Planking, this and that, failed wood.
For the next few months, we’ll be working very hard to get the planking finished up. You’ll be seeing lots of planking in here.
The zipper frames have been addressed, and now the crew is getting back into their planking rhythm. First, fairing the frames. We stretch string across the frames and sight down it to identify high or low spots
This is an old technique, and we’ve got photos of guys doing this around the turn of the century. These days you’ll often see people fairing frames using a flexible batten. The batten does a more precise job, but the tradeoff is that you have to constantly attach it, mark the high spots, and then remove it. The string just slides up out of the way for you to do a little planing, and then slides right back down into position. It’s fast and efficient.
After the frames are faired, the plank is patterned on the boat and that pattern is taken down to the shop where it’s used to shape a new plank. Here, Barry is finishing up an aft plank.
The aft planks have a lot of shape to them, as you can see by the curve at the right.
We call these planks “hockey sticks.”
They get a good steaming,
and then are hauled up to the aft end of the boat by hand.
Sometimes it’s easier to get the crew together and have them carry the planks from the steam box to the boat, rather than use the forklift. They can move quickly as a group, and this is critical with these aft planks. These planks must take a lot of bend, and we want them to be as hot as possible when they’re installed. That’s why we wrap them in canvas for as long as possible.
This plank is being held in position while the aft end is fastened to the boat. You can see the aft end of the plank going around the upper corner there to the right.
Once that end is fastened, the forward end of the plank is hauled up using the block and tackle, and the plank is wrapped around the boat.
Up at the front of the boat, the outer bulwarks planking is now finished.
(you’re right at the front of the boat, looking along the starboard side. The stem is just out of frame to the right)
Next in the bow will be a part called the molded strake. More on that later.
Meanwhile, just about every day the steam box is running and another plank is going on.
After the plank is bent and wrestled into position, We let it cool for a day. Any fine tuning that needs to be done is then addressed by the person who made the plank, such as fitting a butt joint or the hood end. Then, the young bucks come along and start drilling holes and pounding trunnels.
That’s Ginger doing a little fine-tuning on a named trunnel. We have a promotion here where you can put your name on a trunnel that will be driven into the boat. Only $5, and you get to be a part of history. We think it’s a nifty thing and apparently so do lots of visitors, because we have buckets of these special trunnels. We’re using them all, too.
Driven trunnels, waiting to be cut off, wedged, and driven home.
Evie has been spending a lot of time caulking. This is her first year doing it seriously and we’ve come to depend on her.
First she reefs out the old caulking,
and then drives in the new cotton and oakum.
Walt, Kevin, and John S have been working at the aft end of the boat. Here, Walt is driving home some spikes holding the upper plank called the sheer strake.
For you old tool lovers, that’s a pin maul that he’s using to drive the spikes. You turn it around and use the thinner end as a big nail set to drive the spikes all the way down into their countersinks. Yes, someone else hits the pin maul while you hold it steady. Only a zen master boatbuilder would set a spike by swinging the pointy end at it. And even he would probably decline…
Kevin has been working on some old damaged decking at the aft end of the boat. Here he’s using a router with a set of guides (the light pine boards) to cut out a square step that he’ll use to lap in a new length of decking.
And here’s the decking that he’s working on.
He’s cutting the shoulder of the lapped section here.
Walt has also been working on the covering boards. These wide boards cap the frames at the level of the deck. In a few locations, the frames protrude through.
The covering boards on the Morgan have a fancy beaded outer edge.
These are cut by hand, no routers used. Just below the covering board is the sheer strake. This is the port side, and the photo of Walt driving the spikes was taken on the starboard side.
John S has been working on the transom boards now that the tail feathers are installed and faired. He steamed these on the other day.
They’re temporarily clamped here to produce the proper bend that they’ll need when they’re in their final locations.
There are also tons of other little projects that come up throughout the week. Shawn worked on cleaning off the bronze rudder pintles the other day.
That’s one of those thankless, dull tasks that simply has to be done. Thanks Shawn.
Bob and Ryan have been driving out old metal rods and peening over the new ones. Here, Bob has strapped in a big bucking iron to help keep the rod from moving while Ryan peens from inside of the boat.
And then, there are whaleboat parts that need to be cast in bronze. Walt has made patterns for these that will be cast by our good friend Sharon at Mystic River Foundry.
He shows how the wooden tapered dowel and rectangle will go together to form the mold for the bronze oarlock that you see in the picture.
Like this.
The final parts are coated with epoxy to make them release from the mold smoothly.
And as long as I’m in rambling mode… a while back someone asked about that white stuff between the frames… here’s the salt that we (and by “we” I mean “everyone who steps up to do this long, dusty, and thankless task”) pack in between the frames.
Matt’s been working on new stem pieces.
After getting the shape he wants drawn onto the part, he uses an adze to cut to his lines. It may look rough, but it can be very precise work.
The beaded covering boards that Walt was working on stop about 22′ from the bow of the boat. At that point, the bead detail is continued through to the front of the boat in the form of a thick part called the beaded strake. These have to handle a pretty severe bend with some twist, so we soaked them in the river overnight to get them extra moist before steaming.
Port side went on quite well.
The light board on the bottom is the new beaded strake. The beads will be cut into it after it’s been attached to the frames.
On starboard, it was a different matter. The wood couldn’t handle the curve, and sheared. The arrows mark the shear line.
One thing about bending thick parts is that you’re asking the wood to stretch on the outer face of the bend and compress on the inner face. This is because the radius is larger on the outside of the bend than on the inside of the bend. You can really see the effect of this when the wood fails.
Here’s the failed part. The wood sheared just below the writing. You can see that the bottom of the writing has shifted over about 3/8″ to relieve the strain of the bend.
We’ll start work on a replacement tomorrow.