Sheer trepidation

May, week 1.

It doesn't feel as though much has happened over the last week. I managed to finish the port sheerstrake template. This brought home the degree of droop and more importantly twist at the transom. The plank will need to be nearly 1/4" wider than the starboard plank to bring it up to the same level from the waterline (or floor as is the current datum) and maintain a good shape to the sheer. This will involve significant build-up of the top edge of the transom later on to accommodate the deck planking...

Being happy with the templates, the next trial was board selection. This is the first time the cutting plan hasn't worked too well. The assumption was that the sheerstrakes would be a good deal flatter than they really are and so the planned donor boards were not wide enough. Thankfully due to the juggling for earlier planks, I had released one of the wide boards as a spare and was able just to squeeze out both 20' long (and most curved) forward sections and one aft section from the one board; the other aft section from a discarded former attempt at a piece of the garboard. Again there was hardly any wastage and we still have 2 whole 23' x 1' boards left as spare for future repairs....

The port sheer (front) was mocked up on the boat and bottom edge confirmed as "good". The next stage was to assess the fairness of the top edge. Some of the new timbers "kicked out" at the top and were planed back, some of the older ones will need to be packed a bit, but the end result is a fair curve to the sheer that hugs the ends of the deck beams well, indicating a close affiliation to the original shape.

 

The old planking when it was removed had up to 3/8" gaps beyond these beams, possibly where past replacement timber ends had not been faired back. So the boat maybe 1/2" or so narrower on the inside edge of the planking, but overall only 1/4" narrower because of the extra thickness of the new planks themselves (3/8" -> 1/2").

The next phase is to fashion packing blocks between the beamshelf and sheer (as per last weeks entry). Whereas last week I recycled the pads taken off during removal of the old sheerstrake, none were suitable for the forward section and new were needed. I didn't want to cut up bits of oak saved from the planking boards, so casting about the workshop I landed on some offcuts Dad had saved when he was flooring the house. Most of the house has hardwood flooring of two types, downstairs is Distemonanthus, upstairs is darker and more oily and maybe Iroko; either way I suspect they are more than adequate for the task and should stand up okay to the environment (the Distemonanthus laid in the late '50s directly onto a concrete floor showed zero decay when tested in 2001).

Deck pads - Distemonanthus top, Iroko bottom.

 

Before the aft section can be mocked up I need to replace one of the new timbers put in the last week of December last year. It had cracked un-noticed behind the beamshelf and I had tussled with my conscience for some weeks whether to ignore it, but disgusted with my sloth, ripped it out on Sunday....

Sheer anxiety

Week 4.

Ok, so a little late again... Starboard #10 was hung on Wednesday with no incidents and things are beginning to look "boat like" again
 

Before the marking out of the sheer can be done, same pads need to be fitted onto the outside face of the beamshelf, in between some of  the timbers.

Where the planks get narrow at the ends, they also rise so their final position is right in front of the beamshelf. This means that when it comes to rivetting up I will not be able to get to the rivet head because it would be behind the beamshelf. In the past the copper nails were either just driven into the back of the beamshelf or punched right through and the rove placed on the inner face of the beamshelf rather than the plank. If there is no packing pad between the beamshelf and the plank, you run the risk of over tightening the plank and causing a bow in between the timbers.

Pads were therefore made up for the stern and the bow and screwed into place. These pads provide for additional anchorage for the deck planks, which will eventually rest upon and be screwed into them.

Care must be taken that the pads are flush with timbers if "hard spots" are not to be seen in the curve of the planking. They are then given several coats of shellac (for speed of application) to keep any moisture at bay...

Fixing pads - forward

 

Fixing pads - aft

The aft pads and timbers will trimmed to the final level of the sheer.

Attention then shifted to the definition of the sheer. Templates for the sheerstrake were made as normal up to the point of defining the lower edge. A batten was then clamped to the boat such that its upper edge (a) formed a smooth curve, (b) came level to or as near as possible the ends of the deck beams without affecting the fairness of the curve and (c) resulted in a flat or very gentle upward slope at the stern.

