I had the most work at the bow and stern 3 feet back, middle was easy when joining haul to deck seam.

Hi Rehd & Roy,

: I wouldn't spend the money for a bisquit cutter just for this. And yes, the
: dowels must have a stright virtical pull or you are going to have a lock.
: So the fewer carefully placed ones you use the better. You have to be very
: selective where you place your dowels and use as few as possible. Too many
: many can spell trouble getting all of them to align. That is the reason I
: said I would taper them to a point with only about 1/8" full dia. for
: seating. That way you have some room to move the haul and deck around
: getting the pins to drop into the holes. I will be the stalking horse on
: this to see if it can work. I have dropped the idea of using bronze
: welding rods for my pins because of the possibility of sanding into them,
: so I will use 1/8" dow pins. If they don't work, just cut them off. I
: will probable make a very simple dowel jig but it must be aligned fairly
: straight up and down when you drill your hole. Because you are using only
: 1/8" of the surface of the actual dia. of the dow pin it will be very
: hard to get into a locking situation even if you are off virtical
: somewhat. Doweling on a 1/4" thick strip isn't going to be simple
: either.

: John