Cutting Some Real Planks At Last!

My last post was 5 months ago - this boat building is very TTT (things take time). If I calculated what proportion of time I have spent (a) Planning building space, (b) acquiring tools (c) learning from others and reading boat building books (d) making models (e) building boatyard deck (d) building a real boat, my estimate is about 10% a, 10% b, 20% c, 20% d, 35% e, 5% d. and this spread over about 4 years.  Whilst the journey has been interesting, my advice to others is go do a boat building course in Tasmania, get the hull built there and ferry it back home to fit out.

Now back to my "progress" report.  Winter was wet and cold and did not provide many clear days for outside building and gluing, Meanwhile we had a bit of travel of which I might post separately, while waiting for spring.

I got going again in August with deck development to make life easier. I added some lattice to give a bit more protection and privacy (reduce neighbours curiosity if and when the cabin on the big boat takes shape). This lattice also helps support my temporary western tarp wall to give sun protection.

In the above shot is also a plank storing box, long enough to hold 12ft long plank patterns and cut planks. This is able to keep these on deck protected from weather awaiting gluing on the jig.  This minimises potential damage to thin floppy cut planks and avoids stressing the scarf joints until fully cured.  See close up of box below. It has free rolling castors underneath so easy to move anywhere around the deck. I have it right next to the bench while cutting planks and when not in use I can slide it under the tressels holding the canoe and jig.

 Here's a close up of the cutting of the first real 4 planks in Bryunzeel Gabon 4mm using patterns made from hoop pine ply.  This demonstrates the use of my planking bench "rudders" to support curved cutting. I'm cutting two planks at a time. Scarf joints in the 2 sheets are alternated.

Here's offcuts saved from the plank cutting for making clamp pads.  I also kept offcuts of scarf joint to check strength before proceeding planks on the jig.  I.m pretty happy with the scarf joints. I used Technique 2/1 glue.

The canoe requires 6 planks. I will wait to make the final 2 plank patterns until after I have glued the first 4 planks on the jig to avoid cumulative errors of fit.

Variable Width Planking Bench

I have added an innovation to my plank cutting bench out on the "boatyard" deck.  The bench itself is just over 2 feet wide. To be able to cut a 4 ft wide ply sheet down the middle and also provide support for cutting curved planks, I have added a set of 5 "rudders plus T swivel" to the bench. The T swivels are wider on one end to allow the full 4ft sheet support and shorter on the other end to allow space for cutting in the middle of the sheet. The swivel allows elongated support for the off cut curved plank being cut off the sheet. Clamping the sheet to the bench at one end and along the length to the edge of the T sections gives a stable platform for jig sawing planks and reduces stress on the scarf joint in planking sheets.

The hinges on the rudders are open ended so I can remove them from the bench when not doing planking work.

So I am finally getting around to cutting planks for the Charlotte canoe.  I will make patterns for the 6 planks required first.  Here I am marking up the riband edge for the garboard plank pattern.