I've been busy lately.  Continuing from the last post, I put on 4 coats of primer.  After the first coat with a foam brush, I switched to a 2" brush for the remaining 3, alternating up/down and fore/aft strokes.  The primer went on much thicker with the brush, and the weave is finally filled, and the color pretty uniform.  (Looks like I forgot to get a pic with just the primer done - here is one with one gunnel mounted and the other clamped.)

After priming, time to put the keel on.  I unwrapped the keel and gunnels I picked up from Island Falls Canoe last spring.  The keel screws will need to go through the canvas and I was worried about pulling the dacron.  So, I positioned the canoe right side up, put blocks underneath to just flush with the bottom, under a rib, and drilled through the dacron using the existing screw holes as guides.  For the new ribs, I again blocked and drilled through so they are ready also.  No problem drilling  through with a backing - without the backing the dacron was stretching in an uncomfortable way...

I'll note here that Island Falls sent v-washers to protect the ribs from the keel screws.  These were finishing washers originally (you can tell from the size of the indentations) and I went out and got some of these to use instead.  I do not like the idea of countersinking the ribs as much as would be required without the finish washers.  Of course, these will be a bit proud, but the original indentations are a bit deep, so I'll see how far I can sink them when I install the keel.

The stem bands also came in the mean time.  I decided to carve out the tapered portion of the keel so the stem band ends flush with the bottom of the keel (once they get mounted).  Then I positioned the keel evenly fore/aft, and centered and held it on with straps, got under the canoe and tapped a punch through each  rib to mark where I need to pre-drill for the screws.

I put a coat of 50-50 thinned varnish on the sides of the keel and gunnels that will be hidden to protect them from the elements -hopefully.

Then, for unknown reasons (or perhaps just because I did not have the proper caulking yet), I decided to mount the outer gunnels.  It is a bit of a chore getting them flush with the already installed ribs, but a bit of adjusting, and moving from the center to the ends, and it went pretty well at least to the curved ends of the canoe.  For each screw, I positioned and clamped the gunnel, aligning to be as flush as I could with the rib.  Then every other rib (odd ribs, starting at the center thwart rib) I used a punch to position the hole, drilled just through the gunnel with a large drill, drilled through the rib and into the inner gunnel with a smaller drill, countersunk drilled to get the head just below flush, and then put in the 1.5"x8 slotted screw (leaving the slot parallel to the gunnel of course). Interestingly, or perhaps naturally, I managed to hit the old holes on the inner gunnels most of the time.  This all took a much larger toll on my forearms than expected, They are still a bit sore...

This all went fine, right up to the ends  where the canoe curls up quite a bit.  It is certainly nice that Island Falls pre-bent the ends of the gunnels - I'm not sure it could be done if they were not.  Even with the pre-bending, it was hard to the curve of the new gunnel to align with the deck and ribs.  I got as close as I could, and then it came down to sanding and a bit of leveling with a chisel to touch things up after I got the ends rounded.

After getting to the ends, I was left with a bit of a mess to close out.  Clamping across the boat I could get the two sides close, and got screws into the last rib on each side.  The thickness of the stem and planking turns out to be wider than the stem band, so the gunnel cut-out does not close at the bow and stern.  I wound up cutting the gunnels to roughly parallel to the curve of the bow, and hand carved some of the rib white cedar to fill the gap, hopefully enough for the stem band to cover.  Then some sawing off of corners, planing and a lot of sanding to get a rounded shape on both ends.  I think the stem bands should cover this reasonably well, at least good enough for me!

Then some sanding of the new wood, and leveling at the ends to bring the gunnels down to the ribs where needed, and a coat of 50-50 thinned varnish to seal, and voila.

I noticed in prying the ends of the gunnels around, a 'sag' appeared in the dacron at the bow on the port side.  I am not  sure why it came, but ironing (at 5.5 setting) seemed to take it right out, even with the filler and primer.  So far, the dacron remains nice and tight otherwise.

