Clyde on Nomenclature: Bulwark versus Gunwale

[bob mitchell]

Bob,

 

I'm in the middle of answering your last emails and I ran across a word that other Newporter caregivers use and I do not know what they are on a Newporter.  So I ask you, a friend who will not think me stupid and will not think I'm loosing my mind, even if my memory is slipping.  What are the "gunwales" on the Newporter. 

 

So far as I know they are only on small open (not decked) boats of any size; they are the combination of the inwales and outwales  that called together are the gunwales (pronounced by old timers "gunnels").  It's possible that what some call the gunwales are the bulwarks, that part of the topsides between the deck and the cap rails; this comes possibly from what may have been the origin of the word: "gun walls" meaning the side of a ship pierced by the guns.  It is also possible that since the gunwales are a combining of the inwales (a piece of wood running from stem to stern inside the outer planking and the ribs) and outwales (a comparable piece running stem to stern outside the planking, which effectively makes a sandwich with the wales being the bread and the frames and planking being the coldcuts) and this combination resembles the two clamps that run from stem to stern on the Newporter and most all decked vessels; these clamp the frames in position. 

At the top of the frames the outside is notched to receive the "outside clamp" so that the outside of that clamp is flush with the outside surface of the frame.  The planking is laid outside of both the frame and the clamp.  The top edge of the outside clamp is flush with the top of the frame.  The other member of this combo is the inside clamp, or shelf.  It may (or may not) be notched into the frame; in the Newporter it is not.  It is called a "shelf" because the deck beams are put on the shelf, which hold them up with the help of a bolt through the beam and the frame.  The Newporter's outside clamp is made up of white oak about 1x2+ inches.  The inside shelf is made up of three layers of fir, 1X6 or so, middle piece is about a half inch narrower to produce a "way" for the wiring harness.

 

So, describe your gunwale so I'll know of what you speak.  Many Thanks,

 

    Clyde

[Clyde A. Phillips]

Correction: In the last sentence change (at least in your memory) "three layers of fir, 2X6 or so" to "three layers of fir, 1X6 or so". There is a vast difference in the two; so use 1X6's in your work. Clyde