Deck Planking Methods

Donnie

Donnie

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I know this might open up a firestorm of opinions, but with my knowledge and exposure to techniques, I am wondering which of these methods should be used, OR does it matter, and the other, does it depend on the ship, period, country, etc.

I have seen both used and I do not know what to do. I have also seen NIBBING on the edges too, but I am leaving that out of this example and just showing the MAIN techniques. There might be other ways of doing that I might be unfamiliar with.

When I first started building ships, this process never even crossed my mind until now. I have a neighbor that lives very close to me that is building the Le Fureon and his Deck planking is all curved. I have been watching Kudin Le Fureon and his decking is curved as well.


deck-planking.jpg
 
i wondered the same thing do deck planks run straight or do they follow the shape of the hull and curve?

the first drawing you did is correct actually they curve to the shape of the hull.

Deck planks are not "planks" because it is difficult to bend a plank edge wise decking is almost as thick as they are wide.

DSCN7022.JPG

41583471935_fb5db288be_b.jpg

some decks use a king plank down the center or taper center planks like this

DSCN6904.JPG
 
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I guess, as you said, it depends on the ship, period, and country they built. Seems that curved deck planks are mostly seen in French ships, such examples are Le Fleuron (both Kudin and your neighbor building), LeCerf, LeCygne, and many others. I have not seen such deck planking on English ships, but what do I know. :cool:
 
The Druid was an American built ship when the Druid was built there were no English ship builders in North America or very few except during the war of 1812 and they went home after the war. Shipwrights were not allowed to come to North American colonies because the King feared we would learn how the British built ships from them. The French shipwrights were well established in Canada. So ship building in North America was far more influenced by French and Irish shipwrights than British.
 
Thank you Dave !!!
So, may I ask then - as this is more real to life in my situation. See this image, if I were to start at the EDGES (bulwarks) then plank towards the center - at some point, I will need to start TAPERING (??) it would have to, but I am not sure at what point this tapering would start.

deck-planking-02.jpg
 
It is sometimes more or less different, because the outer planks are tappered and the inner planks (towards the center line) were more streight
Take a look also at my running building log of the Le Coureur (french but later period) (by Jean Boudriot) where I am in moment working on the deck planking

LE COUREUR - french Lugger 1776 - POF kit from CAF in 1:48 by Uwe

A very good presentation of cargo and hold! Bravo, Mon Amie! Thumbs-Up
shipsofscale.com

Planset review - Lugger LE COUREUR - 1776" in scale 1:48 by Jean BOUDRIOT & Hubert BERTI

Planset Review: Lugger LE COUREUR - 1776 in scale 1:48 by Jean BOUDRIOT & Hubert BERTI available from ancre in different languages -> english, french or italian https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/50-monographie-du-coureur-lougre-1776.html#/langue-francais Excerpts from the drawings taken from...
shipsofscale.com

but it seems, that the older french vessels were planked differently.

please take a look at the La Belle (1684) planset made also by Jean Boudriot

Planset review - LA BELLE - 1684" - 20 plates in scale 1:24 / 36 / 48 - by Jean Boudriot

Planset Review: "LA BELLE - 1684" - 20 plates in scale 1:24 / 36 / 48 by Jean Boudriot translated by François Fougerat left the hardcover book, on the right side the softcover planset the book with planset is available from ancre at a price of 105,- Euro...
shipsofscale.com

IMG_37621.jpg

IMG_37631.jpg
 
Thank you Uwe for the info - it IS greatly appreciated. I have decided to stay with Plan B. As there is really not enough curvature to the hull. The other reason is that there will not be much deck planking used anyway due to the nature of the admiralty style that I am incorporating. I am opting for less deck planking so the internal structure can be seen and appreciated. Besides, lastly, this second deck will mostly be covered up anyway and only a "partial" amount will be seen due to the fact that the Main Deck will be covering and also upper beams, etc.
 