I think that covers most of the latest activities.  Now it is on to installing the keel.  I got the special 3M 5200 caulking to hopefully keep leaks from the keel screws (and then the stem bands when I get to them).  Then on to touching up the primer and painting the hull.

Quite a few more supplies this period...(I'm not sure what has been reported before, but here is a list that goes back a bit...)

Stewart Systems

1 qt Dacron filler (Ekofill)                                 48.00   

dacron cloth 15/ydX7 yds                                 105.00

Dacron glue (not used)                                        12.00

Katz Hardware

Primer (Zinzer 123) 1 qt                                     12.00

3" foam brushes (2)                                               3.00

Island Falls Canoe

25 Keel washers (wrong ones)                               6.25

25 1"x8 screws (keel)                                            6.25

30 oval head 3/4"x4 screws (stem bands)             6.00

100 1.5"x8 screws (gunnels)                                19.00

2 stem bands                                                         50.00

1 Qt Hatteras Off white - Interlux Premium Yacht Enamel     45.00

shipping                                                                34.00

Katz Hartdware

25 brass finish washers (#8)                                   11.25

2" foam brush                                                           1.29

Home Depot

3m 5200 Marine Sealant 100oz                               18.50

NHBragg

3m fine line 218 3/4"x60yds masking tape              20.10    (12.75 + shipping)

The day after Thanksgiving, and time for another post.  (Well, now it is Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Per usual, a few interruptions as life keeps intruding on important stuff like wasting time on an illogical project like this.  So, back to updating this post...)   Despite too much turkey, and many relatives come a visitin' I have done a bit of 'work' since the last post.

The 3.7oz dacron from Stewart systems turns out to be a finer weave than the 'heavy' dacron (2.9 oz) from Aircraft Spruce I used for the kayak.  It was a bit coarser weave than the lightweight dacron I used for the deck of the Pocock scull.

I applied the Dacron, mostly using the Heat-n-bond rather than the liquid glue from Stewart systems.  The tape is easy to apply, goes on uniformly, is easy to iron and tell when it is penetrated, and overall just seems easier.  With the glue on the planking around the gunnels, I went back an 'calibrated' the iron.  I put tape with numbers and a tick mark to be a bit more precise in the settings.  I then took a 4x3 inch piece of cloth and progressively ironed at increasing settings.  The results were:

Setting                                  length     width
0                                             4              3
3                                             3 7/8        2 15/16
4                                             3 3/4        2 13/16         (glue irons to cedar)
4.5 (wool)                              3 3/4        2 13/16
5                                             3 9/16      2 5/8
5.5  (cotton)                           3 1/2        2 9/16
6                                             3 1/4        2 7/16
6.5 (max)                               3 3/16      2 6/16

(Note that this was with a newish 'modern' iron, and I could not melt the dacron even at the highest setting.  I did a trial with an OLD electric iron, and managed to completely melt the dacron, before it was even on high...)

Before putting on the dacron, I covered the planking with 'saran wrap'.  (Actually, I used some clear plastic on a roll that is used for packing stuff.)  I held this on with double sided tape on the corners.  This is to keep the dacron from being 'glued' to the planking when painting on the filler.  In the figures, you can see the plastic sheeting, and the heat-n-bond ironed to the top of the planking.  The heat-n-bond was set using a setting of 4 on the iron.

 I could pull the dacron quite tight while activating the glue with the iron, and ended up with a pretty good job just doing that.  You can tell when the glue is well set as the dacron goes clear when the glue saturates the weave.

Worked from the center to the ends.  At the ends, I cut the dacron close to length, and split up the center to where the bow (stern) 'breaks'.  Turns out, I should have pulled to the gunnels further before splitting to make a neater and shorter split.  I could pull tight almost to the end of the gunnels before splitting.  Then I used 7/8" heat-n-bond, even with one side of the stem and overlapping the other side.  I pulled the dacron over from the 'even' side and ironed on the stem and around to the overlapping side, but not to the edge of the glue.  I used scissors to trim even with the edge of the glue, and then ironed that side to get good glue saturation.  Then I put another layer of glue (7/8" heat-n-bond) over the first layer - that is, even with the same side as before, so now around the edge on the near side.  Then I could iron on the dacron to the near side of the canoe, and trim the dacron even with the far edge of the stem.  Hopefully, the outer edge will now be under (or just sticking out of the stem band - whenever I get to that...).  I note that the under layer overlap on the one side is not visible.

