BYYB Forums

More pics....










And a little celebration for getting all but the shutter strips in.  Note the scribe line for the shutter strip to the left of the yummy treat.

Way to go Will. Focus on a good fit with the shutter, it's the last plank you'll have to fit, so take some time on it, as it's pretty important to have a good transition, from the bottom to topside planks.

I'm working on a strip planked deck for a guy. The boat is fairly small (22'), but he wants a "sprung" deck. On small boats, the curves are usually too "quick" to spring decking to the sheer, but I'm trying a new technique.

The deck will be laid with 2x2's, each sprung to the sheer and edge glued. Of course this is way too thick. I'll also add I'm only springing to one side of the boat. The idea is to make 5 or 6 planks fit, clamped against an over size margin board, glued together, then remove the 5 - 6 plank assembly and run it through the band saw on edge, trimming it down to about 1/2" thick assemblies. Now, this is a lot of waste, but I can flip the off cut and use it on the opposite side. Pretty clever right. This allows the grains and colors to be symmetrical on each side of the boat. Once the deck is covered in stock, I'll plane them down smooth, making the deck about 7/16" thick with 1.5" wide planks. I haven't decided on a king plank with nibbed ends or herringbone or what type of end treatment, but the technique should make a good looking deck and everyone will think I went to great pains matching grains and colors from one side to the other.

Sooo.... I got the shutter plank in, but I'm not sure that I'm happy with the final product.  I had difficulties getting everything close to fair (notice I said "close").  Not sure whether to rip it back out and try again or fill the low spots, plane the high spots and make this a convenient spot to start painting the bottom.  The biggest problem I ran into was supporting the underside.  I can't seem to figure out a way to back up the joint from inside the boat.  Add to that the problem pulling the bottom planks fair with the topsides.  Anyway, here's what it looks like now, advice and comments welcome--



PS.  I'm not really worried about the larger gaps.  I had some short end pieces that just didn't match up.  I'm confident that I can replace those and fair them in while I'm filling and fairing the bottom.

The shutter is always a bitch. I'd screw some scraps to the bottom of both the bottom planks and topside planks, so the shutter has something to land on. Tack the shutter to the scraps as needed to hold it down. These bits of scrap can offer a place to put shims too. Thickened epoxy can cure all you ill fitting issues, but this usually doesn't look good under varnish. You'll get it, just don't get in a rush about it.

You mentioned that titebond I tends to release when exposed to water.  Can I rely on this as a way to reset some of these strips?  If so, what's the best way to soak them?

TiteBond I will easily release with moisture, though I wouldn't think about resetting strips, unless you're talking about one or two. In most cases you can just plane or other wise fair strips down. If you have to remove a lot of material, you can increase the sheathing schedule to compensate.

The problem with using moisture to release a strip is you'll likely release more then you want too. In other words, how do you control where the water goes, particularly on a curved surface. If it was me, I'd cut out an offending strip, clean up the mating surfaces, then glue in a replacement. Honestly, I'd done this before and it's difficult to do cleanly. I wouldn't use TiteBond to reinstall the replacement, as clamping and gap filling issues would present some interesting concerns, so I'd opt for epoxy.

How bad is the worst of the strips you'd like to redo?

Out by about 1/4 inch.  I think that if I can enlist a spare set of hands, I can pull them back in line.  I'll make a clamp using some bolts and scrap plywood.  Hate to drill holes in my hull, but I don't see another way.  Fortunately, my epoxy arrived yesterday. I'll have to make sure that I don't make the clamp a permanent part of the boat!

Wrap you clamps and backing pads with plastic packaging tape. This will prevent them from sticking to the goo. I use this tape on everything, often with clear plastic sheeting, to protect things, like a cordless drill, to keep it from getting transfer from my goo covered hands, for example.

I have used plastic wrap, like you use to store food, to cover clamps and tools.  I never thought of the plastic wrap like the roles at the box stores.  It would be handy to have a roll of the stuff at the end of one of the tables in the shop.  The plastic food wrap works but is thin so use 2-3 layers in heavy contact areas.

I use two types of plastic sheeting. The first is the stuff they uses as painters drop cloth, from the hardware store. The thin stuff is only a few mils and I try to get heavier, such as 6 or 9 mils. The other that I use is stiff and non-foldable. Mylar would be a brand name, though I use an off brand.

I don't use food wrap, mostly because it's way too thin, wrinkles easily and doesn't "lay down" well. I also use packaging tape, like the stuff you see sealing boxes closed at the post office. I use the clear stuff, so I can see what I'm doing, but the colored tape works just as well.