deck treenail pattern

[aohneland]

Hello community,

 

here is a picture of the deck pattern of a ship (here the Triton). My question is which treenail pattern was used in the area of the beam arms? Was it like I suppose in the picture or otherwise.

 

Thank you for your posts!

 

Max

[aohneland]

The thin black lines shall represent the deck planks, the dots the treenails (in the way I suppose). Can't anyone imagine how it was done? Or is my qustion unclear? It only belongs to the curved blue deck beams, the rest of the deck is clear to me.

 

Thank you

 

Max

[mtaylor]

Max,

 

I think your answer is very viable.  

[druxey]

The pattern you've drawn looks reasonable. However, a real deck was not treenailed: metal spikes were used and the heads countersunk. The hole above the head was plugged with wood whose grain went the same direction as that of the plank. The result was almost invisible.

[Jaxboat]

Druxey< Interesting factoid about how decks were installed. Any reason planks were trenield and decks spiked?

Best

Jaxboat

[overdale]

Druxey< Interesting factoid about how decks were installed. Any reason planks were trenield and decks spiked?

Best

Jaxboat

My guess would be that most of the time, planks would be wetter than decks and the wet treenails would swell making them tighter. 

Edited September 13, 2016 by overdale

[druxey]

Treenail end grain would absorb moisture and promote rot.

[Jaxboat]

Fascinating! And the amazing thing is there was no "research" as such. Everything was learned through the accumulation of experience over the generations.

Best

Jaxboat

[aohneland]

Thank you for your thoughts and answers. An overview about the topic "Deck Planking" can give you the articleof the MSB Journal  (July 2013). But it is an overview and has no annotations about such details I was interested in.

 

So, thanky you again!