Jim’s Blog – Sunday, June 26 (Page 1)

It has been an active weekend. Almost no office work as I used two sunny days for the garden and a drizzly Sunday to work in the boat shed. Life is good here in Flatrock.

It’s all about planking now. Over the past week, we have been securing planks and filling in the boat. When we left the punt this evening, we had installed five out of ten planks on each side and have made the first edge cuts on a sixth.

I have already described the techniques of measuring and cutting planks and, with practice, we are now getting good at them. Despite the surprising accuracy and efficiency of the table saw plank cutting method, the bottle neck is in the actual installation. If we could install two planks at once, our production rate would be impressive but, alas, there would be too many clamps to fit at once.

The early stages were picky as we had to prepare the frame for planking. The photo on the right shows the advantage of installing a hog on a small boat. There is plenty of wood to attach the garboard to with little or no rabetting of the keel. In this project, this is important as the keel has to meet lumber yard specs of 1½” dressed thickness. We have full confidence in the strength of our laminated frames and laminated floor braces and had no qualms about cutting a small notched limber hole where the frame meets the hog. This is good forward thinking as poor drainage in the bilge is a nuisance in any sized boat.

So, here is a review of the planking process. The boys now know the drill and have established a routine.

We start with scribing the edge of the plank that fits the plank already on the boat. Fitting the garboard was tedious as spiling had to be done under the boat but the result was very successful. The first cut on each plank has to mate the line on the plank already on the boat. On this hull, we have found that a tracing of the line from the previous plank and using the widths from the plank plan (the book) have been good enough but we will have to spile a plank edge sooner or later as we approach the crop of the hull where shape changes dramatically.

Plank cutting was described last time and we have found the “pretty good cut” with a jig saw followed by the “small fence and batten” table saw cut is producing remarkably good fits on the boat with almost no planing. The photos on the right show Jerome and Roy assembling a table saw fence and Otto, Frank, and Harry comparing port and starboard planks before they are run through the table saw with the line battens.

Jim’s Blog – Sunday, June 26 (Page 2)

Even though the fit of each plank has been very good straight off the saw cut, we are going to considerable effort to make sure that plank goes down easily when finally fastened. This means preliminary fitting. The photos on the right show how much clamping is required to confirm the fit and to identify those sections of the edge that may require a touch of the plane. Notice that we are dry-fitting the planks by clamping both onto the frames and also up against the previous plank. Clamping against the keel and near the stem requires some adaptation to the relative angles of the clamping surfaces to ensure a firm grip.

This boat is going to be strong. In addition to the planks being fastened to the laminated frames with stainless steel wood screws, each plank is fastened to the frames and caulked against its mate with 3M 5200 marine adhesive compound. Last time, I talked about how to cut a groove to each plank edge to accept the adhesive. This “spooge” is messy to work with but it is very strong. A would-be archaeologist in the group pondered the future interpretation of the remains of this boat when only strings of white compound describing plank lines remain. Immediate cleaning of the spooge that is squeezed out from the seams on clamping saves a lot of trimming later on.

The joke in the shop is that the boat will be caulked (with compound) but not caulked (with oakum). It’s only funny if you think about spelling and the traditional pronunciation of each verb…

Fastening of the caulked and clamped plank is a bit of a production line. You have to love a good cordless drill and there have been many side debates about battery life and torque. Harry pre-drills the screw hole, Frank counter sinks the screw hole, and Otto drives the stainless wood screw home. I have generally not been involved in fastening but I do keep a Robertson ‘Red’ screw driver in my carpenter’s pouch, just in case.

Jim’s Blog – Sunday, June 26 (Page 3)

The tricky part in installing each plank is fastening it to the stem. Not only do we need to shape the leading edge of the plank to the stem rabbet, but we have to make sure that this flat board fits the curve of the boat and the planks next to it. You have to see it to understand how those apparently horizontal plank lines are achieved on a curved frame. (spile away, spile away, spile away…)

We have had to use the steam box to fit planks to the stem, but not much. With the need for steam and restrictions on power in Dawna’s shed, I brought in my Coleman stove as a “portable” alternative that could be used in the parking area and not get in the way of the boat inside. My lunch bag draped over the steam box tells you where I am coming from. Thanks to my daughter Kate for recognizing my weakness. Someday, I will tell you about my experiences in Ratty and Mole’s skiff…

Back to the stem fastening. It takes a little care in shaping the plank and adjusting the stem rabbet but the hard planks were bent on easily with only a little bit of steam and some well-considered clamping. Between the large fastening area of the apron behind the stem piece and the adhesive qualities of the spooge, this little lady will be strong enough to be almost ice class.

We have had to learn a lot of new terminology in this project and we have been forced to think of a boat as a three dimensional entity within its own reference system. As we plank the punt, we have to keep track of each piece in the context of the boat’s design. This is not made any easier when we are planking her upside down and the garboard is number ten and on top and plank one at the sheer is on the bottom. I have been going to sea for almost 40 years and yet I have to think twice every time about port and starboard on a boat that is upside down.

We are down to the wire for time now. According to our planned schedule, we should be finished next Sunday on July 3. Our opportunity for overrun is limited as Jerome starts his summer program at the museum in the first week of July. I hope that the boat will be finished in Flatrock. If nothing else, we have a very dedicated crew that deserves to take ownership of a completed job and earn the satisfaction of being a boat builder.

It promises to be a busy week.