thibaultron

Thank you wefalck for your help. But please tell me if we speak in terms of bulkheads and not frames would it be correct to say: the shorter plank distance is between 2 bulkheads?

Not in metres or feet - one has to think in terms of where it can/needs to be fastened. I don't think a plank shorter than then distance between three frames (or deck beams) would be feasible due to alingment and caulking problems.

I wonder how short can the shortest plank (SP) be. Is there a rule to it? If a ship has average planks of 18 feet*, how short can its SP be? 6 feet? Thats ca. 30% of the avarege plank, that will do or is it rather too small?
 
* of course its a question again how this avarage plank is derminated or better.... how long can an avarage plank be?

Thank my friend you are very helpfull

They should probably have a backing plate if the joint is between frames. Which is where I would put the joint. Thre are a lot of different problems to overcome when planking. Wefalcks photos are the proof though.

Since when are all hull plank joints scarfed? That's not the case, only drop planks and stealers were scarfed as far as I know, rest were butt joints always over frames.

I gather the question of butt-joints or scarfs depends on how close the frames are spaced and how wide the frames are. If you have double-frames, just a few centimetres apart, you can put a butt-joint just between them without fear that the hull-movement would open the joint or a spike too close to the plank end would split it. If you have wider spaced frames - in my example above they are about 30 to 40 cm apart, you have to make the seam longer and more in line with the run of the planing, i.e. make a scarf, in order to accomodate differential movements of the planks without allowing gaping seams. The scarfs are placed with both ends on frames and no doubling behind is used, at least on Zanzibar. The frames would be too narrow to drive two spikes through next to each other and at a distance that would be safe for the plank ends. Butt-joint would be structurally unsound in this case.
 
It all is a question of the size of the available materials vs. the size of the boat/ship.

Look at page 25 of this pdf 
http://www.maritimearchaeology.dk/downloads/Full thesis bates.pdf
 
and :
 

If you go directly to Google Translate https://translate.google.com/?sl=la
 
You can type or paste in the web address, and it will translate the entire page.

If you go directly to Google Translate https://translate.google.com/?sl=la
 
You can type or paste in the web address, and it will translate the entire page.

If you go directly to Google Translate https://translate.google.com/?sl=la
 
You can type or paste in the web address, and it will translate the entire page.

So enjoyable watching this progress Frank !

Great, looking forward to more pics. No such thing as too many pics of Fokker aircraft. Well at least the E series and the F.1/Dr.I and the D.VII, in between were some really horrible aircraft before they moved to the thick airfoil section.

Thanks Darrell. I'm still up in the air over that. I made the decision to just follow the instructions and they have the stem & stern after planking. I can see your point. The downside is somehow I managed to break several plank ends right where they extend over the first frame at the bow. I'm going to have to cut those planks somewhere and add some shorties to replace so that they reach to the stem again. Had I installed the stem they probably would not have broken. Sadly the kit doesn't provide enough of these hull planks to cut out the whole strake.
 
In noticing that I also realized that I did not break the strakes up into individual planks - something I like to do. Just one of those moments I guess.

Looking good Mike.
 
Not adding the stern post and stem will greatly help you to sand the planking ends and shape the curves. I think that was a good call. I wish I had waited to add my stern post until after I planked my Niagara.  It was in the way and I nicked it repeatedly when I was sanding the end of the stern planks. Rabbit or not, I think I could have done a cleaner job by adding it after planking.
 
 

I'm sure it would look better with filler blocks. Unfortunately I have about 2/3 covered with the 2nd planking now. There's a slight bend right where the plank goes over the first and last frame but I think most people would not see it. Sanding has smoothed it out some.

If you wind up needing it, you could fill in the space between the ends of the 1st layer plank and the keel piece with blocking, then put the 2nd planking over the blocking.  Niagara, I believe, uses blocks to fill in at the bows so the plank has something to lay on and help shape it.

I've finished both bench coamings and I must say they add to the look a lot. It also gave me a chance to realign the benches on both sides so that looks better as well.
 
