Following the line of your wood?

[Nirvana]

Many of our instructions reads:

"after placing the first two or three hull planking under the deck, find the most natural way for the "main" strake.

With my current project X, I have found not one but four natural lines for the planking strips to follow without twisting and bending.

Should I follow them and add in the missing and twisted?

I have divided the hull into three sections, and just following the hull line seems more natural to me.

Again, just my two cents

[Jim Lad]

Per,

 

Following the hull lines is the way in which hull planking is laid in real ships, but you'll find that you'll probably need some fairly wide pieces on some parts of the hull, especially at the stern, as the plank width will vary quite a bit.  It will also be difficult to lay strips the full length of the hull doing this - remember that on real ships the planks were only 20 to 30 feet long.

 

John

[augie]

John-  I try and use that 20-30 foot rule religiously except between gun ports and the like.  I find I need to angle the seams somewhat to conform to the bulkhead lines on a POB.  But all in all, it makes planking easier ...... I think .

[JPett]

Ahoy Doc

 

I am going to "assume" you are talking about using battens to create belts for single planking a POB hull (We all know what that word can do for us)

 

If so:

 

I found that because planking needs to be softened by either steam or soaking it is not always the best wood to use for this. I used wood that was half as thick and half as wide. It bends easier and better shows which way the wood "wants" to lie. Make sure you let the wood go where it wants to, don't force it to go where you need it. Slight adjustments with sandpaper or shims on the bulkheads will cause the wood to take a different path. Example: A very minor adjustment on B5 will make a big difference where a batten ends up on B1.

 

Please note: There are some hull types and planking methods where this will not work. In the bow "spiling" must sometimes be used

Edited November 26, 2013 by JPett