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Attaching the stem and keel, before or after planking?


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Stem: In an old ship-modeling book, an author recommends planking the hull first, with the planks extending slightly in front of the bow.  Then he says to saw a gap between the ends of the planks and insert the stem into that gap.

 

Keel: I've seen build logs and videos online that seem to recommend planking the hull first, and then sanding a flat strip along the bottom of the hull to which the keel is attached.

 

What are the merits of these approaches, compared to attaching the stem and keel to the hull before planking? 

Brett D.

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sounds like a case for a need of a quantity of wood filler as I cannot imagine my cutting a straight enough line to result in a good fit

Alan O'Neill
"only dead fish go with the flow"   :dancetl6:

Ongoing Build (31 Dec 2013) - HMS BELLEROPHON (1786), POF scratch build, scale 1:64, 74 gun 3rd rate Man of War, Arrogant Class

Member of the Model Shipwrights of Niagara, Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada (2016), and the Nautical Research Guild (since 2014)

Associate member of the Nautical Research and Model Ship Society (2021)

Offshore member of The Society of Model Shipwrights (2021)

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Brett, may be worth a try, but I agree with Alan, cutting the gap so the planks are all the exact length to fit snuggly into the rabbet of the stem and stern post seems nigh impossible.    I just can't see this working, and if it doesn't,  all the planking would have to come off and be redone with the tried and true method of planking after the stem and stern posts are in place.  Same thing for the keel.  The garboard strake should fit snugly into the rabbet of the keel so if you plank and then sand the bottom flat there will be nothing left of the edge of the garboard to fit into the rabbet.

 

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I gather it also depends on the absolute size you are talking about. Some people use the 'planking-first' strategy on small boats, where it might be difficult to cut a clean rabbet.

 

Having said that, if you don't care about mimicking the real building techniques and are only interested in the appearance, a sort of hybrid strategy can be considered: rather than cutting a rabbet proper, you can put the keel and stem together from two pieces each, being the inbord and the outbord part respectively.

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