnight.

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Sorry if I got way off your question. Recovering from surgery is giving me way too much free time.

Apparently you are trying to fix some previous fix and make it look better in the process. How much bending are you talking about? A little at each end, or a gentle overall curve?
There is one video online where a guy used plastic sheet tubes and managed to seal it all up then blew steam into the bag encased wood. Now that was prolly two years worth of getting it right, he had to watch the level of water in his cooker and plenty more, and he was able to lay the whole thing into what he was trying to get the wood to conform to.

Alternately, while in a former life, I was working in an airport Clown Room remodel and at trim time I got to watch the finish carpenter do magic with kerfed wood I never would have imagined. He made wood look like rubber. As I recall, the edges of the kerfs were either epoxied or painter's caulked or trimmed with a tiny piece of easily bent wood. It truly was magic. And he didn't learn that overnight. (Plus one for the union tradesman!)

Good luck!

[Ambler27FC]

The beams I was intending would be thick enough to cut in profile on a bandsaw. I would like to think I am good with wood, but folks that bend are magic to me. My second move would be as WillieC describes - thin pieces glued together clamped down over a form. Maybe a thin laminate over an exposed end (even Teak might be practical)?

Let me know if you stop by or pass Solomon's on the trip to your new home! Still have not seen another A27 or A25 on the water. Solomon's to Colonial Beach and Colonial Beach to DC can be done in two hard days, but a smarter person might take more time.

[DCatSea]

Thanks for great suggestions and support. Here is a pic of the "before" project.

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You'll see the three pieces of routed trim on the front of the wheelhouse. These are the second iteration of the original, which I temporarily replaced a couple of years ago. I now want to replace the three pieces with one single piece, bent to meet both contours of the wheelhouse (horizontal) and the cabin roof (vertical), and hooked round to join up with the side trim.
I like both ideas, and they make me wonder if I could use strips of thin very good quality marine ply, steamed in a pipe set up, and then
bent to shape and glued together, before routing to match and epoxying. Then sealing the wheelhouse / deck joint which has a tiny hard rain drip over the companionway, before attaching the new and beautiful piece o'wood.

As I write this down, I am wondering what I'm letting myself in for, and discovering the therapeutic quality of writing it down). This is now rapidly become a MAJOR PROJECT, taking its rightful place alongside the REBUILD THE AFT CABIN project which approaches completion. I will post progress pics.

I will make it to PAX eventually and will be sure to swing by.

Doug

[WillieC]

They all have the potential for becoming MAJOR PROJECTS.

This is the infamous A27 joint issue is it not? I do not envy you in your task. Your wood work looks very nice. We are eliminating as much exterior wood as we can and adding it back inside somewhat more out of the weather.

[DCatSea]

WillieC - Yes, sort of. The drip is very, very small and only in heavy rain. My full-depth canvas (see pic), which covers all exterior wood, stops it dead when it's on, so after I renew the seal between the "top 'n bottom" bits I think the new wood, appropriately also sealed in, will solve the Notorious / Infamous Issue.

Full length canvas:

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