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Planking The Hull

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To find out where the planks should land on each frame, thin battens are employed.
1/6/2002
The planking stock is ready, let's move!
 1/6/2002
Setup completed,
keel installed,
first two planks hung
 15/6/2002

15/6/2002

15/6/2002
The first few planks have quite a twist at the hooded end. Wrapping a cloth around, soak it with boiling water and wrap it with a plastic. After half a hour the plank is ready to bend.... 15/6/2002
....here we go!
 15/6/2002
The spiling process in steps:
  1. Thin plywood strips are glued together to follow the curvature of the hull and then nailed in place
 21/6/2002
  1. On each station arcs are swung
 21/6/2002
  1. The spiling batten is removed and placed on top of a suitable planking stock. Here the process is reversed. All positions of the stations and the plank width are transferred.
 21/6/2002
  1. The so found points are aligned with a long flexible batten and the outline of the plank is drawn.
    Ready now for sawing and shaving....
    ...and it takes a few trial runs until the plank finally fits perfect to its neighbor.

 21/6/2002
Turn of the bilge needs lots of hollow out on the inside.
 30/10/2002
Seven planks on each side are on...
 30/10/2002
The sheer plank is very special: it's made from mahogany and has the famous Herreshoff "swelling". To be absolutely sure that the shape of it will be as it should I decided to make a mock-up from spruce. This gave me also the opportunity to practice of how to shape the swelling. Here is the dummy right where it should be.
 7/1/2003
Here the weapons of choice for shaping the swelling.
7/1/2003
The perfect Herreshoff swelling!
 7/1/2003
The sheer plank is ready for hanging. Due to the stiffness of mahogany steam bending will come into use.
 7/1/2003
Poor men's steam bending device: a plastic wrapped around the wood and closed with staples. Easy, fast and efficient.
 7/1/2003
Finally we did it!!
 7/1/2003
last update: 7/1/2003


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