The stern had dropped over the years due to insufficient support when she was out of the water during the Winter and this needed to be sorted out. My previous repair of the hog had done little to sort this out, so it has to be done by adjusting the sheerstrake. It will result in the top edge being a few fractions of an inch higher in the back part of the boat; the deck beams and the top of the transom  will need to be built up to accommodate this adjustment, but it must be done.

Getting the shape right is critical; I haven't enough timber to allow the luxury of trial and error. I spent a day or so agonising about this, trying all sorts of approaches, but the simplest in the end was to clamp the batten to the timbers and adjust, squint adjust and squint again...

After seeking a second opinion from Pete (my planking guru) I got the all clear and the adjustment is less than I thought for the starboard side - about 3/8" up at the transom. It's amazing how if not lifted by this piddling amount the sheer just screams at you....

 

The bevel of the adjacent plank was marked off at 6" intervals and stage measurement made from the top of the batten to the bottm of the bevel at each point. These measurements were then transferred to the templates, and a fair curve drawn to connect the points - a sheerstrake template is born!

Both side templates need to made up be made up because it seems the boards allocated mean the starboard template is about 1/8" too curved and there is a crack at the end which will interfere with the appearance of the scarph joint.

One step closer to the edge.

Week 3.

Saturday saw the hanging of #10 port. It's funny how the learning process never stops; this was a tricky plank because it was difficult to clamp it to the boat because the beamshelf got in the way. This also meant a departure from previous practice as the two halve had to be glued off the boat. This carries with it some risk because there is the potential to not get the two halves of the planks lined up properly and you then get a kink in the edge.

In an effort to prevent this, extra care was taken with the scarph joint so that if it was perfect (i.e. no gap top to bottom) on the boat, then all I had to do is make sure the same was so off the boat and clamped securely to a long board and trestles. It seems this worked out, since the shape seems OK. The board may need to be shoved through the planer though, as it is slightly domed across its width and caused a slight issue with pulling home the joint faces at the back of the plank, but this is not critical to its strength, mainly aesthetic and it will be hidden by the timber anyway...

 

#9 starboard is already half finished, with the forward section already dry fitted and scarf cut on Friday. Cutting the plank out of the board on Thursday was close; I managed one board for both sections, but it was tight....
 

 Hopefully we will be hanging #9 starboard on Wednesday before the journey into the unknown with the sheerstrake.

I won't know until the templates are marked out, how bad the drop in the transom is and whether I go for an flat sheer aft of the cabin or try and make a barely perceptable lift...

Stabilising

Week 2.

It was slow progress this week, primarily due to the primacy of clamp numbers. As explained last week, I had to make sure the beamshelf stayed associated with the timbers. The method worked out involved the removal of the sheerstrakes (and with them the rivets that held the timbers to the beamshelf) - having first taken the strain of the superstructure with cargo straps from the roof beams. Then locating the old holes in the timbers and beamshelf with a thinner nail before firmly clamping the two together. The nail was then removed and the hole drilled out to accept a dowel to be glued in that ran though both members. The clamps prevented the timbers springing away from the beamshelf whilst the glue cured - hence progress is restricted by the number of available clamps.

This process therefore took about 4 days for both sides, during which time little else could be achieved until one side was completed and all the projecting dowels trimmed off.

Where there are still a few original or older timbers there significantly more holes to fill left by previous plank replacements (up to 6 per timber....). This also naturally helped to delay matters.

In addition, during the refit in 1982, packing pads were inserted between alternate timbers to provide anchorage for the deck planking (not being able to screw it into the 3/8" replacement hull planking).

These too had to be removed since I don't want to repeat the errors and poor shape of that previous planking operation. Any packers that are needed will be made from scratch to conform to the new planking profile.

Once tidied up, the templates for the next plank (#10) were made for both sides and by the end on Sunday, port #10 sections had been cut from two boards used for other planks with about 1/8" spare and thicknessed ready for the fitting process to start on Monday.

Normal service is resumed.

April, week 1.

