Recommendations for deck camber

[Frazer]

Hi there

 

I am at the early stages of building the De Agostini 'Sovereign of the Seas' and noticed that the plywood decks are all flat athwartships. This does not look right and I would like to plank up a slightly cambered deck as would have been the case on a real ship. Does anyone know how much camber or curvature would have been applied to a deck of this period?

 

Regards, Frazer

[Frazer]

Thanks Brian

 

I Think I have a good solution to building up the camber OK using laminated paper in progressively narrower strips and then sanding back. I have used a similar technique before and the resulting composite is very strong and provides a good bed for the planks proper.

 

The question is really how much should I build it up by to get a final curve that looks right for the period? The widest part of the visible waist is about 125 mm and I am guessing that the centre line would need to be built up 3-4 mm but this is a guess.

 

There must be a shipwrights rule of thumb for this. Anyone know?

 

Regards, Frazer

Edited October 10, 2013 by Frazer

[captainbob]

 

I Think I have a good solution to building up the camber OK using laminated paper in progressively narrower strips and then sanding back. I have used a similar technique before and the resulting composite is very strong and provides a good bed for the planks proper.

 

 

Regards, Frazer

 

Thanks,  I'll be using that. 

 

Bob

[allanyed]

Frazer,

Each deck has a different round up (which is the earlier term for deck camber.)  Which decks will be visible on your model?  The round up for various size ships can be found in the Establishments, but I believe the earliest Establishment is more than 60 years later than Sovereign so there may be no definitive answer available.

 

Allan

[Frazer]

Yes, I think that you are right on this. The best figure I have been able to come up with so far is based on some measurements that I have taken from some section drawings that I lifted out of a microfilm copy of 'Fragments of Ancient English Shipwrightry', Matthew Baker, c. 1570

 

 

Careful measurement of this and other sections gives an approximation of 30:1, which looks about right. The ratio seems to hold true for any upper deck width, certainly for this period.

 

I should note that although Matthew Baker is a bit early for the period I am interested in (1637),some portions of the manuscript were written in the early part of the 17th century so it does reflect the evolving practice of the time.

 

Regards, Frazer