18th Century Merchantman Half-Hull Planking Project by Cathead - FINISHED - NRG - 1:48

[Cathead]

This kit was developed by the Nautical Research Guild to teach or improve members' hull-planking skills. As a moderately skilled builder, I decided it would be a good project to force myself to learn best practices and possibly correct poor practices I may have developed. Plus, it seems simpler and more relaxing than my last few builds! Here's the NRG's vision of the final project:

 

 

There are many build logs for this already, but I intend to add my own twist by doing the planking using wood I've harvested and milled myself from my rural property, where I do a lot of timber management. This is the direction I'd like to take my modeling overall, so this will be a good early test of the goal. I have well-cured cherry, walnut, and maple billets on hand and think a mix of those could look really nice on this hull. Right now my idea is to use cherry below the wale, walnut for the  wale, and maple above it. We'll see what happens.

 

Hopefully this is of interest to a few people, but regardless of attendance, I've learned that keeping a build log is a good way to keep myself engaged and organized.

[bobandlucy]

I'm interested! Using your own home-grown wood is a really appealing idea (one that I can't use, unfortunately). A picture or two or trees on your property would be a great addition to this log, in my opinion.

 

Bob

[Cathead]

And here's the first steps. I removed all the keel parts and carefully sanded them to remove laser char, then test-fit them on the plans. I also milled a few test pieces of planking stock, intentionally wider than the actual planking to allow for spiling. The image below shows the keel pieces, basic knife and sanding sticks, and cherry/walnut strips laid out on the plans. After two very large builds, it's really nice to be working on such a compact project.

 

 

I immediately made a small mistake. The fore end of the keel has a slight curve upward to fit into the beginning of the curve of the stem. I accidentally sanded this off, as it's pretty subtle and the rest of the long piece is straight and flat, so I just worked down the whole thing on a flat surface. So when all the pieces are test-fit together, there's a clear gap (circled in red below):

 

 

Oops. I don't think it really matters, though, the rabbet runs through here and it'll be completely hidden. It might weaken the joint slightly, and maybe I'll use some filler when this gets glued together, but overall it doesn't seem like a major issue. A good reminder to be careful and attentive, though.

[Cathead]

Well, Bob, you asked for it. I tried to select "a picture or two" and ended up with a photo essay. There's just a lot of diverse landscapes here and we've put a lot of work into improving the ecology here over the past 15 years. Others are welcome to skim right past this if desired, but it is relevant in the sense that landscape management here is a big part of my life and I'd like to tie my modeling into it.

 

Spring in the creek-bottom garden below the house. I built the shed at right from wood cut and milled here; all fence wood is the same.

 

 

The only way in is over a bedrock creek crossing. When the water's up, we stay home. We're surrounded in three sides by creeks, so during high water the only way out is a mile-long hike up and over a narrow drainage divide onto a neighbor's property and over to a connecting road. 

 

 

Another view of the garden and cedar shed. The maple trees in this bottom can give us about a gallon of syrup in a good year: 

 

 

A couple shots of forest in summer and winter. Our region is dominated by oak/hickory stands, with other hardwoods mixed in, and sycamores and cottonwoods common along creek bottoms. Cedars take over any open area that isn't kept mowed, grazed, or burned.

 

 

 

An oak-hickory fencerow stand, in front of which is one of two pine plantations we've started.

 

 

Thunderstorm over pasture. I build the barn at right  for our small dairy goat herd, also of on-farm wood. I love being able to tie buildings together with 16' heartwood beams, you just can't buy wood like that!

 

Controlled burning to used to manage pastures and prairie plantings:

Hauling smaller cedar logs for future fencing work. Bigger logs get milled and used or sold.

 

Overall, we put a lot of work into managing our woodland and pastures for healthier trees and ecosystem restoration. This was a pretty degraded landscape when we bought it 15 years ago, due to overfarming followed by neglect, and we've been bringing it back to life. Some upland pasture areas literally had bare soil where nothing grew, they were so degraded; now they have ground cover and an increasing mix of native wildflowers. Forests are being thinned and healthy trees selected for and given room to grow.

