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And thus the work proceeds;
the two tackles hoisting and lowering simultaneously;
both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing,
the blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing,
the ship straining, and all hands swearing occasionally,
by way of assuaging the general friction. —Herman Melville

Ahoy,

Now that the hot weather is here, we've decided to work on the boat once more. The temperature today should again be 100 plus, so it's almost summer and time enough to sweat in the hot Arizona sun. Honestly, this is the first time in a long time that we've been able to work on the boat.

Our immediate focus is on the deck planking. However, before we can begin laying the planking, we needed to fit a kingplank and covering boards. Our deck planking will be straight rather than curved.

Certainly, I like curved planking, but the deck area on these boats is small, perhaps too small for intricate detail. At least, that's our reasoning for doing what we did.

You Ain't Nothing but a Hound dog
Elvis may be undisputed king, but a bloodwood kingplank takes second place to no one, not even the king himself. We rough cut our covering boards, and then, cut the kingplank—



The mooring bitt commented on how nice the foredeck now looks. Admittedly, we have ignored the mooring bitt and for good reason, given his propensity for the camera. He muscles his way into any photo he can.

Apparently, everything needs to be cut within 1/8 inch with all cuts being consistent and precise. At the moment, the cuts are far too exact for a true nautical fit. We need to have joints you can throw a cat through. Actually, the planking needs expansion joints, not tight fits.


Run for Cover
The plank sheers or covering boards themselves have been fit to the curvature of the hull with a rough leading edge—



Usually plank sheers are relatively short. Some of ours, however, are close to 9 feet. All of the plank sheer joints will eventually be joined with a box scarf. For now, though, the plank sheers simply need to be rough fitted.




The King Again
We approached the general size of the plank sheers near the bow. Placed each on the deck near the kingplank and stood back to see how everything might look. Not too bad, not too bad.



There's still a lot of work to do, but the plank sheers are now closer to being finished with the foredeck looking almost respectable. As to the mooring bitt, let's ignore him for the moment, shall we? Just hope Bill Olney does not bad-mouth my boat too much. There's no telling what Willy Schlein might say. I can say, though, that Willy convinced me that a true Spruce mast is the way to spruce up a boat. Bill found a local supplier just the other day and immediately ordered Sitka spruce stock on my behalf.

You want to know how long it will be before we start the mast? Well, Two Years before the Mast— isn't that nautical enough?

Jim, those planks are gonna be really sharp. Glad to see youre back at it. I was beginning to think you were waiting until global warming was peaking and Glendale was waterfront property. BTW I dont know if you noticed but looking at your pics it seemed to me that your deck has two big holes in it near the bow at starboard. You might want to fix that. You should probably check the hull for similar problems...... :wink:

Jim wanted gaps big enough to throw a cat through, one can get the cat, the other can at least get a kitten, or Sheba the mighty sea dog (which is about the same size)... maybe it is for an escape hatch for the fearsom beast

actually i think they are for more nautical type adornments like vents or whatever they are called that popeye is always getting stuffed into.

Ahoy!

Holes in the deck? How did those holes get there? I looked on port this morning, and there was another hole. Three holes in the foredeck, all leading to the anchor locker.

Yes, Ken— I took your advice and checked the hull. Another hole on port, above the waterline and apparently for a bilge drain, or so I am told. Then, I took a look at the bottom hull. Another hole, in fact three holes: one for the rudder assembly, one for the motor shaft, and one for a raw water inlet. I am beginning to wonder if this boat is going float afterall. I had always thought the idea was to keep the boat on the water and the water out of the boat. Maybe on the maiden launch, I could persuade Ken Connors or Bill Olney to be aboard as we venture forth.

At the moment, the laid deck is a bit more problematic. In fact, I could use some help here. By that I mean some tried and true nautical advice. I just don't know what these decks are suppose to look like. Maybe Paul Riccelli, or Barry Pyeatt will see this posting and post a posting of their own.

