Carvel Planking Episode 8: The Planking Process

In the eighth episode of this series Ian Smith goes into the process of shaping, cutting and fitting carvel planks. With his decades of experience building and teaching Smithy has plenty of tips for first-timers and experienced builders.

[@jewelvibebabo]

You really do deserve a medal for patience

[@JenkinsBoatWorks]

Another fantastic episode. Thank you Ian!

[@breenhue]

Thanks Ian.. Loved those sussinct tips u drop so strategically..thank you matey..😵😎

[@SmithysBoatshed]

No problem 👍

[@CinntSaile]

What a marvellous video.

[@budnotu]

Great video and I am amazed that you can work in such cramped space.

[@calvarybuilders5689]

When I Ponder great carpentry skills I think of plumb Square straight but your skills bring new understanding to perfect fit!!!!!

[@YachtHunters]

I just discovered this channel and can't wait to get caught up on past episodes and follow along with your progress. What a wonderful retirement project!! Really appreciate the work you put in on this to share your knowledge.

[@michielouwersloot8136]

Thank you Sir, highly educational!

[@taleg1]

A lot of work, slap aplank up. cut ut more or less to fit, use charcoal stick to mark the variations on both the fitted plank and the new plank. Tweak the fit so that you get an even charcole marking. Easy and fast. They did it this way at a local ship build. I'm sure there was more too it than that, but they sure as hell fitted several board each day. The ships came out nice and water proof too after getting somthing like a thick cotton thread dipped in something thick and sticky was used to fill the outside gaps as each borar was made to only touch on the inside. The crack was filled up and then they filled the hull with water. After fixing every leak, they removed the water and let the hull dry out ofr months and then apply what they called their secret sause to the outside of the hull. This was a thick fluid in an odd color, after that the hull was filed down smooth before a second layer was added before the hull was painted. It was a cool process to watch, but I also remember how it made my dad change his idea to build a ship to use a more modern material to create the hull. Framework covered by a layer of lightweight platets that was shaped and glued to fit the frame, then everything was glassed over a few times and several over the keel, before the whole thing was flipped over and the inside was covered by glass. We used that ship for nearly 25 years, before every member of our family spread out into our own families and my dad got too old to run the ship by himself due to sickness. That ship is still sayiling around out there even now. Nearly 40 years after it was built.

[@ExploringCabinsandMines]

Retirement is death , keep building!!

[@hamidbenabbou6886]

I thank you so much Good teaching Great 👌 and nice people you are

[@108hindu]

My dad was a self employed boatbuilder in the 50’s and 60’s. I was his “dolly boy”.

[@blacklit9882]

Why he's using nails when screws would be so much quicker?

[@108hindu]

@@blacklit9882 Splicing together a 3/8 in thick Plywood hull with screws in 1960? My dad used nails, glue, and a “dolly boy”. He sold many boats up to 23 ft and had no failures. He did use lots of screws but not on that seam. I was 7-8 so I didn’t ask. Shortly thereafter he was able to buy custom length marine plywood from a mill here in Wa. Up to 24 ft in length. After that no more hull seams. Plywood made a decent small boat hull that could be afforded by the masses. Obviously plank hulls are much more expensive..... He once built a 23 ft boat in 3 weeks. He worked long hours in a shop on our property.

[@volkerpetersen2671]

Very instructive. Would like to See more from the copper nails...Would love to use them for some furniture.

[@donalbuckley9562]

Jazz and snazz,, handles every 1 m of the coach roof, also stabilising the structure, alowing a reducing thickness of wood above the waterline.

[@australianwoodenboatfestiv3519]

Love it!!

[@daltonbedore8396]

gorgeous copper rivits

[@rockman49er]

I was WAS lol building a 3 ft model sailboat from scratch never built any kind of boat before I started installing my planks and well I didn't know this and here I am with my project on hold because I did not know this seems hard and now I'm stuck maybe not going to be able to finish 🙃 😐 damit great video

[@paulbriggs3072]

I just subscribed and became your 928th thumbs up. Nowhere could I find info on how wide a gap in the plank bevel should be for cotton caulking until your video- even after various videos on carvel that never mentioned it to the point it was frustrating.

[@pamelacoleman1048]

Great job.

[@billjenkins5693]

Thank you

[@provaquebec8184]

Nice job

[@tomcarlton854]

thank you.......!😊

[@joerectifier]

Incredible craftsmanship - and otherworldly patience! Wow!

[@1975paulo12]

Trabalho de excelência

[@thomasarussellsr]

Coming along beautifully. Those rivots look as good as any I've seen two guys doing, guess two guys aren't really needed. I'd bet you've had a few sore spots from pressing that iron against various spots on your chest while backing pressure against driving on the roves.

[@dirttdude]

when you hoot frigsakers on to your frames, do you use a power antler to kajigger your planks in accordance with the chooch, you know, on account of the oakum gesundheits?