 

My stock of modeling wood basically just comes from castoffs naturally resulting from timber management and firewood cutting, as we inevitably need to thin young or dying trees. I also have some more obscure stuff on hand, like redbud, and various fruitwood from our orchard, that I want to start playing with.

 

And now back to the project at hand!

[Cathead]

Back to the project, here's an issue I meant to bring up earlier but forgot. The supplied stemson seems to be too long:

 

 

When I line up the stemson (upper right) with the bulkhead slots, its left end is too long, forcing the keelson (upper left) too far left and out of alignment with the bulkhead slots. The only way I can see to fix this is to cut off the end of the stemson (dotted line above). This isn't mentioned in either the kit instructions or the original build log, though an image from that log does appear to show the stemson overlapping the keelson before magically fitting; see the following two photos from that log (notice how the "F" on the keel is first obscured, then visible):

 

 

 

I've read through 5 other logs, none of whom mentioned this (or I missed it if they did). I'm just going to go ahead and do this, as I can see no other way and can't see any possible harm after multiple test-fittings. But I mention it in case anyone else runs across this and is puzzled. The parts are otherwise very accurate, so this is a bit odd.

[mbp521]

….and away you go.
 

Looking forward to another wonderful and informative build from you Eric.
 

Love the property, we are in the process of getting our property the way we want it as well. We’ve only been going at it for a little over four years and still have a long way to go, but just like model shipbuilding, it takes time and patience. 
 

-Brian
 

 

[bobandlucy]

The pictures of your land are just beautiful! What a paradise. Seems you care for it very well- thanks!

[Ras Ambrioso]

Cathead, I will be follow your built since that is on my list of  projects after I complete my Fifie. Your land looks beautiful. I just spent last week in NW Wisconsin where the landscape is just as impressive. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful country. 

[Cathead]

Further weekend progress. I ended changing a few things from the instructions to suit myself; that just seems to be a standard mode of operations for me.

 

First, instead of gluing the plans to a building board and then gluing all the parts to the plan/board, I really wanted to keep the model separate and the plans clean. So I mounted the plans to a cutting mat using strong double-sided tape, and used the same to hold the keel parts in placing when gluing them together (but not to any backing). So far it's working fine.

 

This kit uses a two-part keel/stem construction (outer stem, keel, and sternpost and inner stemson, keelson, and deadwood), as you can see in my very first photo (before I spammed the log with property photos). This is meant to make it easier to carve the rabbet. So I went ahead and carefully carved the 45º rabbet on the keel/keelson and stem/stemson pieces based on the thickness of my intended planking. To mark this line, I laid each piece against some planking and used a sharp chisel to scribe a line where the rabbet should start (this is more accurate than a pencil):

 

 

I did this on two sides so there was a line guiding each side of the rabbet, then used pencil to darken these for visibility. I then used the chisel to cut the angle, finishing it with a sharp knife and sandpaper:

 

 

 

At the stem, the rabbet gradually transitions from a 45º notch to a 90º mortise. This is delicate to cut because the soft plywood of the stem would be very easy to break. I did this slowly and carefully by scribing the outer curve with a sharp knife, then chiseling layer after layer away with gentle thrusts. I cleaned this up with square files. Here I'm testing the depth of the mortise with a piece of cherry planking:

 

 

Next came the second instance in which I deviated from the instructions. The keelson has slots meant to accept the bulkheads. The kit intentionally leaves these shallow to strengthen this piece, and you're expected to deepen them down to the rabbet once this piece is glued to the build board. I decided it would be much easier to do this while the piece was loose, so deepened these using a razor saw on each side of the notch and then a chisel to remove the extra wood; a square file finished them up nicely. Below, a deepened slot at right, a slot with notches cut at center, and an unmodified slot at left. Sorry for the poor focus, iPhone photography doesn't like low-light closeups.

