Beginner need some help for the first plank....

[Chris]

This evening I shaped about 10 or 12cm of the stems and installed them an the stemmoulds, after that I fixed all of the moulds with a long plank all over the top. Now I have two questions for going on:

1. The stems looks now a little bit unfair (I had faired the mould before surely ). Shall I look now for the inner stem to be fair, or is it just no problem because of the following shapes I have to make, when I start plankig?

2. The first plank....
I just noticed, that it was maybe not a good idea to cut all moulds at the sheerline - as drawn in the plans. There was no hint in "canoecraft" to gice 1 or 2 mor inches of space downwarts to get some space for the clamps... just noticed it an the photos. But thats not a big deal I think, what I am wondering about is, how to install the first plank of the Ffreedom 17:

I read in "building Bob`s Special" by Ted Moors that it is a good idea to let the first plank follow the waterline - that means it would be nearly horizontal. Than he advices to fill the rest with short planks to the sheerline at the stem/ bow. On the picture it looks like the there is a slim bow in the first pank - but I´m not sure how big it should be. To be concrete: Should I just fix the first plank on the Mould 8 an fix it horizontal or should I use the sheerline of the neighbour planks to give the plank a little bow - and if: which moulds should I use (7-9 or 6 - 10 for example). Sorry for the many questions - it´s my first canoe to build I´m worry about doing everything right to get a good start.

Thanks for your advice and best regards

Chris
P.S: Here´s a picture of what I made up to now.

[img]http://www.natur-im-sucher.com/canoe/we ... 112004.jpg

[Erik, Belgium]

the contour shape of the inner stem isn't such a big deal. It will be covered with strips, that will be planed and sanding afterwards. Of course, the edge of the stem should be straight.

height of station at sheerline: isn't such a big deal, since you can staple (or even put in a small nail or screw) the sheerstrip. I prefer the last one, because you wil notice there will become lot's of stress on that first sheer strip when clamping, for strips to be tight to each other.
Regarding the sheer strip: there are several methods. The one I used: I laid the first sheer strip following the sheer line (top line) of the canoe. 2nd strip I laid horizontally to the waterline. The rest was filled up with cheater (smaller) strips. This picture shows what I mean.


Don't bother asking, we 're glad to be of help,
Erik, Belgium.
http://users.telenet.be/kano-kayak

P.S. You might be close to a cedarstrip kayakbuilder, Bryan Gorr, http://www.woodenseekajak.de, who is located 15 kilometers
north of Bremen.

[reinbilt]

Chris,
I've always let gravity determine where my first strip lands on the molds. I attach the strip at the sheer line on the middle station and the two stations on each side of the center station. Then working out to the bow and then the stern temporary attach this strip where it falls on the mold. You will want to go back and measure/adjust the strip so it ends up on the stem for both sides. Then come back and do your fill in strips when you've got some short scraps. This works for me and I've never had to use cheater strips.

[Chris]

Thank you Erik and reinbild for your advice - I have to think about which ways I´ll choose - if I got you both right, the essential is, to make a stripping whick follows in the maine parts the waterline and the bow I have to make with additional short planks or cheater planks. So I maybe fix the first two planks on the 3 middle stations and see what it looks like :lol:

Thanks again for your nice advice!

Best regards Chris

P.S.
Erik, interesting links you send me, but Bremen is nearly the same distance from me in Gronau (it`s near Enschede close to the netherlands border) as to Belgium :-))

Grettings

Chris

[Chris]

Hello,

I´ve another question before setting up the first plank (cold & stormy in Germany so I spend the days isolating the boatshop....): Would you recommend to let the first plank fit excactly the sheerline or put it a few milimeters lower for shaping it when the hull is ready?

Thanks again and best regards

Chris

[Glen Smith]

Normally, the final sheerline is planed/sanded after installing the inwales or outwales and these are usually installed a little bit lower than the sheerline. So, I would allow the sheer strips to extend a little bit lower than the sheerline. If the sheer strips have either a bead or coved edge, it will be planed off so you should account for this also.

[Its Me]

If your forms are already cut to the shear line, should you add an extension piece to the mold for an additional strip or two?

