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[Brian60]

Not being one to turn away from a challenge  My wife bought be a set of plans for a scaffie as a xmas present. The hull is clinker built, something I have never ever attempted before. So I am looking for any advice that is on offer,  particularly on the choice of timber to use for the planking. What would be a decent timber that will be easy to take up the curve of the hull, be steamed and not want to spring apart?

Now this is obviously overlapped planking and I'm wondering on how to waterproof the joins. Is it going to be a case of plank the hull and then coat the entire inside with epoxy, grp or some other material before the decking goes on? Eventually it will be a sailing model not a static one, the plans give a finished model of around 2 feet in length.

[Jerry C]

If the hull is going to be painted then you can use most woods for planking. I had to use mahogany cos that's what I had. It's a difficult, short grain timber and breaks very easily at the short grain sections. The rest of it is fine and bends dry and cold with no probs. if scale means nails and roves will be too small then build as for glued method and put the Ash timbers in cold with glue only. The planks even with perfect laps can leak through the grain so a good coat of clear epoxy resin will bind all together, stop all leaks(resin will permeate through the planks), and give strength. Make sure you plank on both sides at once to avoid bending stresses. Ie make the first plank till it fits then make an exact copy and fit both at once. It's tricky and hard work but very satisfying. Best of luck.
Jerry.

[Brian60]

Thanks Jerry. I've done a bit of looking around and have seen that Lime has a long straight grain. I wondering if this would be ok for the planking, what are your views? I'm so used to doing hulls in grp and nothing else.

[Jerry C]

Sorry mate, I don't know. Had a look at a few pics of scaffies cos I didn't know what they were exactly but they look ok and reasonably easy to build with quite wide planks apparently. I've only built one clinker hull so can only comment on mahogany on ash. I broke a few planks but superglued back together again and they became stronger at the join, it being a natural scarf. With the exception of the top two planks either side all my planks were full length(36"). Plenty info on thread "steam launch Wear" in steam.
Jerry.

[Brian60]

OK thanks.

[EDWOOD]

ever tried venitian blinds i think the wood is lime its the painted one you need it works and bends well the slats are about 1.1/2 by just under 1/8 so you would have plenty of material for clinker built planking i found the easiest way to get the paint off was to scrape it with a stanley knife blade hope this helps

[Brian60]

I'll take a look at that option edwood. However I'm inclined to buy a two metre length of 26mm x 150mm Lime, I've found a hardwood timber merchant that sells it for just under £12 per length. For just enough Lime in strip form to complete the outer planking of the hull from a model outlet is nigh on £60

 As we are due to retire and move to Spain later this year, buying a big piece of timber is a viable option. I'd rip the timber down to the various sizes I need. Out there ordinary softwood (hardwood is impossible to find) is not only very expensive but only available from big stores like B&Q (Leroy Merlin in Spain) Timber left over will come in handy for the many projects I have planned to keep me busy!