 

 

Before I glued the stem/stemson/keel/keelson together, I did some test-fitting of bulkheads and planks, and really didn't like how the lower rabbet was performing. I thought I had cut it following instructions, but it felt way too large for my planks, leaving a clear divot between the keel and the lower edge of the garboard plank. I don't have a good photo of this because I just couldn't get the detail focused on and I was doing this in the evening. I also messed up and carved the rabbet all the way down the keel; this is supposed to stop at the deadwood as after that the whole geometry changes. I had even marked this spot, but obliviously chiseled right past it when the time came.

 

So between those two things, I deviated from the instructions for a third time and used a very similarly dimensioned piece of basswood from my scrap pile to make a new keel. This one I didn't rabbet at all (leaving only the rabbet in the keelson). When I test-fit bulkheads and planks this way, my planking lay in the now-triangular rabbet just fine, and if anything the straight edge of the keel held it in place better. So I decided to go with that, knowing I could always carve out a faint rabbet later on the keel if I wanted. I don't know if that description makes sense, but in the photo below, you see the original keel with a 45º rabbet angling down to the right and the new keel without a rabbet; the latter is set against the keelson with its own 45º rabbet angling down to the left. Can you see how the plank sits nicely in its slot? When that original keel rabbet was there, the plank angled too far out and didn't sit well against the bulkhead (or there was an awkward divot between the surface of the keel and the beginning of the plank). I feel like this approach is a better fit and more secure, so I'm going with it.

 

 

So after all that, I glued the stem/stemson/keel/keelson together (but NOT to the plans), then started adding bulkheads. These are also supposed to be glued to the plans, but I didn't want to do that. So I just glued them in at their lower tips and added lower spaces to help brace them, using various squares to get the orientation right. So far it's coming out nice and square with no issues. The photo below also gives another angle of the plank sitting nicely in my version of the rabbet.

 

 

I'm pretty happy with these modifications and will move forward with carefully adding bulkheads. Thanks for reading!

 

[Cathead]

The framing is installed and braced. I didn't take in-progress photos as this is well-documented elsewhere and I didn't think I had anything to add.

 

 

Stern:

 

 

Bow:

 

 

These frames are going to need a LOT of fairing. They seem really uneven, and I don't think it's my installation as they're all nice and square and the tops line up fairly well with the rail on the plan (when checked using a square). They're just really inconsistent. For example, look at the gap between these:

 

 

These:

 

 

Or these:

 

 

I'm trying to decide whether to sand down the high frames or build up the low frames. I'm leaning toward sanding down as the frames are plenty thick, and this is overall easier than applying lots of filler strips, which would still then need to be sanded down.

 

Neither the official build log nor the instructions make any mention of this sort of thing, just vaguely mention fairing.  So I can't be sure whether it's a manufacturing/design flaw or somehow a mistake I made, but I did find mention of it in some other build logs I read, and it's a bit disappointing as some inconsistency is to be expected but this seems extreme. Oh well. Probably going to break out the Dremel for this, though I normally prefer not using power tools. 

[Ras Ambrioso]

I had the same problem when building my fifie. I wound up extending the short frame with fillers but this resulted in a non-symmetrical hull. Let's see what our experts say about this. 

[Cathead]

Fairing is complete. It was pretty straightforward; a lot of material to be removed and some shimming to be done, but I feel reasonably comfortable with the result. I ran thin battens all over it to check. I can always do small-scale revisions as planking progresses, adding a tiny shim or carving a bit away if needed. One nice thing about a half-hull is you don't have to worry about symmetry between both sides!

 

Bow views:

 

 

 

Stern views:

 

 

 

Overall views:

 

 

 

So far this is all pretty dull. I'm looking forward to starting the actual planking, when I find out if I'm crazy for trying to use my own wood...

