Monday, February 09, 2009

Planking begins

This time, for no particular reason, I started planking from the bow. The steps for each plank are:
Cut a plank from foam. I use the Divinycell H60 foam that comes in pieces of 120cm x 240cm. I cut planks in withs ranging from 20cm up to 40 or 50 cm in areas with less complex surfaces. Then I thermo form the plank, using a heat gun heating the convex side, then the concave side and then at last the convex side again, using approximately three minutes in total, and while heating slightly over bend the foam and then let it cool down while clamped in place.


As a hull is a complex three dimensional shape, each plank has to be custom cut with regards to with. This is especially true for the bow area where the shape bends substantially in several planes. I use this instrument, adjusting the gap equal to the largest gap while touching the neighbor plank at one place. Then I slide it along the neighbor plank edge making a cutting mark on my recently thermo formed plank.


Here you can see the marking all along the edge, if clicking on the picture to get full picture quality:


Then the plank is cut according to the mark with a sharp utility knife.


And the planks are placed side by side and a marking is made on the battens showing the next junction area.

A strip of packaging tape is placed along the marks and usually a few new holes for holding screws are drilled in the battens.

Then the plank can be secured using a whole lot of 5mm Würth Assy screws from the outside of each batten. I managed to plank from the bow and just past the front beam bulkhead position tonight.

2 comments:

Dag said...

Yesterday I was promised a update....

Tor Rabe said...

Jada masa. Sovna før jeg fikk lasta det opp.