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Simple Hull Planking Techniques for Beginners

8. Temporary Planking Battens

Temporary planking battens are also referred to as planking bands. The idea of the temporary planking battens is to break the hull into small segments to allow for the correct sizing and shaping of the planks to effectively cover this particular section of the hull. Not all segments or bands will be the same in the shape or number of planks. This is due to the irregular shape of the bulkheads and as such different plank requirements will be needed in the various segments or bands. Bands need to be about 20mm wide, this is not a hard and fast rule but at a narrower width such as this it is a lot easier to calculate and control the planks. A temporary batten needs to be in the order of 3mm X 3mm or 5mm X 1.5mm. The number required will be determined by the size of your particular hull. Bands need to be about 20mm or so wide, this will give good control of the number and shape of planks required to successfully plank your hull. As planks come in various widths depending on your particular kit judge the width of the bands by the plank sizes. Planks at 5mm wide equal a 20mm band width (4 planks X 5=20mm, 4 planks per band). Planks at 3mm wide equal a band 18mm wide (6 planks X 3 = 18mm, 6 planks per band). While this is certainly not critical it is a handy size and easy to control.

Lay the first temporary battens along the bottom of the hull adjacent to the keel. Laying the hull on a soft pillow is a good idea to prevent damage to the top sides while carrying out this step. These battens are the only ones to lay differently to the above rule because this first plank is the odd one out and is called the “Garboard” plank. The shape and cutting of this odd shaped plank will be dealt with later as a separate heading.

Lay this first batten about 10mm from the keel. DO NOT FORCE the batten into position. It must lie where it wants to go without being forced laterally across its width. If it is forced against its natural flow any other planks cut to this shape will also cause problems when it comes to their laying. Space the other battens as mentioned before at the calculated width to suit your particular planking. Again lay these battens in a natural flow try to obtain something of an equal spacing particularly at the stem and stern areas if possible. If this can’t be obtained do not worry unduly as other methods can be used to break up the pattern and thereby reduce the number of planks going to the problem section. These methods will be dealt with later in a separate section.

Figure 9:

This figure shows a suggested layout of the temporary battens at the stem and stern. It can be seen that not all sections will or can be the same width at any given point and as such a greater or lesser number of planks will be used to cover these sections.

Figures 10 & 11, 11A & 11B:

When the temporary battens are fixed into place and you are satisfied that they are all lying naturally and gracefully along the hull and that there are no undue bends or bumps in the flow it is now time to take some measurements and go onto calculate the number and width of the planks required. Now it gets interesting as this is going to determine how your planked hull is going to look.

At this stage I might point out that we are probably going to double plank the hull as per most kits directions. However it is the intention to show you the correct way to plank a hull as if it was a single planked hull. The reasoning behind this is that if the initial 1^st planking is done correctly then the 2^nd planking will virtually fall into place without any real problems. If the 1^st planking is wrong then the 2^nd planking must be carried out from the start of this planking project to get it right. So it stands to reason if the 1^st planking is right then the 2^nd will usually be a breeze.

The battens should be laying the same on both sides of the hull. That is the spacing of the battens either side of the hull should be a mirror image of each other. This will ensure that both sides of the hull when completed are identical when viewed at the stem or stern.

Mark the position on the bulkheads where the battens intersect with a sharp pencil. Do this to all batten intersections on both sides of the batten and to both sides of the hull. When this is complete remove the battens completely.

With a dark marker pen or pencil make a mark exactly in the centre of the batten positions where they were laying on the bulkhead. This will give you one mark to work from on each bulkhead band rather than two where the batten used to lay. It is much easier than having to add or subtract half the width of the batten from your calculations as you advance. Figure 10 shows you what you should have regarding the markings mentioned above.

Commence at the second band as in, the first is the garboard plank band and will be dealt with later. If you wish to start with the garboard plank move to that section now and come back to this section later after the garboard has been cut and fitted.

Using masking tape or reasonably stiff paper card carefully place the card at the first marking on the bulkhead away from the keel as in figure 11. Lay the card around the bulkhead and on the card mark the 2^nd position of the planking band. Measure this distance on the card with a ruler and transfer the measurement to the graph shown in figure 11A. This measurement should appear in the lower left hand box 2^nd from the bottom if working from the stern, I might point out that it is easier working from the stern to the stem. Moving forward in the same band, mark on the tick-strip the width of this band at bulkhead number 7. Again measure this tick strip marking and again transfer it to the graph at the second box from the bottom of the graph at number 7 bulkhead. Carry out this operation on all bulkheads on either side. You will obviously need two separate graphs to record all the band measurements for both sides of the hull.

From the graph divide the first measurement where you started by the width of the kits planks. Say this measurement was 15mm and the kits planks are 5mm. Therefore 3 planks will be required to fill this space exactly. However say this first measurement was 12mm. Obviously 3 X 5mm planks aren’t going to fit evenly into a 12mm band.

So some tapering of the planks is going to be required of at this point. As 12mm divided by 3 = 4, this gives us a plank width of 4mm. Again referring to the graph the next band width at bulkhead 7 gives us a width of say 14mm. This also is uneven for our plank widths so again divide this measurement by 3. Still short of an exact width and still the need for some tapering. Move to the graph again to bulkhead 6, this measurement may record as 15mm. OK great, 3 X 5mm planks = 15mm exact no tapering.

On the 3 planks mark the calculated measurements from the graph. On the 1^st plank start at the bottom of the plank, left hand end, mark up 4mm, at the position of bulkhead 7 mark up from the bottom 4.6mm, then at bulkhead position 6 the measurement is the full width of the plank. Take a ruler and join the dots. This is the taper required for one of these planks to fit the space required. You will note the taper only comes off the top of the plank not the bottom. This will give you a straight surface to mate up to with the lower edge of the next plank. Carry out this operation for the remaining two planks. If your tapering is correct and carefully done this band will be filled to the exact measurement at this point.

Note 1: In regard to all of the above you must always remember that the hull is upside down whilst calculating these measurements and in particular when determining which edge of the plank to taper.

Note 2: Any plank should not be tapered to any less than half of its width. If this situation arises a stealer or drop plank should be fitted and will be dealt with under its own separate heading.

Note 3: This is by no means the correct measurement for any particular ship and has been somewhat simplified to give an indication as to how the planking might actually run.

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