what to do with the deck.

If they go easy then may be ok, the thing to watch is how they fair into the next length, some extra bend in the ends is the "tough" part at the butt or scarf. Middle = easy, Ends = hard. It's not uncommon to find that butts haven't pulled down& that the outside has been planed in a bit to fair, of course in the meantime no one knew or worried/cared.

Jeff.

 

Thanks jeff. I was surprised how easy they were to bend . So the main thing is to make sure the ends fit properly. It is only a slight bend at that part of the hull. Maybe 1 inch deflection over 2 mt.

 

I'm assuming the lumber is Doug Fir,and I would advise leaving them in place for at least 2 days before testing them. The thicker the lumber the longer it needs to keep the bend.











doug

 

Yes it is doug. This plank seems to bend a lot easier than the last 1 i bought. Both are old recycled pieces.

 

Got the oregon planks pulled in nicely. I haved used cup head galvanized bolts for the top 3 sections . The boat has a lot of gal bolts around the deck level and they are still in good condition after 57 years. I found it so much easier than rivets. . Question: is it a good idea to fill the bolt holes with epoxy putty to protect the cup heads or just use linseed putty as normal. I may not have explained myself properly. I am talking about filling the countersunk holes on the outside of the hull. I thought epoxy might help protect the gal bolt heads a bit better.

 

In earlier posts about laying the new ply deck it was recommended to make it the thickness of the old deck. Is that a strength thing or to mate up up to the cabin sides. I was thinking 2 layers of 9mm should be extremely strong with cloth and epoxy as well. Thats 18mm plus glass.

 

Plywood is only 2/3's the longitudinal strength and stiffness of solid wood, so you always error on the side of the same or slightly more thickness, with a plywood conversion in the scantlings. You usually pay a small weight penalty with this approach, but if weight is critical you can laminate the plywood (multiple canted layers), so the you can get very close, if not a wee bit lighter. You application doesn't have this concern.

 

Thanks par. I will use 2 layers of 15mm then.

 

Can i use a circular saw to open plank seams for caulking or do i need to rake them out with a file ground to a taper. The planks on my boat are touching on the inside and they have a gap for caulking which is about 20mm deep on the outside. I have a file which has been ground down for raking but i thought the saw might be quicker if it had a battern to keep it in line. I am not a craftsman as you can tell but i still want the job to look good. Also a local plank boat builder is advertising cartridges of goo that replace cotton altogether. I don't know how it would tension the hull though. Has anyone come across this type of product.

 

The saw will be difficult to control and unless you have a custom ground blade, it'll make the wrong shape seam. If the planks are touching on the inside, the seams just need to be reefed out. Lastly I've seen many a carvel boat ruined with magic goo's in a tube. The caulk serves two purposes on a boat, the primary one is to edge set each plank against the next, which tensions the assembly of planks, the second is to seal the seams. Goo in a tube will only do the sealing and without the planks being edge set, they'll move around and rip all the magic goo out of the seams pretty quickly.

There's only a few ways to deal with seams on a carvel, one is to caulk it normally, another is the wedge seam it or what some call spines. There are other things too, like molding a veneer over it and even strip planking and 'glassing her, but in all honesty, caulking her properly is the cheapest, fastest and best thing you can do.

 

Thanks paul. My boat is tight as a drum . I only need to caulk the repair i am doing. I was surprised to see the builder advertising the goo because he is well known plank builder. Do you reef out the seams to a taper or straight.

 

Seams are tapered.

 

Thanks

 

rakes

I think I attached some pics to this post... for some reason my caulking box is in the dining room.... so handy.
Just get a file, heat and bend then grind what you need for the seams, the sides need some shape.... narrower at the back than front so the edges can "cut" a little, a little grind now and then tunes them up.

Jeff.

 

Thanks jeff. The file i have has been made exactly as you describe. It was in the boat with a ball of cotton . I have a caulking iron . Will have to grind that down a bit to match the raking tool.