Lapstrake sharpies?

[troy2000]

That's a very interesting idea, Par. If I go with planking instead of sheet plywood, I'll seriously consider doing it.

And by the way, I think I blew my vocabulary again. When I talked about making just the garboards out of plywood, I was speaking of the first plank, the one that fastens to the chine. But I guess the first plank is only a garboard on a round-bottomed hull, where it fastens to the keel. What would the first side plank on a chined hull be called?

[troy2000]

Another question on planking, whether it be carvel or lapstrake. Chapelle says that working sharpies were generally '3-plank' boats; they had three planks to a side.

My question? The sides on those sharpies tapered from three feet or more at the stem, to not much more than a foot at the stern. Were those three lines of plank tapered and carried from stem to stern, or did the first (and maybe even second) strake die into the chine, and use stealers to get rid of the long, pointed ends?

[gonzo]

You have a first, bottom plank with a lot of shape in the bottom edge. The other two are parallel.

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by gonzo

You have a first, bottom plank with a lot of shape in the bottom edge. The other two are parallel.

Keep in mind that I'm pretty much a lone nut case out here in the desert, surrounded by fiberglass ski boats. I haven't had the advantages of hanging out in traditional boat crowds all my life. So I have a fair amount of book learning, piled on top of my experiences with my own creations. Like most self-taught people, that means there are probably gaps in my education big enough to drive a Mack truck through....

But unless I'm wrong, there shouldn't be much shape in the bottom plank either. I've built smaller skinny skiffs and flat-bottomed sailing canoes in the past, with sides that were shaped dead straight at the chine and the gunwale. The sheer and rocker came from how the bottom and the topsides beam were tweaked at stations, not by cutting curves. My dories, on the other hand, had shaped planks...sometimes to an extreme.

Never mind all that, though. You're saying the three planks in the traditional sharpies were carried from end to end?

[gonzo]

The Chapelle sharpies are all three planks. He even had the layout for them in some plans.

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by gonzo

The Chapelle sharpies are all three planks. He even had the layout for them in some plans.

Thanks. I hadn't noticed a planking layout in the Chapelle plans I've been looking at. Of course, I've also been bellyaching about the illegibility of what I've been looking at.

I started working on a scale model of what I want last night, so hopefully I'll have something tangible to show for discussion shortly. Of course, work is getting in the way, and the family expects me home for a couple of days for Thanksgiving. It's most annoying when life interferes with what I'm really up to....

I changed my mind about the size of the model, though. I was going to build it at 1-1/2"=1'-0". Then reality reared its ugly head again. I'll be dragging it between two houses, the motor home I stay in while working, and work itself, and doing that in a Nissan Frontier King Cab that will also have my Beagles, guns, tools and dirty laundry in it. I decided it would be insane to carry a 45" model sharpie around under those conditions; one 30" long is going to be bad enough.

[PAR]

The planks were not usually parallel, though they looked like it. The hull is "lined off" and the distanced portioned up. The shear plank was typically slightly taller (wider) then the second one down. It was also often slightly thicker too. All reduced in width until after midships, then increased in width (again) towards the stern.

[gonzo]

The ones I've seen in North Carolina, including new motor skiffs, get the upper planks edge set.

[boat fan]

Originally Posted by troy2000

That's a very interesting idea, Par. If I go with planking instead of sheet plywood, I'll seriously consider doing it...

Why could you not use this with plywood also ?

[gonzo]

You can lapstrake with plywood too.

[PAR]

I don't understand the question. You can lapstrake compound curves regardless of the the planking material. Unlike other methods of building, lap doesn't require or need edge set to work, so long as the planks are shaped properly.

[gonzo]

Sometimes when you cut a board it springs and it take a bit of edge set to get it back.

[boat fan]

Originally Posted by PAR

I don't understand the question. You can lapstrake compound curves regardless of the the planking material. Unlike other methods of building, lap doesn't require or need edge set to work, so long as the planks are shaped properly.

Yes PAR excactly.That was my point,

If I go with planking instead of sheet plywood, I'll seriously consider doing it...

In the quote above ,the way this is written , it sounded like troy 2000 would only use it with "planking" i.e. Solid lumber lapstrake.....?

I would use your method with Plywood.
Using that universal arc would look excellent !

[troy2000]

Originally Posted by boat fan

Yes PAR excactly.That was my point,


In the quote above ,the way this is written , it sounded like troy 2000 would only use it with "planking" i.e. Solid lumber lapstrake.....?

I would use your method with Plywood.
Using that universal arc would look excellent !

I didn't mean to imply I would be restricting myself to solid wood planking; glued lapstrake ply would do just fine. But of course, sheet plywood wouldn't work; you'd never get it to wrap around the compound curves.

[boat fan]

O K , understood troy.......just a matter of my interpretation....internet can be like that sometimes my apologies.........

I think if you built it like PAR`s drawing in glued ply lap , it could look stunning.