[Erik, Belgium]

for me ditto like Glen said.

Erik, Belgium

[Chris]

O.k: Glen and Erik, thanks again. Today I finish the isolating of the shop, tomorrow I´m going to install a central heating, because the temperatures in Germany a told to go down to nearly zero - not good for planking/glueing I think.... I hopefully have a warmer shop at the weekend so that I can start planking...

I put out all planks in the living room to have a look and I´m thinking about the pattern I should plank. There are no VERY different plnaks, but there a also little diffenrences in the western red cedar.

A - maybe last - questin before start planking: I have some long planks (about > 6m, and different lengs down to > 4m. I should start with the longer ones, right?

The longest ones are nearly 1 m longer than the freedom 17. Should I positioning them in the exact middle, or should I fit them to one end (stem/bow), to get longer rest planks? I´m asking, because in canoecraft is written, that you should "balance the planks on your finger to find the middle".

Best regards

Chris

[Juneaudave]

I think the Canoecraft instructions were written to assure that you don't start fastening the planks in the middle and find out that you run short on one end. I suggest that you give yourself a liberal amount of runout on one end and maximize the length of the cutout on the other end. That way you are left with usable lengths. One other thought...people strip canoes differently. For instance, in the Canoecraft stapleless method, you can place up to three planks in a single setup. That is a lot going on for a first or second time builder (trying to work three planks at a time)!!! I would guess a lot of us just fuss with one plank at a time, and recognize that it will take four weeks to plank a hull as opposed to two weeks :) ... Juneaudave

[KARKAUAI]

Aloha, Chris,
You're going to LOVE this project!!!
I didn't realize what major color differences would be seen in the wood after wetting out with epoxy, when the dry strips looked like there were only minor differences in color. I'd wipe them with a damp cloth when laying them out to really see what they'll look like with the glass/epoxy on.

[Chris]

Thanks again for the great advice - I´m not onlay going to love the boatbuilding process - just gonna lovin this forum! You`re a really great help.

Best wishes

Chris

[Armin, Germany]

hallo chris,

hast du ein glück dass du die leisten im wohnzimmer auslegen darftst ;-)
kleiner tip wegen der farben: wisch sie mit einem feuchten lappen ab, erst dann hast du in etwa eine ahnung wie sie nach dem laminieren aussehen !!

@ all: Lucky Chris is able to put out all planks in the living room to have a look at ;-)
Something you should do before planking, is lightly wetting the strips to have an idea how colours change while glassing.
I´ve not done this, and was very surprised how dark some of my light stripes got after glassing!

[Jeff in Pembroke]

There is one advantage to running your sheer plank parallel to the waterline. It will give a visual reference to trimming you canoe when loaded. If you are sitting bow or stern heavy, it will be easier for someone in another canoe to comment on your trim if they have a visual sighting. A decorative accent striped a few inches from, but parallel to, the waterline works even better. This could be even more useful with a boat like the Freedom where the bow is higher than the stern. In that boat, trimming with the bow and stern the same height from the water actually means you are bow heavy. That being said, some builders find a ruler straight sheer plank and accent stripe visually unpleasing.

Jeff

[Chris]

Hello there,

after the heating in my shop is working since yesterday evening, I´m now going to start with planking :-)) Ißve been waiting for 2 weeks for doing this. I think the tipp from above, with says to use gravity for positioning the first plank is not working well for the freedom, because if I do this, the plank meets nearly exact the sheerline at the bow and I get a big curve in the sheerline; the other problem is, that the boat has a different shape at bow - stem. I looked at all pictures in the gallery of bearmountainboats carefully, and for me it looks like, that every guy who build a freedom 17 use a very differenet line for the first plank. I tried to "measure" it on the photographs by counting the short strips which were attached to the first plank, there are absolute diffent values :-) I´m going to try to find a line with a light curve to the ends - but now I´m wondering if this line should be equal for the forwards stations and the afterwards station or not, because of the asymentrical shape of the hull.

Sorry for the much questions, there are not so much boat builders in my county....

Best regards

Chris :roll: