KeithAug
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Thank you John. Planker's Progress 8 - Day 19. Two days have gone by but only one day was in the shipyard. I started by cutting and shaping the the keel piece, its tapers in both planes. The piece I made to hold the bottom rudder bearing turned out to be too narrow so I remade it. The next photo shows a test assembly - not glued at this stage.. I drilled a hole to take the brass rod that will fit through the rudder tube. Better drilled at this stage on the mill rather than freehand later. I then glued the keel pieces in place while the brass rod was in position to maintain alignment. In the next photo I have already planed the attached keel pieces to roughly the correct size. Sometimes I just have to stop and a have a tidy up. The workshop had got into quite a sate and it took a couple of hours to recover it. I used double sided tape to stick a paper sanding guide to the bottom of the keel before completing the shaping. Sometimes the camera flash catches the mahogany at just the right angle to reveal its inner lustre. I now need to have a go at the bulwarks. You will remember from earlier posts that I have been worrying about this for some time. The shaping at the stern is still looking a bit challenging. Anyway that's a task for tomorrow and its now Pizza time.
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Planker's Progress 7 - Day 18. Only a little progress today but significant in that the last of the hull planking went on. That is not to say that the planking is entirely finished as I still have the bulwarks to do. I got past the bulb at the front of the keel and that tricky task is now history. The final plank was a closing piece which required a deal of sanding and fitting and sanding and fitting and sanding and fitting - took quite a while to get it right. Then it was a case of sorting out the shape of the bottom of the rear of the keel. I By this stage the residual section was only about a planks width and I decided the best bet was to lop it off which I did with block plane. I will cut a piece of mahogany to replace this area - but that will be tomorrow.
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Thank you Pat. Vossie, I think I have misled you. Its 17 days since I started planking. Its about 10 weeks since I started the build. Any way I always slow down over the summer.
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Dan - I think they look fine - however in the past when I have needed mushroom shaped domes I have used plastic screw caps (dirt cheap on eBay and come in many sizes).
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Dan - Wish I had such sophisticated tools. Enjoyed the update - as ever. Lovely work.
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Planker's Progress 6 - Day 17. It is 3 days since my last update and progress continues at a modest rate. Those of you who are getting board will be pleased to hear that I am nearer the finish than the start. As I approach the keel bulb I have to start thinking ahead. Some time back I said I would have to sort out the unrealistically sharp keel. I started by lopping of the tip and cutting a piece of mahogany which was a bit thicker and had the extension to hold the bottom bearing of the rudder. I progressed up the keel towards the bulb - gradually finding the planking more difficult at the rounded front end. I started to find the planks were too stiff to wrap around the bulb and had to resort to heat bending. Eventually even this wasn't working and the next step was to use narrower planks - .055" thick by .090" wide while also continuing with the heat bending. Using the narrower planks slowed progress somewhat as two and half planks were now required where previously one had been used. The narrower planks were not tapered as by now I had eliminated the excess planking area at the rear of the keel. I should have explained earlier that I was chamfering all the plank edges to eliminate any plank to plank gaps. Having got this far my last job for today was to see how the remaining planks would fit. I put a few off cuts in place and satisfied myself that I was up to the task before retiring to the comfort of my armchair to enjoy the smell of the fish pie wafting in from the kitchen.
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Mark - both look interesting and one is interesting and strange. I look forward to the decision.
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hello Vaddoc - I just came across you build - not sure why I took so long to find it. Very nice work. I have a question about your hoops if that is OK. What was the thickness of the walnut strip before bending into the hoop?
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Kortes Please tell me more about your sail cloth. Did you pull threads out of the material and then weave in thicker treads to create the impression of seams?
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Looking good Mark - and nearly finished. Any thoughts on there next build?
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Patrick I read OKTO and thought "oh no not another space cruiser". So I had to look it up. I was pleased to see it looked somewhat like a boat.
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Eberhard - yes I agree, when the planking gets too difficult i'll lop off the remaining un-planked area and revert to carving - I just like the challenge of seeing how far I can get with the planking. Thank you Phil.
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Very impressive.
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Bedford - That is how I did it last time so it is an option. It would just be sort of neat to be able to plank it. I may chicken out though.
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So its 14 days since I started. No dramas in the last couple of days but I didn't get a lot of time in the workshop. As I start to progress up the keel I need to sort out the cut away for the screw. In the corner it has a tight curve. I took a strip of mahogany .2" thick and used the side of a 5mm end mill to thin it down - thus creating the required corner radius - see next photo. I cut the thinned section off just behind the radius before gluing it on to the horizontal surface. A piece plank was then used to clad the vertical section before sanding back to match the keel profile. I will round off the sharp edges when I do the final hull sanding. I continued up the keel filling the back of the keel with stealers as I went. At the present time I have virtually filled the excess and the planks are now running true and virtually parallel with the deck. 116 planks have been laid. You can see the wedge planks in the next photo if you look hard. I took stock and measured the remaining area to be planked at the front and back of the keel. I will now complete the next section of planking using taper planks with a 2:1 taper. Fortunately the hull is now short enough to take single plank lengths. I also need to start thinking about how to plank the "bulb" of the keel where once again the changes in radius are pronounced. Bedford - thanks for the vote of confidence - I ,may need to draw on it when I get to planking the bulb. Vossie / Druxey - I would actually call it a Mole "WRENCH" but what's in a name.
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Paul Actually the clothes peg (which has rubber pads) was the first clamp. Unfortunately the spring was weak and the mole grips just happened to be handy. They are the middle size of a set of 3.
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Further to the above comment I needed to accurately cut some planks to a taper of specific width and length (the measurements are taken from the hull). I do have a rip mitre gauge for the saw but I thought I would share the following method which I find easier and quicker. I set up the saw to cut the plank to the maximum width of taper needed. I then cut the plank to width. Having done this I then cut the plank to the length of taper needed. As I usually need 2 tapers (one for each side) I stick 2 planks together using double sided tape. Without changing the width of cut on the saw I then slot out the end of a piece of scrap. Having done this I create a notch using a hand saw. I then place the plank against the notch and use a push stick to apply side pressure to hold it in place while pushing the plank into the blade using the notched stick. I end up with 4 tapers - 2 correctly sized and 2 slightly smaller (because of the blade width). I know stealers are not supposed to come to a sharp point but I find they work fine on this type of hull. And so I proceed to plank.
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