At this point the dacron actually looked pretty tight.  But, I ironed anyway at a setting of 4.5 from the keel down to the gunnels.  Need to move the iron quite slowly to get the dacron to shrink fully to this setting.  Again, looked quite tight, but being brave, I reset the iron to 5.5 and ironed again.  This seems quite tight, and I decided to forego ironing at the highest setting.  Note that for all this I tried to avoid ironing over any of the glue to keep it from letting go.

And on to filling the dacron.  I went with Ekofill from Stewart Systems.  Much thinner than I expected (not knowing what to expect).  I only bought a quart figuring I would get at least 2 coats and that would be marginally enough.  Well, I got 6 coats, and still have a bit left in the  bottom of the can.  I put it all on with a 3" foam brush, right from the can.  First, up/down brush strokes, then lengthwise strokes alternating between coats.  After the first coat is was quite splotchy, which you probably cannot see in the top 2 photos, but after the that, the color was nice and even.  It took about 1.5 hours to paint on each coat.  There was one soft area in the canvas at the tip of the bow that I noticed after the 3rd coat.  Surprisingly, ironing at 5.5 took it right out.  The only soft areas now are at the glued areas, not too bad, and should be under the gunnel.

top 2 photos after one coat- a bit blotchy, but you cannot really tell in the photos.

These photos are after 3 coats, much more, but again hard to tell from the photos.

After 6 coats, the weave is still not quite filled, but the color is nice and even, and the dacron has an almost rubbery feel.  Note that  I LIGHTLY sanded with 320 after the 5th coat to knock off any lumps that I missed as I was applying each coat. 

Next up the Zinzer 123 primer.  According to various postings, it should fill the weave giving a smooth finish.  Unless I am painting too thin (as may be my tendency).  Then install the keel before trying the paint.

In the mean time, I called Island Falls Canoe to order the next round of parts (note I picked up the outer gunnels and keel last spring).  This order includes:

2 stem bands  (2x$25)

Stem band screws (~30   1.25"x4 oval head)

keel screws and cup washers (~25   1"x8)

gunnel screws (box of 100  1.5"x8  (need ~60)

Paint - off white - interlux or ?? - 1qt

I'll try to add prices when things are delivered.

I'll try to post again after a couple of coats of primer...

Progress has continued.  Not much posting because all I have been doing is sanding and sanding and sanding, and a bit of varnish.  All done with varnishing for now.  So far, I have one coat (thinned 50-50 Epifanes) on the gunnels and deck.  On the rest of the inside I have 4 coats.  Sequence: Sand 150 grit, 1 coat (50-50), sand 220 grit, 1 coat (75-25), sand 220 grit, 1 coat (90-10), sand 320 grit wet, 1 coat (90-10).  I think that is enough for now.  Perhaps another coat or two when it is time to do the gunnels and deck, but we'll see if I recover from sanding by then.  A few pics of the interior (you can see some experimenting with camera settings.  The better pics (top 2) are set on scene instead of auto (last photo), these I think are no flash):

Next up is figuring out how to canvas.  Much reading on the web - mostly led from the WCHA forum searches.  I am still planning on going with Dacron for the finished weight, relative ease of application and familiarity (from previous kayak and single rowing shell).  Drawbacks are durability (but I do not see heavy river use - mostly lake paddling), and showing surface irregularities (which will be unfortunate, but I'm going for function, not beauty...)  One good search is 'osberg dacron' which leads to a post chain 'Dacron on Old Town' - this chain has a lot of good suggestions, including using a second layer bonded to the bottom and using saran wrap (see below).  Another good find was a google search for Stewart River BoatWorks.  They have instructions for how they recommend applying Dacron.  (for later, I also found a post 'OldTown Design #4' that describes how to get the triangular pattern measured and painted...)

