Rainy Day Post

Original joint glued and pegged

Just a quick little post. The joint we did at the prow of the boat split apart today.
Obviously not strong enough though I am still at a bit of loss to understand why it came apart. It's a half-lapped joint withs lots of glue on it and four bamboo pegs (pre-drilled). The wood was dry when we put it together and we did a good job on the half lapping of the joint. The glue by itself should have really held it so I am thinking that because we didn't clamp it from top and bottom and wedged it instead from the sides, that the glue never really had a chance to bond.

The same joint a few days later...

 I would have thought that the oak breasthook would have held it besides that but it crept away from that enough to make a big difference at the pointy end. Will probably have a go at getting it back to where it's meant to be in the next couple of days and more than likely put a second breasthook/re-enforcing plate over bottom of the joint. Might not end up lookin that pretty but at this stage it's a bit too late for pretty and not having the front of the boat split apart on us is a wee bit more important! Still have no clue what method is normally used as I can't figure out what's going on from the pictures I have..

Onwards and upwards...