12-29-2008, 10:32 PM
Teak decks, mahogany king planks and covering boards (the boards that surround the deck edge) are lovely, very yacht like and stylish. They also are heavy, expensive and difficult to install, if you've never done it before.
Having "sprung" my fair share of decks planks, I can tell you it's hard, demanding work. You just can't do it with inferior stock or planks of the wrong grain or dimension. If you try, as a few have found in their attempts, is they stock wants to cup, twist, pucker and just about everything other then lay down nice and neat.
Enter the veneers. Pictured (yep, lousy images) are the beginning stages of a teak deck with mahogany king plank (centerline board) and covering boards. I'm just placing them and arranging the layout.
These "planks" (a term used loosely) are 1/16" veneers for the teak and 1/10" for the mahogany. It's a bit like handling heavy cardboard and cuts the same way, with a utility knife.
[attachment=1][attachment=2]
In the images you see a king plank, divided in two by a foredeck hatch all of mahogany. The first few teak planks are taped or clamped in place also. I'm electing to forgo the usually caulked seam treatment, for a tight seam look. Instead of a caulk line, I'll gently ease the edges of each plank with a slight roll over and butt them tight. This will create a shadow line and accent the separate planks, but without the bother of caulking hundreds of linear feet of seams.
Veneer decking is easy to do if you work carefully. You'll need a long straight edge and a long, flat, smooth work area. Cutting is as simple as using a utility knife.
[attachment=3]
If you get fancy, you can work in curved ends, dovetails, etc., but the best looking decks have the simplest of layouts usually. The forward end of the king plank has a curve that meets the bow and covering boards, the covering board has another curve that meets the king plank, the hatch corners are mitered and rounded. If you start getting fancy like this, you have to make "mirror" cuts. That is a cut that has a neighbor with the same, but opposite edge. It looks terrible if they don't match well. Try to avoid long skinny points in your layout, which tend to lift up and break off. Nibbing is the typical way around this problem. A nib is when you cut off the point on the end of a plank and make up the difference with the adjacent plank.
When buying veneer, get the un-backed stuff and as thick as you can get it. The paper and cloth packed veneers are for cabinet making, aren't usually water proof and can make the job more difficult. Also select a straight grain, quarter or rift sawn stock.
You can't bend this stuff sideways, very far, before it tries to buckle, so don't even try. Small boats have "quick" curves, much too quick for sprung planking, so it'll have to lay straight. On this deck the planks are "splayed" slightly off the centerline, but only a few degrees to match the taper of the king plank.
Scale is also important. Wide planks looks very workboat like, narrow more yacht like. I'm using 2.125" wide stuff. I tried three different widths until I settled on this size.
The cost, expect to pay between 4 to 6 bucks per sq. ft. of teak and about the same for mahogany if you get good stuff. I'm using Honduras, without any "figuring". A couple of hundred dollars can do the decks of a Weekender.
The weight isn't an issue, as this stuff is so thin. On this CS-17, it might add 6 or 7 pounds to the total weight of the boat (about 1.5%), which isn't enough to get excited about.
Food for thought . . .
Having "sprung" my fair share of decks planks, I can tell you it's hard, demanding work. You just can't do it with inferior stock or planks of the wrong grain or dimension. If you try, as a few have found in their attempts, is they stock wants to cup, twist, pucker and just about everything other then lay down nice and neat.
Enter the veneers. Pictured (yep, lousy images) are the beginning stages of a teak deck with mahogany king plank (centerline board) and covering boards. I'm just placing them and arranging the layout.
These "planks" (a term used loosely) are 1/16" veneers for the teak and 1/10" for the mahogany. It's a bit like handling heavy cardboard and cuts the same way, with a utility knife.
[attachment=1][attachment=2]
In the images you see a king plank, divided in two by a foredeck hatch all of mahogany. The first few teak planks are taped or clamped in place also. I'm electing to forgo the usually caulked seam treatment, for a tight seam look. Instead of a caulk line, I'll gently ease the edges of each plank with a slight roll over and butt them tight. This will create a shadow line and accent the separate planks, but without the bother of caulking hundreds of linear feet of seams.
Veneer decking is easy to do if you work carefully. You'll need a long straight edge and a long, flat, smooth work area. Cutting is as simple as using a utility knife.
[attachment=3]
If you get fancy, you can work in curved ends, dovetails, etc., but the best looking decks have the simplest of layouts usually. The forward end of the king plank has a curve that meets the bow and covering boards, the covering board has another curve that meets the king plank, the hatch corners are mitered and rounded. If you start getting fancy like this, you have to make "mirror" cuts. That is a cut that has a neighbor with the same, but opposite edge. It looks terrible if they don't match well. Try to avoid long skinny points in your layout, which tend to lift up and break off. Nibbing is the typical way around this problem. A nib is when you cut off the point on the end of a plank and make up the difference with the adjacent plank.
When buying veneer, get the un-backed stuff and as thick as you can get it. The paper and cloth packed veneers are for cabinet making, aren't usually water proof and can make the job more difficult. Also select a straight grain, quarter or rift sawn stock.
You can't bend this stuff sideways, very far, before it tries to buckle, so don't even try. Small boats have "quick" curves, much too quick for sprung planking, so it'll have to lay straight. On this deck the planks are "splayed" slightly off the centerline, but only a few degrees to match the taper of the king plank.
Scale is also important. Wide planks looks very workboat like, narrow more yacht like. I'm using 2.125" wide stuff. I tried three different widths until I settled on this size.
The cost, expect to pay between 4 to 6 bucks per sq. ft. of teak and about the same for mahogany if you get good stuff. I'm using Honduras, without any "figuring". A couple of hundred dollars can do the decks of a Weekender.
The weight isn't an issue, as this stuff is so thin. On this CS-17, it might add 6 or 7 pounds to the total weight of the boat (about 1.5%), which isn't enough to get excited about.
Food for thought . . .