dumb question about spiling techniques

[bigcreekdad]

I am never satisfied with my hull planking attempts. I've narrowed my hull strips towards the bow, but have never spiled them at the top. My question is, how do you spile planks with the standard planks that come with kits. It seems like they would need to be twice as wide to start.

[justsayrow]

Most spiling I've seen is done on after-market sheet wood. You're right, the kit planks aren't really suitable for it.

Jerry

[Chuck]

I dont use wider stock 90% of the time.  I usually bend my strips to the desired curve as shown below.  Only with the tightest and most extreme bends do I pre shape from a wider piece.  I have almost completed teh planking of the Cheerful hull but have five strakes to go.  These were left off because I am actually doing a tech session at this months club meeting.  It will be a step by step on how to spile and physically shape a strip so it fits perfectly against the hull.   Beveling the plank is must as well so it fits tight against the last one you placed on the hull.   It really helps...another must do...would be to line out the hull before you begin planking planking.  See the tutorials on this site.  There will be some spring back bending like this so its important to go a bit more...

 

Chuck

 

 

 

 

[Gabek]

Hey there,

I started planking AL's Harvey following their instructions and a couple weeks ago I got fed up with their layout. So, l peeled off what I had done except the garboard strake and the deckline plank and just started lining off for the new planks yesterday. This will be my first attempt at spiling planks.

 

Seeing your post I ran down and just traced what the first plank would look like. I took a few pics to show how much curve there is especially at the bow and stern. I held a plank from the kit at the midship bulkhead positions and you can see how far out the piece is.

 

 

 

And here I'm holding a kit plank to the stern so you can see it compared to the widths I have marked.

 

 

You're right, the curved shape of the spiled planks means that the kit ones need to be put aside. I had a 1"x 3" piece of mahagony that I resawed into 1/8" thick x 3" wide planks (it's what I taped the trace to). I'm going to cut the new planks off of these.

 

I suppose you could try gluing them edge-to-edge to make wider material, but I think you might have trouble when you bend them to the curve of the hull.

[Gabek]

Ok, seeing that Chuck has responded while I was typing my post...I'd listen to him!

Bowing deeply,

Gabe

[Dee_Dee]

Chuck,

 

I plank my hulls similar to how you described and have a couple of questions about the edge beveling: 

Do you bevel both edges or just one edge of the plank? 

How do you determine the angle of the beveling?  Do you have a way to measure the angle and then bisect the angle? Or other? 

Thanks, Dee Dee

 

Edited September 27, 2015 by Dee_Dee

[Chuck]

I just bevel one edge on the plank yet to be secured.  I dont get crazy about matching it perfectly.  It usually works out fine.  I bevel a little and then test it.  If its a tight seem...then great.  If not,  then I bevel a bit more.   Then I use a number 2 pencil to darken that edge to simulate the caulking.  Just that one edge.

 

Chuck

[jbshan]

It helps to keep your plank less than full length as well.  There will be less curve needing to be cut if you stick to traditional lengths.  Note all the butt joints on Chuck's model.