Securing Planks to Stem Post

[acaron41120]

I have built a few ships but this is my first with a, how to say it, a blunt bow. I can get the plank to fit at the deck line and all the bulkheads are fared.

What I don't know how to do is how/to what to secure the plank to the stem post. Do I use a clamp, push pin or what? All my other ships had a pointed bow

and securing the planks to the bow was not an issue. So far the blunt bow is being a bear! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Oh!

Wood glue or super glue the plank to the steepest as well

[druxey]

Can you post a photo of the exact situation? Then we can give the best advice.

[Jim Rogers]

I use clamps like these in the photo available from MicroMark.
 

Lining off your hull, marking it in battens, Soaking or steaming the planks, pre bending and letting dry on a form shaped like you bow is always a successful way to do a blunt bow. Check Chuck’s planking primer on You Tube it is a big help. Good luck. Take your time.

[wefalck]

By 'securing' you probably mean 'holding in place until the glue has set' ?

 

That may be only one issue. Or rather, if this is a serious issue then you may be missing the rabbet in the stem post ? Once there is a proper rabbet against which the planks can land, they may be already more or less locked into place, making clamping simpler.

 

An additional strategy will be to water and heat the planks and then to clamp them until dry into a jig that has a similar curvature as the place where they are supposed to go. Such pre-bend planks will be easier to fit and require less force, when fitted finally.

[acaron41120]

I didn't cut a rabbet on the stem post because the kit uses a very thin piece on the stem and stern posts. But it's way to thin. I think I'll file a triangle groove along of the edge of the thin piece on the stem post and then fabricate a thicker piece for the stem post at the forward edge of the rabbet. 1/4 inch thick should do it.

[Chuck Seiler]

Billings Boats has a Santa Maria?

[wefalck]

Allen, you should check the thickness of the stem and keel of your prototype. If the kit supplied one is too thin, you may want to double them up with thin layers of veneer. By making the inside profile smaller by the amount of the thickness of your planking, you can 'fabricate' a rabbet, rather than cutting it into the existing material.

[acaron41120]

Chuck. Billing Boats HAD a Santa Maria (Kit number 488) but it has been since discontinued. I lucked out and found this one AND Billing Boats Golden Hind on eBay. Also found the Mayflower there as well. I'm used to Billing's kits is all.

 

Wefalck. I am fabricating new stem and stern post pieces to keep from having to hack away at both posts. Original piece was 1/16 inch thick veneer and I'm making mine out of 3/16 inch Obeeche (sp) planking thats about 10mm wide. That should hold the planks really well. Do you suggest I make a couple for the keel as well?

 

[wefalck]

I gather that depends on whether you think that you'll need a rabbet there as well. Presumably yes. Also, typically, the keel is as wide or wider than the stem- or stern-post.