After surveying the condition of the planking, I decided to replace all the planking below the waterline. This turned out to me a major undertaking. In all, 38 planks were removed and either repaired or replaced – mostly the latter.
For reference, I labelled the port-side planks P1 to P19 and the starboard planks S1 to S19, with S1 & P1 being the bottom most planks. The first eight planks on both sides were made of Amendoim and installed as single planks with tight-seam construction (no caulking). The remaining planking was double planked using Spanish Cedar for both layers.
I started working bottom-up, alternating sides, until I reached plank number nine, where the planking transitions from single to double planking. The hull is quite flat in this area, which is a good place to locate the shutter plank – the plank that closes up the hull. I proceeded then to work top-down, starting on the starboard side and completing that side before starting on the port side. I reasoned that if I had problems with the shutter plank on starboard, it might be easier to avoid the problem on port by postponing the work there. Ultimately, the shutter plank went in without a hitch, and the port side followed without any serious issues. So the planking project was finally completed in Sept. 2017, four years from when I started!
Much of the details of this project is described in the following documents:
Work on the first five planks is covered in the sequence:
(Replacing the first three planks)
I learned a lot working on the first five planks, so I’ve prepared some related how-to documents. The first two describe determining the shape of a plank, a process called spiling.
(Plank Spiling Procedure)
(Spiling Update)
The third is a description of Carvel planking, which is the method I’ve chosen to replace the original tight-seam construction.
(CarvelPlanking)
Then a discussion of what I did about the multitude of old holes in the frames and back bone.
(Plugging Fastener Holes)
An finally a word about stop waters:
(Stopwaters.html)
(MoreStopwaters)
The next documents describe the work on the remaining planks before the transition plank (S8 & P8).
(PlankingUpdate5-13-2014.pdf)
(PlankingUpdate6-3-2014.pdf)
(S6update.pdf)
(P7Wrap-up.pdf)
(S7PlankRepair.pdf)
(RepairingCrackS7.pdf)
The transition plank is described in the following sequence:
(MakingS8.pdf)
(InstallS8-ID1.pdf)
(MakingFirstInnerPlank.pdf)
(PlankP8.pdf)
The following supporting documents might be helpful:
(CuttingTransitionPlankRabbet.pdf)
(ResawingPlankingStock.pdf)
(DoublePlankingSealant.pdf)
(DoublePlanking.pdf)
(CuttingScarfJoints.pdf)
This completes the transition to double planking. Next we start top-down starting with plank S19.
(TieExistPlanks.pdf)
(S19outerPlank.pdf)
(ReplacingDoublePlanking(rev1).pdf)
Finally we reach the shutter plank.
(Double plank shutter.pgs)
(S9.pdf)
(S10.pdf)
PlankingUpdate.doc