: Hi all-

: I'm helping a friend put new gunwales on a whitewater canoe he
: picked up earlier this year. It's a real whitewater boat, and
: will be used hard on whitewater. He got some ash, but can't find
: any ash in a 15' length to do the gunwales in one piece, so
: we're going to scarf them. I'm going to use a 14:1 scarf to be
: sure there is plenty of glue surface area, although I'm not sure
: whether we'll use epoxy or type III PVA. I do have one place yet
: to check to see if we can get a piece long enough, but for now
: the plan is to scarf.

: My question is- should the scarf be oriented on the canoe through
: the thickness or through the width when it's mounted to the
: hull?

: m

I sort of doubt it really matters which way you do it, but glue has less strength in sheer than in tension so wherever you think the load paths will be should dictate this.