More loving work, 8 May 2007 #8 of 11

New rear deck support. Can you see the grooves in the wood in the lower center of the picture? This boat was starting to spread apart at the top. Years ago, someone put a heavy wire from one side to the other to hold it together. I reinforced these corners to eliminate the wires.

More paint in the bilge. Remove, rebuild and paint the steering gear and the horn. The steering gear is the same as a 1946 Studebaker pickup.

More new battens on the side of the hull.

Now we start on the topside planking. You can see the pattern plank and the new one trimmed and ready to go on. Trimming more to get it just right.

The one above is perfect.

The clamping methods I had to innovate for each set of planks.

There it is, all rubbered and screwed in place.

For each plank I had to trim and dry fit it before the glueing. Then I would install a plank on each side. See the long board with the weight? My boat was not true. The stem was not perfectly vertical. I placed a plumb line on the stem and when it was vertical, I glued the second pair of bottom planks in place. They held it true.

This method was used to force the plank down hard against the one below.

The hull now has three planks on each side.

Let me tell you about my planks. I had to order this African mahogany from a place in Michigan. I buy it in different widths 8 to 13 inches, and lengths 8 to 10 feet long. The boards are 1.5 inches thick. Before it is shipped, the supplier re-saws the board into two 3/4 inch thick pieces. You can see the pairs of planks below.

You can see them stacked in the picture above. These two 3/4 inch thick boards are now opened up like a book, and one is placed on the port side, the other on the starboard side. This is called book-page. Each board has it’s own grain and color. When you look at the front of the boat, you will see the same pattern on each side. If that were not done, when it comes time to show the boat, it will be down graded. This pattern will be easier to see after the boat is all varnished.

Before I put them on the boat, they are planned to ½ inch thick This wood is quit expensive. The 1.5 inch thick board costs $12 per square foot, plus the re-sawing which cost 60 cents per square foot. The mahogany and white oak for this boat cost $3600 plus $700 freight. And the sad part of it is, I loose half to planning and trimming to size. So an actual square foot on the boat costs about $25.

Four planks on.


I steamed this board in place. Sadly, it broke, and I lost a $100 board. I had to choose another set of planks, to keep my book-page effect.

Clamping the top planks into place was a real challenge.

All planks are in place. Hoorraahh. It is now 12 July 2007.

That last picture was number 500.

In the picture above, the plank looks straight. But because it is curved around the hull, it has to be shaped in a curve. The plank is about 5 inches wide, but I had to have a 13 inch wide board to start with. This photo is of a lower plank, you can see the curve.

This one is quit long, see you you tomorrow.