 

[Ras Ambrioso]

Good luck cathead, everything looks fine from here. BTY, I think, when I do mine, I will keep the hull frame glued to the board. It will make the planking easier using the board as your third hand. Chris as said that it will be easier to remove the complete hull from the posting board later. My problem is going to be that I read this after I had glued the plans to my plywood working board. LOL

[Cathead]

So far I've found it very helpful to be able to remove the framing, it let me reach a variety of different angles while fairing that I otherwise could not have achieved. I was also able to better stabilize individual frames while working, by reaching in from behind, which I found important because the framework overall isn't very well supported from the back and can twist easily under pressure (unlike a frame with solid bulkheads connected to a longitudinal sheet). I suppose one could achieve this by gluing some additional supports between the back of the frames and the build board. I can see the value of either approach but I haven't regretted mine yet.

[Cathead]

Garboard strake is shaped and attached. This went smoothly following the directions. Basically, I marked off a scale 12" up from the rabbet on the frames in the center of the vessel, a scale 14:" at the stem and stern, then used a thin batten to project the line the rest of the way. Then I cut out a paper template and used that to cut the planks from my strip of milled cherry. Planks cut prior to bending:

 

 

 

Each plank was then soaked and clamped on to take the necessary bend. I used a hot planking iron to fix the bend in place, moving my clamps one at a time to get full coverage:

 

 

 

And here is the garboard strake glued on:

 

 

 

The closeup photos show that I've been having some trouble with the softer keel woods, both the plywood stem and sternpost from the kit and the basswood I used to replace the lower keel. They're damaging easily. I intended to sand the damage done once the planking is done and see what it looks like then. Camera closeups are also great at accentuating such things when they'll be hardly noticeable on the finished product.

 

This honestly went more smoothly than I expected and makes me look forward to continuing on. Can't wait to see this really start to take shape.

 

 

[Cathead]

During the week, I had finished installing the broad strake (the next one up from the lower-most garboard). But a little demon in the back of my mind kept telling me it wasn't right. At the bow, both planks ended up curving upward and creating the "smiley-face" effect that the instructions specifically warn against. It wasn't really obvious to me until after I saw both strakes in place, but then I couldn't unsee it, and knew I had to fix it. After watching @tlevine's NRG presentation this morning on improving ones' models, which included the specific exhortation to fix things you know are wrong so you don't regret them forever, I did so. Here are the original planks at the bow:

 

 

Not only can you see a strong upward curve, look at where each plank ends relative to the horizontal lines extending off to the right on the plans. The top of my garboard meets the first line, while the top of my broad strake meets the second one. Now look at how this is supposed to be, from the demonstration build log:

 

 

Notice how BOTH strakes fit into the space below the first horizontal line, and the flow of the planking is much more horizontal when viewed from the side. I don't know how I let it get so off, but I did. So out came the alcohol (for the glue, though I considered my own emotional needs) and a sharp chisel blade. I removed the forward broad-strake plank and then carefully carved the top of the garboard strake down to a better alignment:

 

 

I made a mess of the rabbet in the process, especially carving out all the bits of glue-stuck wood in there, but it doesn't matter in the end. I then reshaped a new plank that looks much better. Ironically, this was easier than expected because I had gone through several attempts at shaping this plank in the first place, and one of my discards ended up being just right for the new plank with some more shaping:

 

 

It's still a bit higher than it's "supposed" to be but I think it's good enough, and I'll pay more attention from now on. It's interesting working with the cherry, which is stiffer to bend but also more forgiving to carve and sand than the super-soft basswood I'm more used to.

 

Next up, laying out the planking belts.

[tlevine]

Thanks for joining us this morning.  The redo looks much better.  Just remember, isopropanol goes on the model; ethanol goes down the hatch.  

[Cathead]

The irony is there's both in our medicine cabinet, since my wife makes very effective vodka-based herbal tinctures for sleep. Chamomile and ashwagandha are very effective, only a small dropper's worth needed.

[mbp521]

Eric,
 

Funny with all of today’s technology and precise laser cutting CNC machines that there can be such a significant difference with the frame widths from one model to the next. One would think that they would all come out exactly the same each time. Well maybe in a perfect world.  
 

