Adhering the Deck

I glued the deck on the other day. I made at least one small error that I detected a little too late. I didn't quite have the center line of the deck matched up with the keel. It's off about a 1/2 inch near the tail but eventually gets corrected by the the nose. I can definitely see the misalignment, especially with the book-matched knots on the deck that are located near the rail. The knots on one side will be closer to the rail than the other side. Fortunately, the wax on the deck will obscure it a little and I won't have to think about it every time I see it.

I was a little anxious about gluing the deck, for fear that it might crack. I live in the high desert and there is almost no humidity. The deck had been sitting out for over a year and I'm sure it was extremely dry and perhaps even brittle. I thought of an idea to reconstitute the moisture in the deck. I brought the board into one of the bathrooms, along with a pot of water and a camp stove. I boiled the water and created a steam room, letting the board sit in there for about four hours. I took the deck out of the makeshift steam room and glued it on. Other than the aforementioned mishap, the deck looks great and cracked ever so slightly in only one location. An easy fix with Titebond and saw dust.

Everyone talks about the number of clamps required for this project, and they always sound like they are exaggerating. They're not. I used 80 clamps when gluing on the deck! Sixty three inch clamps, 20 two inch clamps and 15 slats on the rocker table. I could have probably used more clamps.