I finally decided to crack on with the planking and use the 14g x 2" that I knew were in stock at Anglia Stainless. If they turn out to be too thin, then I will just have to grind off the back and punch them out sacrificing the varnish (because I'll only know if I've cocked up if the seams spring during heavy sailing). It's a calculated risk but I cannot afford to delay planking any longer. Hopefully the 13g x 2" will be back in stock soon.

 

 

There was a lot of email traffic between numerous sources about these damned nails; someone suggesting that the manufacturers had decided to discontinue size 13g. I have subsequently been assured this is not the case, but they still won't be available any time soon....

The second floor was finished on Thursday and went in OK:-

To join the first:-

 

Next Monday sees a step into the unknown; I have to remove the sheerstrake (after marking of the boot-top on the the planks just fitted. Measurements determining its location at the beam relate to the current sheerstrake - who knows if this will change after the new one is fitted so just to be sure, I'll transfer the measurements I took the other week back onto the new #9 planks).

The sheerstrake is the last plank and is where the timbers (or ribs) are riveted to the beamshelf.

 

Take out these rivets and I can see the beamshelf and anything above attached to it potentially could slump downwards. At the moment this means the full weight of the cabin sides 17ft of 1" thick 18" wide Burmese teak x2 and half the cabin roof (which weighs about 18 ton... ). Not quite what I want.

So I have a plan to support the whole of the "superstructure" from the roof beams of the barn with ratchet straps; either 4 or 6 of them gently tensioned to be sure it remains in equilibrium when the rivets are knocked out....

From there it's back to the old routine of finding holes in the beamshelf and timbers, drilling them out and dowelling them. At the moment I'm not sure whether to run a dowel all the way through the current holes that go through the beamshelf and the timber. This would have the advantage of preventing the timber "springing" outward and affecting the boat's shape; but also make it awkward if at some time in the future I need to remove a broken timber......

Decisions, decisions. At least the attachment will  only be a piece of 4mm diameter oak dowel and that could be snapped with relative ease to allow any broken timer to be removed at a later date.

Floor lamination

Week 4.

The early part of the week was spent experimenting with these floor laminates.

Monday saw the cutting of the individual laminates. Way back in March 2012 when I had the 1st lot of boards resawn I mentioned it was more or less successful. There quite a bit of saw wander and this resulted in one of the resawn boards being far too thin to use for planking. There really was no use for it until this lamination project reared its ugly head; It was sliced up into 3" wide and 6'6" long sections and does in fact make up 8/9 of the final floor, the remaining 1/9 was donated by an off-cut of the planking process.

These laminates varied wildly in thickness from 5/8" to less than 1/8". The trick was to arrange them in an order such that any cut-outs for the notches removed parts of the thinner ones, whilst the thicker ones formed the backbone of the floor. It became clear that the thicker pieces would need steaming.... a real P.I.T.A. because this introduces another day's delay for the wood to dry out again afterwards - epoxy doesn't like damp wood.

Steaming the laminations.

The lam's were steamed and clamped to the former and left to cool, then brought indoors to the fireplace to slowly dry (to avoid cracking).

One advantage of an inglenook is that there is a lot of brickwork to radiate low level heat after the fires are out...

Due to the arctic conditions, gluing up in the barn was out of the question, so the Dining Room was pressed into service, after 9 "tiramasu pots" of epoxy, clamping up could start.

Glued and clamped.

 

- It's all in the prep! The whole operation took less than 45 mins and left overnight to cure.

The finished laminated blank was cleaned up and passed through the planer a few times to tidy it up had the outline from the template traced round it and the rough floor cut out on the bandsaw.

"raw" laminated blank.

This was then taken to the boat and the arduous task of making sure each notch fitted the planking and flush as possible - took ruddy hours with a plane both on and off the boat. I'm convinced I haven't come up with the best method yet; anyway something resembling a satisfactory outcome was achieved...

Back onto the bandsaw to cut the limber holes (small cut-outs at the plank lands to allow water in the bilges to pass under the floors, thus allowing it to be pumped out from a single source) and then to seal the wood.

Limber holes.

