Day 15 - Preparation for Second Plank

This was a long day! I hoped to have glued the second plank down but I ran out of time and energy! What I did was:

• Bevel the edge of the garboard plank so that the second plank will fit nicely against it.
• Cut the gain in the garboard plank towards the stem. The gain is difficult to describe so a picture is included below. The purpose of the gain is to avoid a double thickness of planking at the stem.
• Shape the stem so that the rest of the planks will fit properly against it.
• Shape the transom for the second plank. This can only be done after the previous plank is fitted.
• Make a pattern for the second plank from 3mm think MDF sheet. This is tricky towards the stern where the concave shape doesn't allow the pattern material to lie close against the garboard plank. Several trial fittings were needed getting closer to the final shape each time. This was quite time consuming.
• The pattern was used to mark out and cut two planks together. These planks were tried and adjusted several times before they fitted nicely against the garboard plank, the gain at the stem and the transom.

Here is a photo of the gain in the garboard plank at the stem. The tape on the mould is simply to stop the planks being glued to it accidentally.

The photo below show the second plank laying against the transom. The bevel on the garboard plank moves onto the second plank towards the stern. This bevel can been seen in the photo.