So, after culling through all the conflicting advice in the articles, posts and counter posts, here is my plan.

• varnish the outside with 50-50 (already done - this conditions the wood and makes it somewhat slippery so the dacron will not stick to it as the boat flexes and expands from temperature and moisture changes.  Traditionalists use linseed oil or other but it sounds like it takes a long time to dry and if not totally dry can soak through the dacron and messes up penetration and adhesion of the filler.
• I decided to forego the inner layer of dacron on the bottom (not up the sides).  This seems like a good idea, and I already have some light weight dacron from the shell.  But, it is also another step, and I do not see that much sand getting inside the boat to worry about getting between the planking and canvas.  I'll need to tell Nancy to rinse her feet when getting in...
• Next will be to apply the dacron.  I will use either, or both the heat-n-bond iron on glue and the paint on glue from Stewart Boatworks.  I had planned to use only heat-n-bond but worry if the weight of the dacron is too much for the iron on glue.  So, I got some of the paint on heat activated glue from Stewart Boatworks also, and I'll play around  with both.
• I also got the dacron from Stewart Boatworks.  For the kayak and shell, I ordered from Aircraft Spruce.  But, they have lightweight (1.4 oz/yd?, used for the shell) and heavy weight (2.8 oz/yd used for the kayak).  Stewart Boatworks sells 3.7oz.  I suspect it is coarser weave and may not be stronger. But, I suspect they know what they are selling and hopefully it will be best.
• Cover the planking with saran wrap.  This seems like cheating, but who will know (other than you who read this).  The idea here is to keep the filler from seeping through the canvas and adhering to the planking.  This would make all sorts of issues as the canoe flexes.  Hopefully, once the filler is dry it will not matter if the saran wrap moves around a bit.
• I plan to use the basic covering technique from the Stewart Boatworks instructions, although I may substitute the heat-n-bond, at least in places.  Also, rather than calibrating the iron to a given temperature, I plan to test iron some samples and set the iron for a given amount of shrinkage.  I hope to be able to calibrate the iron settings to:

     - low - enough to melt the glue but no shrinkage of the dacron
     - medium - about 5-10% shrinkage (1/4 to 1/2 of the expected max shrinkage of 20%)
     - high - 20% (max) shrinkage
     - too high - oops it melted

• The plan is to apply the glue.  pull and tug hand tight and attach dacron and get wrinkles out with low-medium iron, only around the edges to get good glue hold.  Final ironing on high to shrink to final tightness (and not pull off the glue...).
• Hopefully the method in the Stewart Boatworks instructions for the stems works as described.  (I do not plan to add the extra layer of dacron tape over the stems - seems like over-kill for the usage I expect and I worry about loosening the under layers of glue trying to apply the extra layers.  Besides, I expect to have stem bands to protect the stems.
• Next will be filling the dacron.  I bought the Ekofill from Stewart Boatworks.  Seems like much easier to apply than cotton filler.  Sounds like it should be easy to dampen the dacron and paint on a couple of coats of filler.  I only bought a quart, hopefully enough for 2 coats.  I plan to use it all and then go on to the primer...
• The forums sound like the Ekofill will not fill the weave completely (without more coats than I am interested in).  Another suggestion was to use something 123 primer (Zinzer I think, but the web site is down at the moment...)  This apparently adheres well to both the Ekofill and subsequent paint, and is thick enough to get a good smooth finish over the weave of the dacron.  I plan to sand with 320 between coats of filler and primer.  Sounds like dry sanding is the order of the day for this, so there will be some vacuuming and wiping as well...
• Then, paint.  I have not yet figured out what paint to use, other than it needs to be off white to match the previous paint scheme.  Sounds like it needs to be a good marine paint to have enough flexibility to handle the flexing the canoe will undergo.  I was hoping for a latex product (water clean-up), but most I have seen so far appear not to be.  More research yet to go in that area.
• One worry is if the dacron will pull when I try to put fasteners through it.  I will need to get through the dacron from the inside to attache the keel, and from the outside to attach the stem bands.  Hopefully new fasteners will slide over/through/past the dacron fibers and not pull and distort my (hopefully by then) beautiful paint job.

