Brightwork fabrication begins! Starting with the coaming boards, I took the port and starboard blanks down to their final thickness on the planer. The boards coming off of Biscuit measured 5/8" in thickness, and no doubt had a bit of sanding over the years. I decided to plane the boards down to 11/16", providing a bit more material for the new mahogany coaming boards.

With the two coaming board blanks having their final dimensions, I arranged the old coaming boards onto their new blanks in such a way as to avoid imperfections in the grain and to promote the most attractive appearance. I also decided to add just over an inch in the height of the boards. Fitting the old coaming boards onto Biscuit, I noticed that the boards appeared overly thin, or shorter in height as one would lean back into them. The additional height would also allow for some variation in where the fasteners would land and secure the boards to the fiberglass seat back.

Happy with the orientation of the old boards onto the new blanks, I secure the starboard board to its blank with clamps, and using it as a pattern, I then transferred the old coaming board onto the blank. I used a compass, running along the bottom edge of the old coaming board, to add the additional little more than an inch in height to the new blank.

With a jigsaw and a metal cutting blade, I removed the new coaming board from the blank. Sandpaper helped to clean up some the irregularity in the freshly cut surface, but this was still in the rough-cut form. I took the newly cut coaming board out to Biscuit for a test fit, excited to see it in situ. Excited for this phase the refit. Several steps to come on the coaming boards, including final shaping, rounder-overs on the top edge and softening all other edges, drilling for fasteners, varnish.....you get the point.

Total Hrs: 1.5