Rabbet Line

How is a rabbet line calculated?

I have the plans for the International Dragon, and they have a faint line in approximately the right position, but there is not a dimension to it or on it.

 

Do you have the complete set of plans and table of offsets intended for a builder? If so there should be enough information to determine the location of the rabbet or bearding line. Different designers provide the information in different ways though.

Or do you have just a lines plan?

 

You loft to the outside planking and then deduct the planking thickness. The intersection of the inside of the planking with the keel and bowstem is what determines the rabbet line. There are two: the actual rabbet at the end edge of the plank, and the back rabbet..

 

"The bearding line is formed by the intersection of the inside of the planking with the face or side of the keel, just as the rabbet was formed by the intersection of the outside of the planking with the side of the keel."
p 107 Boatbuilding, Howard I. Chapelle

 

Different names for the same thing

 

I see. These plans are drawn to the outside of plank, and I just read in another book that this is also called "drawing to the rabbet line".

So I have the rabbet line, the only thing left to lay out is the bearding line.

 

Yup... Gonzo's nailed it