Deck Plank Size

[rlundy90]

What would be the prototypical width and length for deck planks on a 17th century ship? I can't seem to find any info about this. Thanks in advance. Ron

 

[allanyed]

For the late 17th century, there is a wealth of detailed information in Richard Endsor's book The Restoration Warship.   There are drawings,  a scantling list from the 30 ship program, and more.  He did a huge amount of research and the amount of information is immense.    

 

For more details on the deck planks, what size ship and which deck are you looking for?  For the gun deck as an example, a seventy from the 30 ships program had waterways 6.5" thick, 14.5" in breadth.  The rest of the gundeck plank to the hatchway was 4" thick.  Between bitts and main partners, 3" thick.   Hatchway plank was 2" thick.  There were two spikes in each beam and 2 treenails in each ledge.  The upper deck planking was reduced in thickness as were the decks above.

 

Hope this helps a little.

 

Allan

 

[rlundy90]

Thanks Allan. What I am looking for is more the length and width of the planking, so that I know what size to cut planking for my Norske Love model. Good to know the thickness as well though. Thanks for the reply. Cheers, Ron.

[allanyed]

Ron

 

I looked for a Norske Love to get a better idea on the year, but cannot find a Norske love from the 17th Century.  I found two from the 18th century including the Norske Love 1765 kit by Billings.  If this is your model, any information from 17th century ships I gave may be inappropriate for such an 18th century ship.  The information I have is for a British ship not a Scandinavian ship so may be off anyway. 

 

Regardless, here goes if anyone is interested in an English ship from the late 17th century......    I cannot find if the following are based on contempary drawings, scantlings, documents or the wreck, but looking at the deck plans for Lenox in The Restoration Warship, the planks for the gundeck are 14" wide at midships. The upper deck about 11.5" at midships.  The lengths vary but are about 30 feet long.  The shift shown is a 3 butt pattern for the most part.  The Orlop deck planks do not shift as they are laid on the recess cut into the top edges of the beams and all appear to be about 12" wide.   Quarter deck and poop deck planks appear to be 9" wide at their respective  forward ends and taper to about 6" at the aft end. The taper will depend on the athwartships dimension differences at each end.  The forecastle planks are 9" wide at their aft end and taper appropriately.  There is no joggling of planks on these three decks.  There is no appearance of anchor stock planking on the outboard planks of the gun decks as found in later periods. The Norske Love could very well have had anchor stock planking on the outboard 3 or 4 strakes.  

 

Allan

[rlundy90]

Thanks Allan. That is what I was looking for. All the best, Ron.

[allanyed]

My pleasure Ron. 

 

Just keep in mind those are dimensions for 17th century and Norske Love is 18th century so these dimensions may not be correct.

 

Cheers