Question: planking bluff bows on dutch ship

[Redshirt]

Hello,

i have recently come to wonder about how the extremely bluff prows (and sometimes rear sections) of dutch vessels like the galiot are to be planked correctly.

On most british or frensh vessels a normal plank seems to end on either the stem or the stern (or even both if we use a single plank).

 

On some vessels (like the Master Korabel  St Gabriel at least some planks end in the wales, presumably because of the extreme angels involved.

Is this something specific to certain boats or merely a simplification?

 

added pictures for the Master Korabel St. Gabriel 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Redshirt

[Gregory]

I think I need a picture..

[allanyed]

Hi Red

I really don't know much about Dutch ships, but looking at contemporary drawings I found on line when Googling Dutch galiot, I seen no reason to think the planking would be very different than the French or English.   Regarding the photo of the kit model, keep in mind, some kit makers are not famous for historical accuracy so the planking could just be the Russian's in-house design rather than how it was actually done.   Hopefully some members with Dutch shipbuilding knowledge will give you something more definitive.

 

[wefalck]

Dealing with very bluff bows/sterns and butting of bottom planks against wales or other planks higher up on hull are two different technical resp. geometric issues.

 

If you have a hull with a rather square main cross-section, but relatively sharp ends, the girth amidship is much longer than the length of the rabbet in the stem- or stern-post. This results in a problem when planking: a) if the planks have to have a reasonble width at the ends, they must be very broad in the middle; b) if they have a resonable width amidship, they become two narrow at the ends to fasten them properly. There are two solutions to the problem: you can either work with stealers amidship or you can run some of the planks up to other planks higher up on the hull. This seems to have been a common Dutch practice. Petrejus discusses this issue, for instance, in his book on IRENE on p. 53 ff. (English language version).

 

Bending the planks on these very bluff bows is indeed another technical issue and requires a lot of heat, wedges and tackles ...

 

 

[allanyed]

Red

Check out Ab Hoving's log here at MSW  -  Do a search for "About reconstructing a Dutch fluit" and it should come up.  I did a quick try and it pops right up.  Scroll  through the post and you will see how the planking lays.     

 

 

[Redshirt]

Thanks to everyone for answering my question

I will have a look at Ab Hoving's log.

[amateur]

In Den Helder there is a shipwreck on display showing a very creative use of stealers, fillers, etc. Couple of years ago Ab Hoving posted a series of picsof that wreck on a Dutch forum. Unfortunatedly, I didn't save thosepics, and the forum went down.....

 

Jan

[wefalck]

Butting the upturning planks against a more or less horizontal plank avoids the use of stealers, is more economical in wood and easier to do: if you use stealers, you have avoid them feathering out, rather they to be joggled or hooked into neighbouring planks.

[Roger Pellett]

If you are looking things up, another name for stealers amidships as Wefalck describes are “dropped strakes.”  In this case the stealer amidships is considered to be the strake  but is terminated as it approaches the end of the hull with shorter girth hence a “dropped strake.”

 

Roger

Edited May 20, 2021 by Roger Pellett

[DPK]

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...