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Those lovely lines produced by wrapping the planks around the bulkheads don’t look quite as smooth when inspected closely. Planks are rectangular in profile after all, and the layer of fibreglass needs a nice smooth base, so time to remove some wood. The first stage is to use a sharp fine set plane to remove… Continue reading Fairing the Hull (slowly)

Adding planks underneath rather than on top feels slightly strange. I clamped on a couple of brackets to support the plank while I clamped it in place. In the picture below, you can see the line of epoxy resin filling the groove in the plank, all ready to be fitted in place. The floor provided… Continue reading One side planked

It has been two and a half months since my last post and for most of that there hasn’t been a lot of boat building. Of course Christmas and New Year took time out, and having bronchitis didn’t help. However, work has restarted and progress has been made! Strip planking is complete to the keel.… Continue reading Another Milestone

I haven’t posted an update for quite some time, partly because updating the blog falls somewhat behind seeing grandchildren, boat building, u3a duties and even household chores, but also because another picture of two more strip-planks is not visually stimulating. However, I have now added my first strip-plank that did not need a scarf joint… Continue reading A Milestone of Sorts

I am making steady progress. Every visit to the shed adds another two planks. The closer to the keel I get, the more twist the planks have. At the stem, planks are vertical, while at the transom planks are now horizontal. I have shown in photographs below clamps being used to get the right twist… Continue reading Taking Stock

I could have called this post “little by little, strip by strip”. As the strip planks go further up the hull with planking, they (obviously) follow the curve of of the bulkheads and my clamps no longer fit, both because of length and because of the curve. The picture below shows the last strip fitted… Continue reading Going Round the Bend

When I looked out of the shed door, Sidney was outside checking on progress. He muttered something about me being so slow. I turned around to remonstrate, but he had already gone. I am working as fast as I can Sidney! It is slow work. Adding one strip takes me about an hour and a… Continue reading Planking Progress

But, sailing season is upon us and I need my Cornish Shrimper on the water. The sails are now on and I have the tough problem of splitting my time between sailing and boat building.

Given that strip planking will go on for some time, I decided to show the process in some detail. The first picture below shows the previous strip in place ready for the next to be fixed. I am using West System epoxy and they advise a two-step bonding process. First, the surfaces to be bonded… Continue reading Fixing on a strip plank