Back to the laid deck, though— the foredeck seems to look OK. The sheer planks, of course, have only been rough cut but within approximate size. I took a black felt marker and began laying out the lines for the planks. (I apologize for the bright sunlight, but you should be able to make out the layout lines on starboard)—



Everything looked as I had expected. The kingplank did not seem overpowering. The straight planking seemed in proportion. The hatch opening, of course, will need to have border. Nothing looked too busy, or too complicated. All of the vertical planks will be nibbed into the covering boards. Here is another photo—



Just for fun, I extended my lines along the deck, and even marked the aft deck. Admittedly, even an 1/8 variation over a 27 foot span can make a huge difference, but that was not what I noticed. The planks along the cabin sides and cockpit tend to follow a sharp acute angle. Once we reach the aft deck, the angle tends once again to approximate the straight deck of the foredeck area.

What I am trying to say is that the side decking looks strange. Maybe what I should do is to lay a straight planking for the fore and aft decks with sprung planking for the side decks. What is the concensus here? Did I overlook something in the Stevenson plans?

Is this how the deck should be laid: straight, sprung, and then, straight?
Or are the angled planks near the cockpit suppose to look that way?

What am I overlooking?

If you know the answer, please tell me. Even if you don't know the answer, but have an opinion, please share it with me. It may well be a straight deck will simply not work, given the small side decks and acute angles. I may have to install sprung (or curved) decking.

The deck planks I don't know of Jim; but, what are you using a raw water inlet for????????????

Jim, i still think that you should have just used that fiberglass cloth that looked like oak, that stuff is very salty and would have saved you a ton of time, i will still buy it for you if you want... i am sure that they still have it

Ahoy,

Ferenc Maté's book, From a Bare Hull, includes a small photo of a boat with straight fore and aft decking as well as sprung decking following the contour of the hull along the cabin perimeters. Because the photo is small, the details are difficult to trace. Yet, the overall impression seems balanced enough without calling attention to itself. I may give this a try.

I spoke with Barry Pyeatt earlier today, and he mentioned having seen such a layout. He also suggested that a sprung deck might be a better fit, given the contour and size of these boats. I was not able to speak with Paul Riccelli yet. However, he did call when we were out. I have full confidence in both of these salts. If neither of these shipwrights have the answer, there is no answer.

I may yet have to go with the sprung decking, but I honestly like the clean look of the straight decking in the foredeck area. Curved lines might be just as good, and maybe not all that difficult to do.

Most books talk about how difficult a sprung decking can be to install. You have to use wedges and weights, and hope for the best. Kenny Mann made a suggestion to me that might work and save material as well. If we work with narrower strips, the wood planking would be much easier to bend. We could still end up with each plank being 1 7/8 inches wide by bending the first strip and then, forcing the other strip to conform to the curve. If done correctly, the butt joint between the two strips would be almost imperceptible.

Under full sail and a full moon with waves undulating on every side and sea brine blowing in your face, I doubt that anyone would even notice the joint. I am pondering before I begin building. On the other hand, maybe Bill Olney's cheap fix would be the best approach.

Craig, the inlet is for deck washing, showers, and possible water fights. Where you live, the sailors are respectable; the BYYB bunch out here has no shame whatsoever. They act like they are your friend and suddenly, drench you to the bone with a water cannon. I have seen it happen. John Teetsel even capsized Bill Olney's boat with Bill in the boat. All of that right in front of an armed park ranger, mind you.

There are two general types of decking, one uses reasonably large dimension lumber, often tongue and grooved and these are sprung or straight laid. The other is a veneer decking, which is usually a plywood substrate with a thin veneer of decking material glued to the surface, which simulates laid decking.

The advantages are a leak free deck in a properly applied veneer deck, which isn't the case for very long, on a traditional laid deck.

Veneers run from about a 1/4" to 1/2" thick, with much over this becoming thick enough to be laid. For a heavily worked vessel, a 3/4" teak decking material will wear down to 3/8" in ten years. A gently cared for sloop could have this thickness last 50 years.

As a rule, veneer is usually 1/4" to 3/8" thick, with 3/8" used on larger and 1/4" on small craft.

As to the practical nature of applying a decking treatment, several considerations are offered to the boat style gods and acceptable verdicts are; straight laid for small craft with sprung on larger vessels having less (spring) in their sheer plan.

In may be noted, it is a real test of craftsmanship to apply a sprung veneer deck, that looks as good as a laid deck. This is because The thin planks will require a lot of "edge set" to conform to the relatively quick curves found on small craft. Edge set control requires lots of fastener force, which is difficult to maintain with thin lumber, hence the reason most small yachts have straight laid decks.