[@SmithysBoatshed]

Never! The power antler will confabulate the infopositors!

[@dirttdude]

@@SmithysBoatshed Oh... do you have an excellent epesode available for viewing with my eyeballs that shows you hand frigsaking planks in to accordance to your frames? You see, my mellon is arking! parts of my planks need to be convexalated and parts need to be concavized because frames are wollerd differently witch is awesome but once i do that my oakum gesundheits are completely kajiggerd, so if you're not running some kind of power antler over them how in Zeus's butt hole will you chooch it? God damn!

[@andrewyoung1140]

Where could I find boat plans or something similar?

[@ConquerCollin]

I understand that traditionally they had to fill the seems between planks with cotton, but now with modern adhesives, could you just glue the planks together?

[@SmithysBoatshed]

The traditional way is still the best for carvel planking. If you want to glue the planking diagonal planking (cold mounding) is a better way to go. But some of us still like the traditional way.

[@UIMcocodog]

traditional carvel construction is basically an ideal failure situation for most adhesives. submerged in water, the entire structure flexing, expanding and contracting. its really not a good place for most stuff. its also a common missconception that that the cotton is only there to make the joint watertight, it also adds a significant amount of stiffness to the hull as youre forcing something into the gap making the joint tighter than perfect fitment or a glue ever could. as an example of how much stregnth this adds, i think any professional would advise not to crane or road transport a large carvel hull untill after the cotton goes in. the only modernisation you can really do in this case is to pay over the cotton with an MS-polymer sealant instead of the traditional lead putty. however this has downsides on the longer term. modern sealants are difficault to remove when it comes time to replace the cotton underneath. leftover sealant will make the joint rubbery and can cause the new cotton to not seat properly unlike lead putty wich wich will at least leave something hard for the cotton to press on.

[@rasheedhadi3600]

ما شاء الله سغينة ملكية

[@Tinmanjlw]

Why would you use pine ? i've been investigating buying a Turkish Gulet and it seems the greatest complaint is they many are built with pine. May I ask your thoughts on pine being used to build a boat (of any type, really) ?

[@SmithysBoatshed]

There is pine and there is pine. I used Huon Pine from Tasmania which is the most rot-resistant planking timber in the world. I know very little about pine used in Turkey.

[@Tinmanjlw]

@@SmithysBoatshed Thank you Ian.. very kind of you to reply. I appreciate it

[@blacklit9882]

Why do you use copper nails peened into rivets when screws would be so much quicker?

[@SmithysBoatshed]

Copper nails hold firmer, last longer and are way cheaper.

[@dariomartinlobos]

THE SPREADSHEET THAT I USED FOR CALCULATION IS HERE drive.google.com/file/d/1_PF5KHblbEzMfcu593FR-mupepKT_hyc/view?usp=sharing

[@walterheublein5848]

I don't know why they don't build the hull out of tongue and grove,

[@mattlow2584]

Because it will fail miserably

[@daleskidmore1685]

Nice demmo of planking Ian. That Huon Pine looked like prime stock, nice to see you use a jack plane too; I use one and a block plane on all my work, I just can't get on with a smoothing plane. Like the way you back out too. I got your book recently and find it very informative, the detail and the sketches explain things very well, I wish I had known about it a lot earlier. Keep on keeping on.

[@donalbuckley9562]

through quality production of elbows by steaming.

[@donalbuckley9562]

a router with a round bit takes the work out of rounding the inside of the planks, how much is the max of steaming, (1 hour per inch), does that stretch to steamed elbows, 3 - 4 inch, it would really matter for wood to hold it's place as a complete material.

[@donalbuckley9562]

as a progressive to preserve the role of wood, shoving a multitool blade between an approximate joint makes a good joint.

[@albertross18]

Great. Thanks for sharing.👍🏻

[@عبدالقاهرعبادیسعیدانی-ح6ض]

Oki

[@dougmungoven4315]

a work of art built using a lifetime of skills and knowledge

[@Johnx961]

Very skillful boat builder fascinating to watch.

[@lancedaniels]

Thanks for posting and sharing! Very clear and informative explanation!

[@paulcle0]

Great video, thanks for taking the time!

[@iowapanner2223]

Great video, I could almost smell the wood when you were planing!

[@sandrog2347]

what type of epoxy do you use to glue the wood on the edge of the boat???

[@SmithysBoatshed]

I only use epoxy to glue the plank scarfs together, WEST System brand. The plank seams will be traditionally caulked with cotton and payed with linseed oil putty.

[@brucerazor5202]

That’s one sharp plane

[@paulbriggs3072]

Do any of your videos cover seam caulking?

[@SmithysBoatshed]

Not yet Paul. I expect to do this in about a year’s time.

[@dickvenema787]

,v