 

The old floors were a bit soft after prolonged submersion; I don't know whether this happened over the last years of the hatch leaking or over a more protracted period; either way these new floors will be sealed with epoxy to prevent any rotting in the future, so providing the epoxy sticking the laminations holds out, these buggers will last for ever......

This can be a 2 stage process as the epoxy has a tendency to "gas out". The epoxy is carried into the fibres of the wood by an organic solvent, as the epoxy cures this can continue to evaporate out through the epoxy layer, causing blisters on the surface. It's a bit of a P.I.T.A. as it needs to be sanded down and another coat put on. I think it's a condition that mainly occurs when one is impatient and tries to speed up the curing process or the ambient temp is very high causing the epoxy to skin over before all gasses have escaped; either way it means more work and further delays....
 

Gassing out blisters.

Bouyed up with confidence, a second floor was started... some of the "donor" pieces were just a little too narrow and were rejected until the brain kicked in... just because I wanted a 3" wide blank, it didn't mean all the laminates needed to be 3" wide, so I interlaced two 1.5" strips with 3" strips and so there was less waste.

I find it is always a mental tug-o-war cutting timber, especially cutting up very long lengths (> 15') so using narrower strips that have little potential use seems to ease the concience...

Temperature meanwhile remains sub-arctic and there is still no sign of my bloody nails...

 

Starboard 9.....ish

Week 3.

Well, the retarded rivet moment still haunts.

Still no 13g 2" nails, so I decided to temporarily clamp last week's plank in position and continue with the next plank, starboard 9 on the other side.

There was a brief moment when I contemplated using 14g 2's (thinner by 15%) but decided not to run the risk of them either stretching under peining over or buckling as they were driven through the timbers.

So on with starboard 9 which was uneventful. Friday saw gluing up of the scarph, but due to the piss-poor weather I had to get out the brooder lamp and "tent" to cure the epoxy. A slight cock-up with positioning (bit too close to the planking) dried out the wood a bit and a small crack developed overnight......

This was filled with 'poxy and wood flour, but that meant another 24- 48 hrs to cure at ambient (close to absolute zero...).

 

Unbelievable weather we have endured this week; earlier in the week it was positively balmy I seem to remember - I think I even worked in a tee-shirt for a couple of hours; Sunday morning and I was vacuuming bloody snow out of the boat, blown in under the eaves during the overnight blizzard...

Sunday, therefore had limited potential for planking, so thoughts turned else ware.

Having completed over 75% of the planking (albeit not all hung) the boat is beginning to regain its rigidity and so it's time to address the floors. These were seriously packed with wedges in order to reintroduce shape into the hull and were also showing signs of "fatigue". The decision was made during early planking to replace them and last year I scratched around for some timber to do it.  When I found some scrappy bits I tucked them away for later. Well later arrived and after taking out the first floor I retrieved my prizes and assessed the possibilities...

God knows what I was smoking when I bought these lumps, but they were utter crap. Sap all over the place, splits; I'll be lucky extract one floor, let alone 6 or 7...

 

Despite this, a template was made of the plank profiles and some head scratching. There are two options; (a) buy more timber (b) laminate.

So, thinking I have spare offcuts from the planking stock, we'll give lamination a go.

Now, there is a school of thought that says epoxy and Oak do not make good bedfellows but.... I removed planking from the boat that had been epoxied and that would seem to have stood up for 20+ years or so (which is why I use it on the scarphs). The alternative glue is Resorcinol; proven with oak but it needs tight joints and more importantly high-ish temperature to cure (upper 60's F) - and that's in some short supply around here, though I could bring the laminating rig indoors......

Template on lamination. Clamping stops to be added to establish a curve.

Arithmetic

Week 2.

Well, not the now customary tedium of crowing about plank hanging progress this week.

I ran out of rivets and since one of the only two machines in the country which makes them is broken.... I can't carry on without my 13g 2s!!

It all stems from not adding up the sides of the boat; I calculated the amount of 13g 2s (the ones that go through the timber, ribs or frames - whichever terminology you prefer) added on 10% for wastage and forgot I had to plank both sides of the boat.........