Sprung decking was a more expensive option in decking, for obvious labor and material waste reasons.

Straight decking will develop some pretty interesting shapes on the side decks, particularly around midship, where the curve transitions from fore to aft. This is often difficult to avoid as is any occasion you mix straight lines with curves. I've designed straight decks that weren't exactly straight to address this issue. I've also done both styles on the same boat (straight and sprung), but in every case I've noted, the deck had a break in it somewhere if both decking types were employed. By this I mean the it was a raised deck or broken sheer design.

Most typically, the king plank is larger in dimension then the mooring post base and also is wider at its after end. All things attached or built into the deck, which stick up, like cabins, hatch comings, hardware, etc., usually have a covering board style of trim around the base of each protrusion and a 1/4 round to finish off the edge. These trim pieces and covering boards are also slightly wider and thicker then the "field" planks, though not as tall as the king plank.

I've seen it done both ways, but I do my decks with the trim and covering pieces last, which includes the king plank. This permits me to lay the "field" and then fit a covering or trim piece later. I find it easier to fit one king plank with several precise cuts, then precisely cut and fit many planks.

Ahoy, Paul—

Thanks for the helpful comments. Yes, I can see what you are saying. Having a leak free deck is rather appealing to me. Our deck, of course, is veneer milled to 1/4 thickness.

Sheer Beauty and Sheer Curves
You are absolutely right about trying to force thin stock to follow the curvature of the hull. It can be done alright, but much like Sheba Girl, the famous and fearless sea dog, much like Sheba who can walk on her hind legs; it can be done but not very well. Kenny Mann's suggestion of ripping the stock into narrow pieces, and then laminating the pieces into progressively wider stock on deck might work rather well. True, that would be time consuming, but the option is much better than having a board suddenly and without warning leap from the deck and slap you in the face. Or, worse yet, split at a critical juncture just as you are gluing everything down.

Higher and Lower Planes
The kingplank needs to be a raised surface then, a somewhat thicker stock than the veneer with the covering boards being thicker than the veneer planking, but not as thick as the kingplank. Yes, we can do that.
Apparently, the kingplank needs a cove edging as well?

A question here that might be raised about the covering boards on a vessel this size. If I understand you correctly, the covering boards need to be slightly thicker than the veneer planking. Given the narrow and confined deck area on these vessels, would a raised covering board be prudent, by that I mean, safe? However, on the other hand, I suppose having a slightly raised surface might allow a novice sailor like myself to walk the deck a little bit more easily since the raised surface would, in effect, provide a toe-hold. Is that the idea? Should the edge of the covering boards have a routed edge as well?

Give Me a Break
Paul, I like the idea of straight at fore and aft with sprung at midship. A broken sheer with raised surface would add to the beauty of the design. Initially, I had planned to make everything the same plane or thickness.

I would think these slightly raised and lower surfaces would give the deck a quiet finished look, much like trim or finished edging on furniture. Often, it's the small and almost imperceptible change that makes a huge difference.

Well, such is my understanding. I hope I've understood you correctly. Maybe we can speak over the phone today. In the meantime, I plan to do so more preliminary layout on the deck, stand back, and look everything over.

Ahoy,

Here's a brief update. We're undecided. Spantex is looking better all the time— Spantax with mahogany sheer planking might be just the solution we need.

In the meantime, however, Barry Pyeatt has offered some encouraging comments, along with a possible solution or two. Paul Riccelli and I will be speaking again tomorrow. Paul is recovering from having to work on a fence at his home, and from the loss of the America's Cup. I reassured him that losing to the Italians could not be all that bad.

Also, today I heard from Willy Schlein, who is an architect. Willy will be back in town in a few days, so we will discuss some possibilities then.

The task of a laid deck (in our case, more properly speaking a veneer deck) is not all that daunting, though such a deck will require some rather labour intensive hours. The problem is more of the superstructure and sheer lines of the boat itself. Everything has to harmonize, and that's the problem. What looks good in one sector simply won't work in another sector.

Next to Spantex , the most viable solution might be the sprung deck. A sprung deck would at least follow the curvature of the hull. I just don't know right now; I really don't. The design element has me stymied, even confused.