Inwale bending

[Brly]

Last fall I picked up a '53 OT Otca, 18'. I'm finally getting time to work on it. Tips are rotten and need rebuilt and I decided to replace the inwales. One side was pretty bad. All around soft and broken at the deck coming. The decks and thwarts are ash, so I ripped some ash inwales on the table saw, dressed them up and soaked them all week. I chose to bend them on the canoe, under the existing inwales. I steamed two tonight and clamped them on, one on each side at the stern. They're not full length, so I'll scarf them in the middle.
Bending went ok, but I didn't get enough bend at the tip. There's not much left to clamp to up there, so I put a stout stick across the old inwales and clamped it tight, but I need more bend beyond the last clamps.
What's my best option? Take them off, make a form and re-bend?

I've been lurking and reading constantly the last few weeks. This is an outstanding resource and I thank everyone for all the knowledge shared!
I'll try posting some photos in a bit.

Ben

 

[Brly]

Just a couple from when I was stripping the varnish. There's a handful of broken ribs and some planking that needs replaced. Otherwise, it's in good shape.

 

[Greg Nolan]

It's not quite clear to me how you bent your inwales, or just what your current problem is. When I bent new inwales for my 15' Old Town 50 Pound canoe, I bent them on (above) the old inwales, and wanting to overbend just a bit (figuring that a bit of overbend would be better than underbend), I put some spacing sticks between the old and new inwales when clamping the steamed wood in place:

This picture was of a dry run before steaming in place in a poly tube -- for more on how I proceeded, see:
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12999-STEAM-BENDING-IN-A-POLYETHYLENE-TUBE-part-1
But clamping wood this way that has just been steamed in a box would work as well

The result was not an exact fit, but a fit good enough that it could be held in place properly shaped with a couple of clamps:

However, overbending is not necessary. When demonstrating steam bending in a poly tube at the 2016 WCHA Assembly, we just bent the new outwale exactly in place:

It is my understanding that Old Town and other builders including contemporary did (do) not steam gunwales when building a new canoe. The inwales were bent cold and dry into the building form, and the ribs were bent over the forms and inwales and tacked into place.
Note the inwale clamped in one of Jerry Stelmok's canoe forms, with ribs tacked on:

and again, on a canoe being built in Rollin Thurlow's shop:

On a new canoe, the outwale is fixed in place, also cold and dry, after the canoe is off the form and the canvas has been placed and filled.

However, when repairing/restoring and old and usually flexible hull, and working without a hull form, steaming the gunwales is a good idea. But your bent inwale does not have to be an exact fit -- the inwale is flexible, and "close" should be good enough, if you can get it properly in place without too much effort.

I also figure that having a bit of extra length on the gunwale when bending is a good idea -- it gives both a margin for error, and a handle for working with before and during fitting, until trimmed to exact length at the final fitting.

 

[Brly]

Greg, thanks for the detailed reply. The ends of the original inwales are rotten and broken off, I would estimate 3 or 4 inches, so I didn't have anything to clamp against to draw the tips of the new inwales up. The Otca has a higher bow and stern than a guide or similar. However, seeing your setup helps. I think I'll take them off and re-clamp on top of the old inwales and see if I can over bend some.

 

[Just1moredave]

It might be worth scarfing a temporary piece to the old inwales just to give you more to clamp to. It would just have to be close to the right curve, which you could do with a spokeshave.

 

[Brly]

I took new inwales off and clamped them to the top, as Greg's post suggested. I put a stick across the old inwales with the new going over it and then heated them with a heat gun just in the area where I needed more bend. It seems to have done the trick. When I do the other end, I'll clamp them on top right out of the steam box and hopefully not have to do any additional tweaking.