I got the starboard plank installed from stem to transom today. I’d have a picture but I stupidly ran down the battery in my wife’s camera. Replacements are on the way.
The thing I learned today is that there are reasons behind the procedures outlined in the instructions. For example, the instructions said to roughly place the plank on the frames, held by clamps, cut to size, clamp back to frames, mark carefully, cut to size and then plank. I decided that was one removal and cutting to many, and so just planked the rough cut, figuring I could fair off the excess. Well, I soon discoverd the method to the apparent madness when the excess below the sheer became so much that I couldn’t fit any clamps I had around the excess to pull the plank to the sheer clamp! What a fool! I had to then cut the excess off while the thing was partially screwed to the boat, glue everywhere…what a mess! Then I ran into the same problem further back on the chine – I couldn’t reach any but my 8″ deep-throated clamp around the excess to grip the chine log. My little time-saver ended up costing me at least three times what I’d saved…..idiot!
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I got the port plank on last night. I had to use two butt blocks to span the side, but it still looks pretty good.
The bend in the plank around the frames towards the stern is pretty severe so, although I had fully attached the middle section, I had to remove the screws on the sheer of the middle planel 18 inches back to allow me to secure the last section and butt block to the middle section. Here’s the view inside from the transom, you can see the 9″ wide butt block between the chine and the sheer towards the stern:
Here’s an odd view from transom along the chine that shows the severity of the bend.
You’ll be amused to hear my little tail of woe. I had the rear panel well clamped along the chine and was pulling the panel in along the sheer using a 6″ C-clamp. I was lying on my back, looking towards the base of the panel when the C-clamp slipped off the sheer (that damned glue is slippery!) and the panel swung out and clobbered that clamp right into my jaw! My Irish blood boiled and my imediate reaction was to punch back, but – only with great restraint – I avoided destroying the entire boat with a sledge hammer.
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I got started on planking late in the day. The port-side forward side plank was fit as described in the construction plans. I’m glad that I had the experience with the fitting the planks on the Ranger. While not much like the lapstrake boat, it was handy having at least something upon which to go. Lucky for me, Mike showed up as I was starting to screw the panel on and helped out. Here’s a shot, from the bow, of the first panel in place…
Here’s another view, this time from aft of the plank. I’ll have to add a butt-block to join the two panels and yet a third to reach the transom. The lines look good so far. I’m excited!
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