Planking of Transom on A Longboat

[Gregory]

Most of the longboat kits have a solid piece for the transom.

 

I assume on the actual boats this would not have been a solid piece and would have been built up with some kind of planking involved.

Anyone aware of any references that covers this?

 

I'm guessing some kind of framework with horizontal planks..   Or, would there be some other arrangement?

[Justin P.]

 I dont know about historical references, I just went with a pretty standard look based on images I searched for on the internet.   Possible in real practice a form of tongue and groove?  No idea.

[Gregory]

I had a look at your longboat log and didn't see a clear shot of the transom planked or unpainted.

 

Did I miss something?

[Dziadeczek]

For my French 74 g. ship, I built the transom of my longboat from individual horizontal planks, following J. Boudriot.

[allanyed]

Gregory

 

As the transoms were upwards of 3 to 4 feet broad and 2 to 3 feet high,  it would not have been easy to make this from a single piece of wood. 

 

Planking on a ship's hull and transom were not tongue and grooved so is there a reason the transom on a boat would be done this way?  If t&g were used in real life it would not be seen.  

 

Allan

 

 

[Gregory]

26 minutes ago, allanyed said:

it would not have been easy to make this from a single piece of wood. 

I never suspected it was made from a single piece of wood.  That it why I asked about the planking method.

 

Dziadeczek's solution after Boudriot is a place to start.  I wonder if the English might have done it differently.  Is diagonal planking a possibility.

 

I'm curious as to what kind of  framing underlaid the planking.

 

[Justin P.]

3 hours ago, allanyed said:

Planking on a ship's hull and transom were not tongue and grooved so is there a reason the transom on a boat would be done this way?

It was just a guess.  I admitted to not knowing at all - and will admit it was probably a stupid guess.  

[Justin P.]

20 hours ago, Gregory said:

I had a look at your longboat log and didn't see a clear shot of the transom planked or unpainted.

 

Did I miss something?

No you didn't.  I perhaps incorrectly confused my launch and longboat (the terms have been interchangeable to some degree).   As the longboat in this case was a painted transom I did not plank it.   With the launch however, I did as not doing so didnt seem quite right.  I recall as well, that particular kit manufactuer chose to laser etch a part number onto the transom that was difficult to remove or cover up.   As I could not find a readily accessible reference for it, I simply did some google searching.  I have also seen many open boats with transoms constructed from planks so just went with it.  

Edited March 22, 2022 by Justin P.

[Roger Pellett]

Broadly speaking there appear to be two styles of transoms; one where the sternpost runs inside the transom (Medway Longboat) and one where the sternpost is all or partially outside the transom (French Launch above). In each case the last hull frame would be sloped parallel to the sternpost. I have seen drawings that refer to this as the Transom Frame.

 

In the Medway style transom it was a simple matter to horizontally plank across the transom.  The planks would have been fastened a three points; the  transom frame on each side and the sternpost in the middle.  Plank widths would have been limited by the availability of correctly sawn lumber.  Wide flat sawn planks would be subject to warping.

 

The French style is more interesting.  If the sternpost were already erected, planking in the  Medway style would require fitting the planking between the sides of the transom frame and the sternpost.   Another option would be to rabbit the sternpost and plank in two pieces.  This would seem to cause a weak joint where the planking met the sternpost.  In this case the planking could have been run diagonally like a c1500’s Galleon.

 

It is also possible that the sternpost was fitted in two layers with the transom planked across conventionally.  An outer sternpost to support the rudder would be added after the transom was planked.  Do the Ancre drawings clarify this?

 

Roger

[Gregory]

Some horizontal planks would seem logical.  The diagonal a little more glitzy..

 

I may have to go with what I like best ..