Building the Bouchie Dory – Part 36 – Final details
Detailing a hole through a structure is one of those refinements that is a small job but makes a huge impact. It just says “I care”.
I used this detail on a dinghy I built for myself, giving each quarter knee a grommeted hole. They served to carry a rope sail sheet traveler but I found they were a perfect place for a painter line for both docking and securing the stern to both trailer or truck bed.
First job to drilling holes is just not messing up the hole. I always start with a pilot hole drilled from both sides to meet in the middle. This gives you a fighting chance to have the hole exactly where you want it. Using an auger bit allows you to follow the pilot hole easily. You can fix a little misalignment with a twist bit. If following a pilot hole from two sides isn’t feasible, at least use a backing block to avoid grain blow out on the exit side of the hole.
Wetting out the hole with epoxy or paint before lining it is a good idea. I didn’t do it in the video because it would have thrown the brakes on my workday given that I wanted a flared finish on my linings.
You could leave out the rolled ends. Just throw a copper, brass or plastic tube through and glue them in place with epoxy or polyurethane. This would require you to file, grind or sand off the offending protrusions. I did this on the transom of the Catalina wherry build.
The trick here is that the tube is hard and your surrounding wood is soft, making sanding with power a little hazardous because it will tend to wear away the wood before the metal. Chamfering the interior edge afterward is a good finishing touch in this case. Having a single flute countersink for this job is a useful item to keep on hand.
Even if you don’t use a liner, several coats of epoxy or finish should be applied to seal the grain inside the hole and again, chamfering the edge is a nice detail. It looks better than a round over as well.
Holes with round-overs always look to me like someone poked a hole in a marshmallow with their finger.
I’ll save that detail for Smores, thank you very much.