Well, that is about the size of the planning I have so far.  Many more steps here than sanding, sanding, sanding, so perhaps I'll have a few more frequent posts to fill you in on progress.

More cost info - adding up more than I expected...:
another quart of Epifanes $45
Dacron (7 ydsx72") + Ekofill (1 qt) + heat glue (3oz) - $200

Welcome back canoe fans.  While not much posting has been going on, I have been busy.  Sanding and sanding and sanding.  Finally, all the insides have been sanded, and the outside of the planking has also.  Obviously, this took a while, and almost surely not worth the effort, as this is a canoe after all.  But, once I got going I couldn't stop.  Here are a few pics after sanding (and trimming the new ribs).

The new ribs are quite obvious, and did not seem less so as I looked at it more.  So, I decided to go the stain route.  I chose Minwax Early American stain that seemed pretty close.  I stained the ribs (white cedar) but chose to keep the new planking (western red cedar) natural - there does not seem to be as much color variation there, and I think the red cedar will darken more and blend reasonably when varnished.

Below is the (unvarnished) finished product.  As you can see, the stained ribs are a bit browner and do not have the yellow tinge of the old ribs.  But, overall, I think it is a pretty good match.  We'll see how it looks varnished!

 And on to the varnish.  I am using Epifanes clear gloss varnish - the same as I used on the Pocock single.  I like it and it seems to have good reviews...

The first coat will be thinned 50% - mainly to seal the wood.  I plan to do this inside and out.  (this will be the only sealing for the planking - instead of linseed oil or other treatments discussed on the canoe heritage web site.)  Below is a pic of the first bit I have done.  I am planning to work rib by rib to try and avoid seams and overlapping coats.  I could not get the brush into the very front - hopefully the old treatment is sufficient to keep the bow and stern from rotting...  I am not planning to varnish the gunnels at this point - I will do them all at once when the outer gunnel is installed.  This will be after the canvas is on so will be a while.

That's about it for now.  Hopefully varnishing will not take too long and next post will not be too far in the future.  I may need to use the blog to collect my thoughts for figuring out how to get the canvasing done.

Oh yes, a few more prices:
medium (100) sandpaper - lots but out of my stash...
stain - about $6.00   (I really do not recall)
varnish - $45.00.
brushes, etc - so far only from stores...

Summer has been busy, but progress is being made, albeit slowly.  Apparently my last post was the end of May, and here it is mid august.  Sorry about the long wait...

Ribs are pretty much as the last post - I decided that I have replaced enough.  The remaining are correct shape and likely as strong as the new ones.

The stems are redone with a bit of new stem material and a new deck tip on both ends.  A few pics...
 Bow

rotted sections removed

 

epoxy on a new dec/inner gunnel piece

stem extension added to meet deck

trimmed and ready for planking

Stern

a bit more wood to replace

same procedure as the bow

ready for planking

An attempt to repair a split in the stern deck, and re-finish  the trim piece

Note the trim piece split out at the screw, both bow and stern.  I epoxied it back together - the bow seems to have held, the stern needed a small patch of dacron epoxied to the back to keep from re-splitting.

And the planking goes on...
The western red cedar takes a bit more steaming than the ribs, even though it is thinner.  The short sections split easily, especially the ones near the bow.  But, even with the splits I think it is good enough.  The new planks are also a bit proud of the old planks, so a bit of filing and sanding will hopefully get things smooth enough for the canvas.

After planing is on, also needed to add short flooring ribs, and tack the new plank sections to the old short ribs.

That is pretty much the status.  I may come back and fill in some details, but all is pretty much as you would expect - a lot of patience is required.