Toni had a lot of great information on her presentation this morning and your comment above was, in my opinion, one of the most valued. Fix your errors as soon as you can before it gets too late. Sound advice! I look back on some of my earlier builds and think of how much I have learned over the years and that I can’t believe I built something that way and left it. All learning opportunities and growth as a model builder. 
 

Great job on getting the frames fared up. This is one of the parts of a build that I dread the most since getting the hull shaped correctly is critical in the overall appearance. It’s amazing at how much just a millimeter out of whack can affect everything. 
 

-Brian

[Cathead]

I've been working on laying out planking belts and could use some advice. The instructions call for dividing the hull into three belts between the wale and the garboard strake, and here's my first attempt. Note that the strips make the central belt look narrower than it really is because I'm measuring from their lower edge (so the middle belt includes the strip's width). I've measured them and they're all three equal amidships. 

 

Stern:

 

 

Bow:

 

 

I've never done this before and am having difficulty envisioning what's correct, especially at the bow. My sense is that the run of the planking should look pretty horizontal when viewed from the side, no curving up or down as the hull changes shape. I'm having trouble comparing this with the images shown in the instructions and log.

 

I'd be grateful for any advice from @tlevine or any other experienced folk. Thanks!

[Cathead]

It's been over a month since I updated this, so here's the current status. I'm 2/3 of the way through the lower planking (below the wale). I haven't been in the mood to make updates, partly because life has been stressful and distracting, and partly because I don't think plank-by-plank updates really add anything to what's already well documented for this project (and planking in general). 

 

 

I have mixed feelings about the results. I just haven't been able to make the planking runs as consistent in width as I'd like. Seems like a mental block or something. I know what I'm supposed to be achieving but there's a lot of variability that just seems to have crept in. I honestly think I did a better job planking my revenue cutter than here, where I'm paying more attention. Some of this may be due to working with the home-milled cherry, which has variable width and a fairly coarse grain, which sometimes makes precise cutting difficult.

 

Here are two closer views of the bow and stern:

 

 

 

You can really see the varying plank thicknesses that result from using the Byrnes saw but having no thickness sander. I intentionally milled my strips a bit thick to allow for final sanding, so I think this will look a lot better as a finished product than it does now.

 

I haven't used a stealer at either bow or stern, even though I knew I was supposed to. Somehow it didn't develop naturally from the way my planks flowed. I see a lot of mistakes and problems overall, and plead (a) a relative lack of experience with this process and (b) a really distracting period in my life right now. Even when I sit down to work on this, my mind isn't really focused, so I'm just sort of drifting through this. I am learning some things, and I think the final product will be reasonably attractive. But I thought I would be doing a better job.

 

Here's one more shot of the current hull. Four planks to go before the wale, and then things get a lot easier.

 

 

Thanks for looking in.

[VTHokiEE]

I really like the swap of basswood for cherry; I’ve been very concerned about denting the basswood in my build (had a few dents that were tricky to remove.

You’ve also shown me that I probably do need a thickness sander if I venture into scratch builds, which is good to know.

[Ras Ambrioso]

Looks pretty good to me already. For mine, I have bought the cherry in 3" wide sheets at Micromark. I will cut  strakes as I spline them. 

[Cathead]

21 hours ago, VTHokiEE said:

I’ve been very concerned about denting the basswood in my build

 

I've already beaten the crap out of the keel, sternpost, and stempost, and wish I'd remade those in maple before getting started. As it is I'm considering trying to add a thin veneer or something, depending on how well the damage sands out. Some of that damage comes from my stubborn insistence on building this as a loose model (not attached to a build board as in the instructions), which definitely exposes these parts to harm but I'm finding makes many parts of the process much easier.

42 minutes ago, Ras Ambrioso said:

I have bought the cherry in 3" wide sheets at Micromark. I will cut  strakes as I spline them

 

Sounds like a good plan.

 

I really think this is going to clean up well with a bunch of sanding.

