Month: November 2015

My planking measured 3/16″ x 2 7/8″, the vast majority of it clear, close grained, quartersawn.  Very good cedar.  Tacks were 13/16″ from DB Gurney.  Anywhere the planking was bent much, either strong twist or cupped around the bilge, I soaked it in rags I kept in the boiling kettle.  A couple minutes softens everything up so it will bend without fracturing.  I also soaked any place it looked like a tack might split a plank – like at the transom ends.    The ends of the half ribs are held down with bent nails from inside the form that get pushed out of the way as planking proceeds.  Half done with the bottom

The gored area

I took the planking within 2 planks of the gunwale and took the boat off the form.  The residual tension in the ribs/gunwales fractured one of the gunwales when everything expanded – I removed the broken gunwale –and put a new one in.  It took most of a day.  Below – pulling the hull with the new gunwale into shape –And all tied together at the stem and transom.

There are 54 main ribs, 2 1/2″ x 3/8″.  There are a few less half-ribs that will go on after I fair the main ones.  There was a preponderance of close-grained, quarter-sawn material in my rib stock, which is not best suited for bending – but with cedar you use what you have for material.  We broke 6 ribs out of the original 54, and bent the replacements the next day.  This bending experience was difficult than others I have had; next time I am going to soak the ribs overnight, use a bigger burner and make a bigger steam box.  My present burner is a 15,000 BTU gas hotplate and I am upgrading to a 54,000 BTU blaster from King Kooker.  My box is now 6×6″ inside, and I will make one at least 8×8″, as well as monitor the temperature inside the box.  You need 200 degrees F.  The ribs have a 3/4″ taper over the last 12″ of one side to visually offset the cant of the backup bands.  The ‘bevel goes to the center’ of the form.  The ribs that bent without breaking required slow, steady pressure that took somewhere around 30-60 seconds to bend each side, once started.  You can feel the wood give as it takes the turn of the bilge, but past the turn there is little bending going on and  this is where some of the retained tension is.I had a helper, John Leonard, working opposite me.  By the end of the first day, the form looked like this – the spaces are the broken rib spots.  We developed a fear of working up at the stem.

All the ribs on.