Planking the bottom past the stems and I'm having alignment issues.

[leaky_eddie]

Hello Folks,

I'm building a Redbird. I planked up to just about the end of the stems moving up evenly on port and starboard sides, then finished up to the keel on the port side and trimmed to the center line. Getting started I leveled the strips to each other across the width, and bow to stern. They aligned as I planked up the stems. I'm now planking up the last section of the starboard-side bottom and the the ends of the strips aren't aligning to make that beautiful V. I added a shim in the 2nd strip in from the stem end on the starboard-side bow to re-align the V, and trimmed at the stern to fix the alignment there. When I laid the next course the alignment problem shows again. I think it must be the planks aren't rising and connecting at the exact same angle and thats making the bow strips about 1/16 shy and the stern a little long. If I shim and trim I think it might look really wonky, but if I don't I won't have the sweet V's.

https://scontent-atl3-2.cdninstagram.co ... sid=30a2ef

Any advice on how I might go about fixing this would be appreciated.

Cheers!

[Cruiser]

Marks for including a pic, but it really doesn't demonstrate the issue you are having. I have found that the main culprit when the planks go out of alignment is that the last 3"-4" of self processed planks are not true. That is, as they clear the last featherboard/hold down, they tend to move away from the cutter head and create a slightly wider plank in that area, it builds up after a few strips, unless you make sure to not include that section at each end.

Although shimming means "adding in", you can also thin a strip as well to help adjust. The shimming should be done over at least 12" and depending on how much adjustment you need, may require several strips to restore alignment. I wouldn't try for more than 1/16" at a time.

I like to work on the bead side of the strip, using whatever colour is required to blend, add at least a 12" piece of a cut down strip and glue it to the end of the adjustment strip

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qBKdk3wEptiibEFMA

shape it to taper and redo the bead

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4CUH9vRT2YhdHabx8

The 3 strips on the top, each have a small adjustment to bring the whole side back into alignment

https://photos.app.goo.gl/x8dKqff8WXzvK5H6A

Hopefully, this is what you were asking

Brian

[leaky_eddie]

Thanks for the reply Cruiser,

Ill add better pics tonight. We're talking about the same thing. My fear is that if I keep adding shims the angle of the planks will become less acute at the keel line, shortening the length of the side I'm trying to make longer. Maybe I need to make my shims longer.

Pics will give more info. Please stand by.

Also, I bought my planks from Noahs, not milled in-house.

[leaky_eddie]

Here are some better photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h26wwh0ceh4s ... lClWa?dl=0
You can see where I added a shim and in the next course the problem was back. In the other photo, the opposite side has the width trimmed.

[Cruiser]

The shimming process for alignment, should be a "one and done" affair (although it may take several strips). So if your adjustment isn't "holding" then the issue is something else.
The angles the strips come into the center-line look symmetrical and the cut looks OK.

Strip width is easy to check and if they are from a commercial supplier like Noahs, I also suspect those are fine.

The last thing (I know of) to cause that is that the actual angles being cut are not correct. Cutting the strip angle, creates the mating surface for the center line strip it is pairing with. If you get the angle wrong, the length of that mating surface doesn't match the length of the center line strip ... giving you the issue you having, a step in the alignment.

It does seem that your initial strips look a bit forced, to the point that the centerline, in that area, is a bit distorted, on the strip that narrowed, it isn't seated properly to the next strip. The strip needs to slide in and stop .... too narrow and it will slide in too far and the tip will start bending to fit, too fat and it will stop short and leave a gap, either will cause problems.

This is a very finicky part of the build and there is a very small tolerance on that angle cut. CanoeCraft has a good write up on the shaping process ... also remember, that when you cut that center line, it gets a small angle cut to make it vertical, the strip has to have both the correct bow/stern angle and a slight up/down angle to fit nicely. I usually manage to mess up strips at this point, usually by having them short by the time I get them to fit. Just save those for the next course, good chance it is long enough and almost shaped for that purpose.

Maybe take a few strip scraps and practice just getting the right fit, this avoids the pressure of using full strips, is easier to handle and you can even do a couple to check fit etc.

Without actually looking at the issue it is really hard to try and pinpoint the cause, so this is all guessing.


Brian

[leaky_eddie]

What ended up fixing it was measuring from the center line out to the plank on the completed side, then transfering that distance to the incomplete side. That told me how long I needed to make my shim on the bow side and taper on the stern to get everything into proper alignment. The shims and tapers were about 3 feet on each side and having that long taper/shim corrected the angle of the V.

Thanks for the advice.

Heres a little Whiskey Plank celebration https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqdHnJls ... _copy_link.