In summary so far:
strip old varnish
repair ribs
repair stems
replace planking

next up:
sand topsides
varnish topsides
sand and fair bottom
canvas (or dacron)
paint
paddle about
sponsons

Me-thinks it will take more than a year to get this done...  Until next time.

Another long pause between posts, but progress has continued.  I am up to 13 replaced ribs. I have 3 more cut from the 4 white cedar boards we bought so long ago.  There are a few more that could use replacing, but they are not mis-shapen, so perhaps I'll leave them.  We'll see...

Note the straps.  The tops of a few ribs separated from the inner gunwale when I was working on others.  I added the straps to keep them all in place until I get to putting on the outer gunwale.  Seems to be working.

Also went out to the Cape a couple of weeks ago and Dave and I cut some planking from an 8' Western Red Cedar board on his fancy macines.  We got 3 4" wide 8' long planks - 24' should be more than enough.  The board was quite expensive as it was quarter sawn.  After the fact, we realized that Dave has lots of left over cedar siding from his house - yep, it is western red cedar and we could have cut and planed it down to planking thickness.  Oh well - next project!

I purchased a couple of 2.5x2.5x12" ash boards from Woodcraft to create shapes to repair the stems and decks.  I cut a few pieces out on Dave's band saw when we were working the planking.  Still a bit of figuring to do to figure out how I want to do the repairs.

I think it is about time to figure costs again - here is a summary of reciepts since last year:

Katz                       pcv pipe (steamer try 1)                        19.00
Isl Falls Canoe     1/4 lb tacks                                               11.00
Home Depot         boards + styro for steamer try 2         22.00
Home Depot         boards for steamer try 3                       23.00
Katz                       hardware for steamer                              6.00
Katz                       2 clamps and hardware for steamer   14.00
Isl Falls Canoe     1/2 lb tacks + 1 diamond bolt                30.00
WoodCraft            2 ash 2.5x2.5x12 boards for stems      13.00
Parkerville Lumber     west red cedar                               68.00
Isl Falls Canoe      2 ash gunwales + keel                          189.00
Home Depot          lashing straps - 4                                     17.00

2nd total                                                                                 412.00

(2014 Expenditures)
Katz                        stripping supplies                                    40.00
Katz                        stripping supplies                                    60.00
Parkerville Limber  4 white cedar boards                       140.00

1st total                                                                                    240.00

I guess it has been a while since I have posted.  Some progress to report.  I managed to finish a wooden steam box - used the same design as the styrofoam try 4.  Works fine!  Temp gets up to about 205 - not quite as hot as the styrofoam box, but can be used more than once!

Last week I steamed removed, cleaned, steamed and installed 2 more ribs, these toward the center.  Then this week, did the same again, this time replacing 2 more toward the stern.  So, up to 5 ribs installed!  So far they seem to going in quite well, better than I expected.  All the prep, shaping of the ribs, etc. takes about 8 hours for 2 ribs, so that is about all I can do in a week.  None the less, at least I can see steady progress.

It was looking like the bottom was sagging a bit in the stern where the most damaged ribs are located.  I added another temporary 2X4 'keel', attaching it ahead and behind the damaged area.  This seems to pull the bottom up to flush and hopefully will keep the ribs in place until I get to replacing the bottom planking.

I think I am up to about 14 ribs that will need to be replaced - perhaps more.  I'll continue replacing them 2 at a time - looks like I'll need to shape a few more from the lumber we bought last winter.

First rib installed!  It is possible.

The rib sprung back quite a bit when unclamped from the outside of the canoe.  That makes it hard to get it worked under the gunnels (after turning the canoe right side up).  To remedy single handed, I put a strap clamp around the rib to pull it to about the right width.  This let me get it between the inner gunnel and the planking, but it still did not like to lie flush with the planking - the ends needed quite a bit of pressure down to seat.

