First, a bibliography of boat fix-up books.
Yacht Craftsman's handbook , Garth Graves
Boatbuilding, H. Chappelle
This old boat, Don Casey
Boatbuilding Manual, Robert Steward
Sensible Cruising Designs, LF Herreshoff (The how-to-build sections)
The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Constuction

You'd assemble the thing in one swell foop. Counterbore so the nuts can be covered
with bungs, then drill the holes for the cross-bolts a bit oversize. First, assemble
it dry , to make sure things are aligned OK. Then, take it apart, cover the room with
plastic film, banish the dog, mix your epoxy with a little thickener [WEST #403,
milled cotton, 'flox', all the same], anoint all parts liberally with the epoxy mix,
assemble it and tighten the nuts only gently.

You might also float an inquiry on the message board of the CD 28 powerboat group

orbital wrote:

I'm still convinced that cross-bolts are needed here. The several
descriptions in my boatbuilding books of the construction of bow planks all
specify cross-bolting. There will be times when this plank is very heavily
loaded, like when you run the boat into something large and immoveable and when
the boat is on the anchor/mooring in a storm. The Cape Dory 28 is too good a
boat to lose to half-baked 'improvements'.

Can you recommend a good book for me to pick up that details the
construction of a bow plank or pulpit? I certainly want to do it
right. That is exactly why I appealed to this group for advice.

Jamestown and others have SS and bronze threaded rod. I'd do maybe one 5/16"
cross-bolt per foot of plank length. Counterbore for the ends of the
cross-bolts and bung 'em. The rods will be a big help in aligning and clamping
the assembly. For appearance, use epoxy, not resorcinol. If securely bolted, a
non-impervious finish is OK. If not, moisture will gradually open the glue
joints.

So, this would mean that I would have to glue up all the pieces in one
shot as opposed to a few strips at a time in order to put nuts on the
ends of the threaded rods, tighten the nuts and clamp it all?

I think I am pretty convinced that Epoxy is the way to go for this.

If you insist and are expecting cross-grain strength from the dowels, don't use
the grooved ones. The groove significantly reduce the effective diameter of the
dowel. Instead, just plane a flat into the side of the dowel before cutting the
dowel up. That'll allow the excell glue and air to exit.

I have actually had been leaning towards using bronze wood screws to
line up and attach the wood pieces while glueing over pegs. I was
wondering if this would give the lateral strenght necessary.

The geometry of anchor rollers is sometimes hard to figure out. I suggect that
you get the anchor and make a propotype plank with 2x construction lumber to see
if the anchor clears the stem by just enough.

Have you contacted the builder for his recommendation? Andy Vavelotis now owns
Robinhood Marine in Robinhood, ME.

This is a good idea and I have sent out some emails to see if I can
get some feedback from them.

Do it right,
Jim

RG wrote:

It has been stated clearly here...but I would re-iterate it...If you use the
dowels method..be CERTAIN that you use the GROOVED dowels. You need the
groove to allow the excess glue a chance to get back out of the holes. I did
a project once, and used regular doweling material ( non-grooved) and
puzzled forever why I couldn't camp the material easily. Seems like
something was forcing it apart. It was the excess glue trapped in the bottom
of the glue holes!!!

RichG