Deck planking methods

[allanyed]

After 40 or so years of building wooden ship models, this question came to mind this morning.    How do you lay your deck planks?   

This may be a loaded question, but the reason it came up in my mind, I was looking at a build log and the deck houses, coamings and such were fixed in place before the planking was laid.   I have done this myself, but never seem to get the planks to end up perfectly even port and starboard.  I have tried a few scenarios over the years, and each seems to have advantages and disadvantages.  

 

Currently  I usually lay in three or four strakes of planking starting at the center line and working outboard.     Once the first few strakes are in place I can mark and cut out pieces of the deck at the locations of the hatch and other openings and then fix these coamings, etc. in place before adding the balance of the deck planks.  

 

Alternatively I have laid in the binding strakes first which mark the edge of the hatch openings, but it is a touch more demanding in getting these strakes exactly the same distance from the center line and then there is the situation of filling strakes in between so they are all the same width and fit neatly between the binding strakes.    Even so I like this method for ships with a lot of hatch openings, but not so much for fishing schooners or other vessels with numerous cabin openings and not so many hatch openings.  

 

For large ships, the orlop or  platform decking  is a different situation as the planks are not continuous across the tops of all the beams so have not been as much of a concern.

 

 If anyone has other methods that have been successful for them  I would love to hear about them in my never ending quest to learn more.    

 

I am not suggesting there is right way or a wrong way, I am just curious as to how others go about this and why.

 

TIA

 

Allan

Edited March 22, 2021 by allanyed

[bruce d]

👍 Oh boy Allan, your timing is amazing. Thank you. I have nearly completed thawing out my 'on-hold-for-the -winter' build and planking is on my mind.

I will judge whether my deck is a success or not by the 'invisibility factor' of where hatches, capstans etc. meet the planking. The goal is to avoid hatches and fixtures appearing to sit on top of the deck or look like they are sitting in a cavity cut out of the planks. Also, a symmetrical run of the planks. In other words, the same issues your post raises.

I have a plan but am fully prepared to use the eraser so will be watching this thread.

Couldn't find an emoji of someone rubbing their hands in anticipation, so thanks again.

Bruce

Edited March 22, 2021 by bruce d

[davyboy]

When I planked the main deck of my POB model of Speedwell I had already made the various hatch and grating coamings,also the mast partners. These were pinned in their correct positions,I then planked from the centre outwards following the planking pattern on David Antscherl's plan. This ensured a very good fit of the planks. They were then removed to allow sanding/scraping of the deck planks. Looks good to me,nothing looks worse than deck fittings sitting on top of the planking. 

 

Dave 

Edited March 22, 2021 by davyboy

[Roger Pellett]

Vasa, built by Dutch shipbuilders and launched in 1623 had deck planking laid in an irregular pattern, apparently to best utilize available lumber widths and lengths.  Was this style of construction used by English shipbuilders, and if so when did they adopt planking rules utilizing standard plank widths and butt shifts?

Edited March 23, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[druxey]

Roger; if you look at photos of Mary Rose's deck planking, it's a jigsaw puzzle. Granted, it had been repaired over the years but, like Vasa, the shipwrights minimized wastage back then. I think in British naval yards things became more formalized by about 1700. Certainly contracts and Establishments will tell you more. Parallel planking and nibbed waterways were even later, as powered circular saws replaced handsaws and sawpits. 

[BANYAN]

Hi Allan, I tend to use a wider central 'king' plank and allow for any 'crown' (I think that is what they are called - as in thicker) planks that are called for in way of guns and heavy equipment.  I do work out a butt shift pattern but as you say, often between upperdeck furniture such as companions, hatches, etc, this pattern can go to 'custard'.  Hence, most of my central planks (either side of the king) are measured to fit between the central upperdeck furniture and equipment where possible.  I then start my butt shift working outboard from there to the crown planks, using the shift pattern you discussed on my thread related to 'shift pattern last year (maybe the year before?).    Where possible, I try to make the crown planks fit the pattern but I am not 'governed by that.  Druxy has identified 1700 as a general date for better organisation of the planks , so please note all my builds have been after that date.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Dr PR]

Allan,

 

On my current build I started at the center line as you described, laying the first two planks on either side, and worked outward from there. After a few planks I cut the openings for the masts, hatches and deck house. The deck house and hatches have coamings cut to match the camber.

 

I nibbed the planks into the margin boards. I had never done this before, and to my astonishment they came out symmetrical! It was a lot easier than I had imagined.

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/19611-albatros-by-dr-pr-mantua-scale-148-revenue-cutter-kitbash-about-1815/?do=findComment&comment=603771

 

However, some ships did have a single plank laid along the center line, and sometimes these planks were wider and thicker than the outboard deck planks. Sometimes there were several wide planks at the center with narrower planks outboard.

 

And some smaller ships (schooners, etc.) and boats had a wide center plank and the outboard planks were bent to follow the curvature of the hull and nibbed into the center plank.

 

So you need to know how the planking was laid out for the particular ship you are building.

[allanyed]

Thanks to everyone for their kind responses and explanations.

 

Phil, this was just a general question on how others plank and why but your detailed response is greatly appreciated.   I usually have followed David Antscherl's description in TFFM of starting with the binding strakes along the outboard edges of the coamings that were already in place and found this to work quite well.  I was just wondering about other methods so that the planking stayed symmetrical port and starboard.   The first time I used this method was when we were writing the Euryalus books and I have stayed with this method for POF builds but just wondered about alternatives.  My current project is POB although that should make no difference in the deck planking methods.