KeithAug

Planker's Progress 3. Michael / Pat - thank you for the feedback. Another 2 days gone by so that makes it 6 days since I started. I am still progressing with the easier planks i.e. those where the curvature is relatively gentle. I don't need to do any heat or steam bending at this stage. The most awkward aspect is the twist that occurs as the planks turn from the more vertical side on to the more horizontal stern. You can see the twisting region below the 7 pins towards the right hand side of the photograph below. The stern planks are progressing quite neatly. I am taking care to eliminate any potential gaps between the planks. I also used circles on the bow to ensure symmetry. It is more obvious in the following photo how the circles assist with this task. The flat keel line will be covered by a keel plank before sanding to a "sharp" line. Finally a side view of a section of planking - pleasingly gap free.

Plankers progress 2. Days 3 and 4 were reasonably productive. To keep things symmetrical I dew a series of circles on the underside of the stern. As I planked I checked that the plank intersection with the circles were mirror images on each side. Slight adjustments were made by sanding the appropriate plank edges as part of the chamfering process. I I also did the circle trick on the underside of the bow. Progress looks better than it actually is - I estimate I am a little under 1/3 of the way through. My circles on the stern however are disappearing at a pleasing rate. The side view gives a better impression of progress. The stern view shows that I am not following the previously drawn (parallel to deck) lines. I am finding that my guess that I need to taper the planks at the stern by half their width is proving to be about right. About one plank in 5 is going in as a parallel plank. At the bow I need less taper and every other plank seems to want tho be parallel. I'm expecting the next few days to see some disruption. I have been left "Home Alone" to look after the dog. Progress may be slow.

Stunningly precise work.

Pat, I'm not sure that it is the grain direction. As I am using salvaged mahogany it could just be that this was on the surface and over the years had become encrusted in grime and is contrasted by the freshly cut planks on either side. It is in a position that I was planning to paint so I think it will be alright.

I am calling the next series of posts "The Plankers Progress" - Chaucer is probably turning in his grave. I am going to try to post this as I progress to give an idea of my (slow) progress. Here goes with the first 2 days of achievement:- Before starting the planking I gave the hull a coat of one part PVA one part water. I did this to seal the balsa and give a better foundation for gluing the planks. Once dry i gave the hull a light sanding to remove the raised nap Before starting I estimated the number of planks I needed. This turned out to be a bit disconcerting - circa 150 nearly all of which need to be shaped. I thought of the guy estimating the bricks for the great wall of China and decided that my task wasn't that bad after all. I started at the deck level with 2 parallel planks and then it was into tapering all 4 planks in each layer. The bulwark planks will be added once the hull planking is complete. At the stern I attached a "keel" plank as an abutment for the hull planks as they curve and twist towards the stern. `The slight curve at the rudder end of the keel plank was formed after soaking it in boiling waster for a couple of minutes. Because of the narrowness of the stern it didn't take many planks before the I was cutting the plank ends at a fine angle to abut the keel plank. The angle was established by laying the plank on the hull and marking the line with a fine razor saw. Where necessary the angle was corrected with a sanding stick. The plank transition on to the transom was roughly sanded - to be finished once the hull planking is complete. I also did a bit of light sanding of the hull planks to test that they were going to sand flush. I'm not sure why one plank is so dark - hope it will not be a problem later. 2 days progress looks small but inevitably progress was punctuated by drying interludes as each layer of planks dried - allowing the holding pins to be removed. Still a long way to go:-

Hi Valeriy I presume the lower platform is a device for disposing of mutineers?

At least the rudder is going to be simple to make.

Kortes Looking very crisp - as usual.

Gary - thank you for your kind comments. You too may ultimately possess tools of this quality if you save up your pocket money. Michael, Pat, Vossiewolf - thank you for dropping in again.

In preparation for planking I thought I needed a clamp for holding planks while tapering the edges. In the past I have bodged something at the time with varying degrees of success. This time I thought that given the number of planks needed I would construct something little better. The clamp was made from a pine plank of 40" x 3.5" x 1" and a piece of ply 40" x 2" x .250". Both pieces were temporarily stuck together and 7 holes were drilled - 5 holes to take M10 clamping bolts and 2 holes to take 10mm alignment spigots. The top edge of the pine had recesses routed on either edge - one recess was 0.1" by 0.1" to take a pair of .055" x 0.225" planks and the other recess was 0.1" x .05" to take a single 0.55' x 0.225" plank. The clamping bolts and spigots were glued into the pine with epoxy and washers were made from .375" ply. The top surface of the pine is marked in inch divisions to assist when planing different tapers. There clamping nuts are temporary pending a visit to the local hardware store to get some M10 wing nuts. The ply has a sacrificial inner edge glued in place and this is cut to a taper as a guide for the planing of the hull planks. Below are the first 2 tapered hull planks laid temporarily on top of the pine plank. You can see the taper guide plank still in place on the moveable ply jaw. I also slotted out a piece of oak with varying thickness slots to hold the planks while chamfering the edges. A plank is inserted in the nearest slot for chamfering. Chamfering is of course necessary to ensure gaps are eliminated on tight hull curvatures.