I've been complaining a lot about knocking the frame tips  off the upper deck as I plank. So much so that I gave up gluing them back on - until now. I decided to add the bulwarks which are supported by the frame tips. So I glued them back on, then faired them for the bulwark which is a single 1mm x 5mm plank laid above the sheer strake. So this was essentially like laying another plank. This feature also adds to the look and the deck is starting to take shape.
 

 

 

 
 
 
There are 2 layers for the bulwarks. The first runs from the bow, down the deck and ends at the stern. The second is going to be a bear. It starts out the same at the bow but you don't glue it to the last frame tips at the stern. Instead you let them extend past the stern and they will be the support for a stern platform behind the rudder. It was pointed out early on in this log that the existence of such a platform was debatable. When they pulled up what is believed to be the Allen, that part of the boat was gone so no one can say for sure if the Lake Champlain galleys had this structure. Some of the galleys used on the eastern seaboard did have the platform and I imagine this is where Amati got the idea.
 
At any rate, the instructions are quite vague on building the platform. There are a few pre-cut parts but it appears that some must be made. There is a grate right in the middle of it all. The plans are no help as all they show is the finished structure. I'm gonna have to think on this one a while.

Mark - I've been thinking that all along. I was pretty happy with the first layer, not sure what the wood is but it could have been stained darker. The one big problem is the sticks for the first planking were not long enough to run from stem to stern. I had to start them at the first frame and stop them at the last frame.
 

As thin as the 2nd planking is, maybe it's better to not do it?  I went the other way on my Wasa... added a second layer of paper thin planks.  Unnoticeable.   

Planking continues. I'm still finding those 0.5mm sticks hard to work with. I decided to take a break from that and do some deck work. Discovered a pretty glaring oversight. The Italian instructions show a pic of this, no idea whether it's mentioned in the text. The English instructions don't mention it.
 
Regarding the bench seating, I had wedged each bench into place right behind and above the preceding footrail. WRONG! There is a coaming of sorts that is supposed to go around the entire rowing section and the benches are supposed to go on top of that. This raises the benches up some which I suppose would have been a good for the oarsmen. The way I had done it, I was always laughing thinking a guy would have his boots on the butt of the guy behind him. Not any more. It just looks better too.
 

 

 

 
Fortunately I was able to salvage the benches, sand off the glue and reuse them. A good thing - there is not a lot of extra walnut in this kit.
 
 

Now into planking round 2. I have not added the stem or stern post. I'll just have to wait and see how that works out. Was wrong about the 2nd planks they are pretty thin. At first I thought they would be easy to lay - the first 2 under the sheer strake I did not shape at all and they went on easily. Same for the "garboard". Then I went thru the same routine as before, marking the bands. The frames are all covered up now so I drew some lines from the keel up to the sheer strake. Still using the dividers I began to measure inside the bands in order to shape the planks. Then I had to cut/file the strips and that's where the fun started. The strips are 3mm x 0.5mm walnut and they don't cut worth a darn. Several have split and this is the one set of sticks where there are few extras. Resorting to just pressing down with a knife which works OK but then they are too flimsy to sand. It took 30 minutes to complete 4 strakes.
 
On the positive side, planking over a first layer is quite easy. I've been used to gluing sticks to frames. Now I can put glue anywhere along the run.
 
I guess overall, I prefer a single layer. Doing a 2nd layer is too much like rework. And I HATE rework.

Joel - I'm really thinking of getting out of order here and adding the stem & stern post before the last planking. If not, I'm uncertain how I would get the planks at the bow & stern to be the proper length.
 
Probably would add a rabbet as well.  The sticks for the 2nd planking are full thickness walnut. Bending them at the bow & stern will be necessary and I'm thinking having something for the ends to 'bite' into would be helpful.
 
I just couldn't figure out if there was some meaningful reason why the pieces would be added after planking.

It should work as long as you leave a flat surface for the stem, stern and keel.  It'll basically look like normal construction.  Do a little sketch to check out the concept.

First planking is complete. If anyone is counting, I did have to do a stealer on the other side as well. It didn't come out quite as tight as the first one but it will do. I think I'm going to put the planking tools away for a while and work on the deck items.
 
One BIG question. As I mentioned previously, the order of steps in the instructions are 1st plank, 2nd plank, THEN add the stern post and stem. Does this make sense to anyone? Planking without a rabbet?