[Cathead]

Exactly a month later, I manage to have an update. The planking is complete up to where the wale starts. This is as far as I'm going in cherry; the wale will be walnut and all the planking above in maple. I think this will make a nice color contrast on what is, after all, a somewhat artistic model.

 

Below are two before and after shots showing the effects of a first sanding on the cherry planking:

 

 

 

 

 

Photos sure do pick out every flaw, don't they? Others' projects have been cleaner, you can really see the unevenness of my planking. Some of this I put down to milling my own wood, some just to the fact that I'm not an artisan, just a happy muddler. Learning some good lessons, which is kind of the point.

 

Now to start on the wale, which I'll do in two layers as suggested by the instructions. Thanks for sticking with me.

 

[mbp521]

Looking good Eric. I admire your perseverance on this, especially with milling your own lumber. That is a task that I have never even given a thought to. It’s just too easy to purchase it already done. Not to mention the limited availability of quality lumber on my property. I’m sure that the coloring in juniper would make for an interesting look, but mesquite, bois d’arc and honey locust just aren’t that appealing. 
 

Out of curiosity, and you may have mentioned this already, but did you mill the planks a little thicker than normal to allow for variances and to give you the opportunity to be able to sand the planks all even without sanding through? Only reason I ask is that my ships boats have been giving me fits getting the hull contouring correct and I have resorted to using thicker planks after sanding through several of the thinner provided planks. 
 

-Brian

[Cathead]

Yes, I absolutely milled them thicker than ideal for that very reason. This did make the actual planking a bit harder to get right (leading to some of the clinkering effect as it's difficult to get thicker planks to take a complex curve) but also gave a wider margin for error. Once could argue that just milling them thin in the first place would have let me do a better job in the first place, but that carries its own risks and this is what I chose to do for better or worse. Also, since I knew my thicknesses wouldn't be entirely consistent due to the lack of a thickness sander or equivalent, I figured it was safer to go thick than end up with useless too-thin segments.

 

Our red cedar has an interesting color for furniture and other larger-scale building, but is close to worthless for model building since the grain is so large and it's super-soft. Learning to work with cherry instead of basswood has been an education. I have a variety of other woods stored up to play with in addition to cherry, maple, and walnut, including some oddball natives like redbud and hackberry. All part of the fun of learning new things.

[Tony Serigos]

Please advise for a person who does not know how to plank properly, is this a good kit to learn on?

[mtaylor]

18 hours ago, Tony Serigos said:

Please advise for a person who does not know how to plank properly, is this a good kit to learn on?

I would say "yes" as that is what the project is intended.  There's several build logs of this model here on MSW which might be worth a read.

[Cathead]

On 11/19/2021 at 9:16 PM, Tony Serigos said:

is this a good kit to learn on?

Yes, as Mark says, that's the entire purpose of its existence. Moreover, since it isn't a "finished" model (few other details), any mistakes you make aren't really relevant to the final presentation.

 

I would say that, for a teaching kit, I've found the instructions a bit confusing or incomplete in places, even though this is not my first planked hull. There's a lot of what in education we call "curse of knowledge", meaning the teacher has difficulty remembering and addressing the gap between what they take for granted and what the student actually knows. But that's true of virtually all normal kits, too, which tend to have it more strongly. I think the ideal approach would be to use this kit to learn or practice planking, but also to read/consult other references and guides on technique as well, using the physical kit to practice approaches rather than relying solely on its internal instructions. If nothing else, the original build log for this project has quite a few useful photos and details that aren't in the official instructions. But I would definitely recommend it as a learning or practice tool. 

 

For anyone who's wondering, I haven't given up, in fact I've made a lot of progress. But I haven't felt like taking photos and don't feel like what I'm doing really adds anything to the literature compared to all the other logs out there. I'll get some photos posted eventually but right now it's felt better just working on it in "silence". Using my own wood has been a major challenge and I'm not entirely pleased with the outcome, but it's certainly acting as the intended learning experience.