Pat - cute little winches - very nicely made.

Very nice work.

Hi Paul. The advantage of this approach is that you eventually end up with twice as much material as you started with. You will be able to sell on the spare and plough the surplus into a workshop central heating system.

Pat All covered here Post 46 and later (although earlier posts are also interesting):-

I tend to save my Byrnes TCT blades for jobs where I need better finishes or want to reduce waste (because of reduced kerf). Where I'm not worried about waste i use these (Amazon):- Needs a bore spacer but avoids complication of larger blade mods described by Kurt.

I use slitting saw blades extensively preferring .031" (0.8mm) wide for slitting hull planking. The only problem I ever get is when I try to push a worm blade beyond its useful life. Fitting a new blade usually transforms the situation.

Eberhard. My current thought is white down to the waterline and mahogany below waterline. I can change my mind however as I just need to plank over the ply with a thin mahogany veneer. I may reconsider as I too like to see the beauty of natural wood. Mark - not quite sure where you are referring to? The only hollow that I could feel was the one I filled. I'm going now to have another look.

Really smart. Well done.

Tony I started with a Billings kit some 30 years ago. I seem to remember building it was fairly "plain sailing" albeit I think the materials supplied were a bit better quality then. Just give it a go, take your time and ask for help. I used to work for BAA at Heathrow - but am now retired. I was one of those people you probably cursed every time Concorde took off.

I finished off the transom. I started by covering with paper the part of the former that I wanted to remove later. This was held in place by double sided tape. The transom was covered with two layers 1/32" ply, these were soaked in boiling water and then held over a former with an elastic band until they set in shape. The two layers were then glued in place . The edges were sanded back to match the hull profile. Because of the shallow angle the plywood layers became very obvious and the attachment area for the planks became quite substantial. In preparation for planking I marked up the hull with lines drawn equi-spaced from the deck line (shear strake). Although I don't expect the planking to follow these lines they will be a good guide to keeping the planking equal on the two sides of the hull. I find that this type of hull shape does not lend itself to the usual approach of segmenting the frames into plank widths. This approach works well where the keel and the shear strake follow "rationally flowing" lines. In the case of Germania (and other similar yachts) the keel line is as bent as a dogs hind leg. I suppose I could establish a "rational" line somewhere near the keel hull intersection by laying on a "naturally"bent plank. The only trouble with this approach is that I can create many different "natural" plank lines - basically it comes down to guessing. My preferred approach is to recognise that that the planks at maximum beam will need to be about twice as wide as the planks at the stern. I put the first 2 planks (shear strake) on each side as parallel planks and the start using tapered planks of 2:1 width ratio. As I proceed with planking I adjust the degree of taper occasionally to ease the degree of "un-natural" plank deformation. I think I will christen my approach the "suck it and see method". In preparation for the planking I cut down a 36" x 3" x .75" plank of antique mahogany into 36" x .75" x .225" strips using the carbide tipped blade on the Byrnes saw. I had decided that the final planks would be .225" wide by .055" thick. I had given much consideration to the final planking size and produced versions of .25" x .065" and .2" wide x .055" before settling on the final size. The heftier plank was rejected as too stiff while the smaller plank increased the number of planks without appreciable benefit in terms of flexibility. I slit off the final planks (.225" x .055") using .031" wide slitting saw blade with zero clearance insert. I got 7 or 8 planks out of each 3/4" wide strip. The planks turned out at .055" +/- .002". Because I don't cut planks very often I forget some of the historic learning points. My slitting saw blade was 3" x .031" x 108 teeth. It struggled on the first few planks - the saw slowed, burnt and produced variable widths. I flipped the planks lengthways and side to side without benefit. Finally I mounted a new blade - what a transformation. What appears to be sharp isn't always!!!!

Kortes - Beautiful deck.

Ah! and an engine starting handle - more fun.

Dan - it actually looks pretty complex to me - maybe your concept of complexity is starting to get a bit warped. She is looking very crisp.

Modern yachts generally have compressed air horns - powered by a disposable air canister. I can confirm they are very loud - particularly when used to raise a weary watch crew on a night sail. Michael - the wheel looks like a fun little job!

yes Michael - I sometimes get strange ideas in my head - like "filler is cheating". Silly really as its going to be buried under planks. John / Pat - thank you.