But as of Sunday evening #9 port is glued and awaiting cleanup. This is slightly new ground because this is the first plank that will be 100% visible and varnished, so every effort has been made to produce the best and almost invisible joint possible. Time will tell when I take of the clamps in the morning.

I will drop the full length plank onto the trailer bearers and crack on straight away with #9 starboard; hopefully by the time this is done there will be some nails in stock and I can hang back-to-back planks on Saturday and Sunday next week.....(if the dolly pixie is amenable)

Going back a step, to making the latest plank, the CAD exercise last year to plan the plank extraction from the stock boards came into its own for this one. Less than 1/2" to spare on three sides for both plank sections; I'd estimate about 15% wastage max. on the whole board - most satisfying. In addition the forward section went in without any adjustment to the hood end (stem end) - just slotted in... it's about 2mm too wide, but I wasn't going to tempt fate fiddling with it.

One thing that was really odd is that plank below it was one the ones where I "joined the dots" i.e. used the four fixed points known to be of the original plank and created a smooth curve to link them; and it was a smooth curve, there wasn't a kink or wiggle in it. Yet when the templates were made for the latest plank, the bottom edge needed a slight but distinct wave in it to conform to the shape of the "perfect" top edge of the previous plank - doesn't make sense...

During the fitting of this latest plank I noticed that one of the new timbers under the aft deck I put in the other month had split at the top, just under the beamshelf, so I'll have to whip that out and do another one. Also the very first timber on the starboard side (which I discovered was broken at the start of planking) was removed this week and will replaced sometime next week. It's not a big job, just about 14" long and will need negligible steaming, but it was one of the few originals left. There was evidence of significant impact damage at the starboard bow with at least four damaged planks, two badly cracked and repaired with epoxy and a backing pad - this is when it succumbed I suspect.

They're droppping like flies...

March, week 1

...planks that is. Plank #8 starboard hung on Saturday.

The stock boards for this plank were quite a bit thicker than previous ones resulting in a bit of "waste" after planing...

 

The above is accumulated shavings of one 30' plank no wider than 5 3/8" wide.

Nearly 18" deep (or about £50 worth).

The rain tried to put the mockers on things, but with a shoe-horn and a prayer we managed to set the trestles up beside the boat and clean the scarph and prep. the lands in the barn.

Hopefully there won't be any rain next week because I don't think there is room for the trestles on the other side; so the plank would have to be taken outside and brought back into the other side - and that rather defeats the object of keeping it dry. I don't want to consider the prospect of wrapping a wobbly 30' plank in polythene during the shuffle - especially the return journey with paint/varnish on the lands...

An interesting day if nothing less due to climatic high jinks; we start the day as the previous one left off i.e rain. Very soon there is a small pond outside the barn door; by lunchtime this is a reasonable size lake that extends to the vegetable patch and halfway down the drive. At the close of play (19:00) we turn out the lights and find ourselves wading through 2" of snow and modest sized snow-bergs sailing through  what is now a respectable inland sea  - very odd for the 9th of March...

The morning after.

Wedging out of the top side of the latest plank on Sunday to a) maintain the shape b) infill the small triangular gaps left where the timbers curve too abruptly to kiss the edges of the planks. This can be a tiresome job because the not only does the angle of the wedge vary but often the timber doesn't have enough twist to lie flat to the face of the plank and so the wedge also has to be canted to properly fill the gaps.

Edge wedging. Apparent gap at the middle is because the timber is twisted and face edge has lifted.

Much adjustment of the band saw table and the scarph gauge I made last year is needed to do the job properly. Wonder if the pros. bother with this?

Still, next plank off is the last before addressing the issue of removing the sheerstrake and with it the only connection of the timbers to the beamshelf i.e. the "bottom half" of the boat to the "top half" i.e. decks/cabin etc. I need to come up with an idea to independently support this top half so things don't sag. Looks like to only way is hanging it all from the roof, maybe with ratchet straps...

Some dull progress shots:-

Six more to go.

The paler planks will deepen in colour to match the others (hopefully).

 

The more I look at  it, that bloody keel's too long...