(the following is the wrong way, I'll get to the right way in a moment...)  So, I put a single nail in one side of the rib while pushing down to get it 'close' to the right location.  Then on the other side, I pushed down quite hard on the end while pushing the inside of the rib out to the planking, to align the center mark with the keel holes.  Then again, a single nail to hold the rib to the gunnel.  All the while being careful to keep the rib aligned and centered between the remaining ribs.  At this point the rib was close, but not seated against the planking.  I then started nailing the planking to the rib working my way down from the gunnel.  I used the original nail holes in the planking to place the nails.  This pulled the rib in flush with the planking quite nicely, down to the bottom of the canoe.   I did not yet nail the rib to the bottom planking as much of it is rotten and will need to be replaced.  I then moved to the other side and tried to do similar, mostly failing miserably, until I realized the right way to do it...

So, the right way to do this is to use a clamp from the gunnel to the top of the rib, and use it to push the rib down and seat it against the planking. This worked like a charm, and allowed me to nail the other side of the planking, again down to the rotted section of planking at the bottom.

Result - one rib installed!  yahoo.  Of course, it is April only 6 months since picking it up!  And this is only the 2nd step.  Now another 12+ ribs to go, then fix the stems, then repair the planking, and then figure out how to canvas and then paint.  In other words, no end in sight...

Also, I have a wooden - try 5 - steam box almost complete.  Only missing hinges and clamps for the ends.

So, at last, it looks like some progress.  Next step is to remove another rib in the center section.  Should not be a problem to steam at least 2 at a time.

Well fans - after a few last minute re-considerations, there is indeed now a rib bent over the outside of the hull over the 4th rib from the bow stem (to be used to replace the 5th rib from the stem in the stern).

The adjustments - I re-read the Stelmok and Thurlow sections on replacing ribs and figured I needed a bit more prep.  Mainly, it looked like I would need quite a bit of pressure to bend the rib, and perhaps I needed something to hold the rib in place.  I did not like the brace to the ceiling suggestion, and realized there are holes through every other rib for the keel.  So, I found some small diameter bolts, cut some oak 'washers' and an oak 'keel'.  This lets me clamp the center of the rib in place when it is hot so I can bend the rib without worrying about it moving around.  (it worked like a charm!)

While I was reading I also noticed how they put some battens on the inside to pull  the hull into shape.  I tried some thing similar for the forward rib I am planning to work next.  I'm not sure it really pulls the hull in much, but will  report more on that later.

With that done, I figured I was ready to give the steam box a try.  I decided to stick a towel in the end to heat up with the rib so i could wrap the rib and keep it warm once it was well steamed (that seems to work also, but I'm not sure it is needed).  The steam generator, and Styrofoam steam box worked fine.  It took about 25 minutes for the generator to get boiling well.  The duct tape had a tendency pucker and soften, and there was some steam leakage, but the candy thermometer said about 205 degrees, and the meat thermometer well over 195 (its highest reading).  While waiting for the box to get to temperature, I 'soaked' the rib, keeping it wet with a rag.

I opened the end, pulled out the towel, put in the rib and towel back in.  I steamed the rib about 20 minutes (only putting it in once the box was up to temperature).  Took a bunch of pictures of the whole setup while waiting.  Pulled it out, wrapping it in the steamed towel, clamped it under the pseudo keel, put the warm towel over it, bent one side (working it up and down about a half dozen times) and clamped it.  Then went to the other side and bent it down the same way.

Amazing - no splits, or cracks.  The rib was hard to bend, but not terribly.  Holding it and clamping it was a bit tricky, but doable.  One lesson - make sure there are no nail heads protruding where you are trying to bend the rib.

Now letting it dry, and will see how it fits and nails into place tomorrow.

I'll note here that try4 at steaming while successful ended up being a one time use steam box.  The tape got a bit puckery and wet, but the box, while operating appeared as if all was well.  Then, after running in to bend the rib, I went out to clean up, and found the box in this state.

Apparently, the styrofoam was over-temped - and pretty grossly deformed on cooling.

Before dinner, I ran out and bought another $20 of lumber to build the box out of wood, maybe tomorrow.  Also need to shape the next rib.  There is one already removed, this one near the center so a bit longer...