Donnie said:
Thank you Uwe for the info - it IS greatly appreciated. I have decided to stay with Plan B. As there is really not enough curvature to the hull. The other reason is that there will not be much deck planking used anyway due to the nature of the admiralty style that I am incorporating. I am opting for less deck planking so the internal structure can be seen and appreciated. Besides, lastly, this second deck will mostly be covered up anyway and only a "partial" amount will be seen due to the fact that the Main Deck will be covering and also upper beams, etc.
Click to expand...
That is the way to go
 
Another conundrum is the width of decking planks. Many models seem to have very wide planks, as depicted in the plan views of Belle (about 25cm or more?), whilst the colour photo shows narrow planks that appear to be only about 8cm wide.

I suspect that many kits have oversize deck plank strips to save on cost.

Was there really such a wide variation in plank widths?
 
Donnie said:
Thank you Uwe for the info - it IS greatly appreciated. I have decided to stay with Plan B. As there is really not enough curvature to the hull. The other reason is that there will not be much deck planking used anyway due to the nature of the admiralty style that I am incorporating. I am opting for less deck planking so the internal structure can be seen and appreciated. Besides, lastly, this second deck will mostly be covered up anyway and only a "partial" amount will be seen due to the fact that the Main Deck will be covering and also upper beams, etc.
Click to expand...
If you go with plan B (straight planks), you'll have to nib them into margin plank. Otherwise, they end up at sharp point, historically incorrect and visually quite unpleasing. My two cents. Great build so far.
 
I had no idea that Plan A was even a thing! I wonder if it could also have depended on the budget and competence of the builder and the materials they had available.
 
HMS Enterprise (1774) class including HMS Medea (1778) - my current build - have straight deck planking with ends stepped into the sides (margin plank) to avoid points.

Still unable to upload images - continuous parsing errors... Australia is now officially a third world country. Namibia has better Internet than I have here.
 
I had no idea that Plan A was even a thing! I wonder if it could also have depended on the budget and competence of the builder and the materials they had available.
it looks like plan A is a thing deck planks curve to the shape of the hull

600px-Vasa-lower_gun_deck-2.jpg
 
when i research something i start by finding modern day practices and see how far back i can trace it. In ship building certain methods stayed in practice for generations, perhaps some modifications or variations but the principal remained the same. I did find a statement it was typical for decking to run with the shape of the hull in naval ships but private ships such as clipper ships the decking ran straight. So curving the deck planks seems to be the way it was done in modern times all the way back to the Vasa.

i am making a guess here but the reason why model ships show straight planking is because for one the planks most of the time are much wider in a model than on a real ship and it is difficult to bend wide thin planks edge wise without them buckling. another possible idea is when model ship building became a main stream hobby information was based on information within the hobby and there was very little historical sources used. Back in the time B.C. before computers research was very limited and difficult for the average hobbyist.

R5175b9c6e2b42e6238ae95ed777af810.jpgR1054472c8243cc41f722292171bf377d.jpgfb.jpgships_ussconst.jpg
 
looking at a prime source like a naval drawing from a naval shipyard and what do we see? drawing is dated 1839

the deck planking follows the hull and are not straight and there is no margin plank, and the ends of a plank do not nib into a margin they butt the side of the hull. The naval architect did lay out the deck so the bend in the deck planks get less and less as they reach the center of the ship, and yes the deck planks tapper.

now if i had to bet if the Druids deck planks were straight or curved i would bet on curved, keeping in mind the Druid was built in North America which was populated by French and Irish shipwrights, and a strong adherence to traditions in ship building.

i am kind of thinking straight deck planks are more of a ship model thing than actually how decks were planked on real ships.


deck39.JPG

deck40.JPG
 
There are examples of both on real ships

A fast research of the contemporary drawings available at the NMM is showing f.e. the 28 gun sloops HMS Dart and HMS Arrow (1796) which had streight deck planking

j6210.jpg


It seems, that with the time the shipwrights used more and more the curved planking, but we can find examples of streight planking also
 
good example Uwek it might come down to country the ship was built in

this is one of those "how ships were built" things you can not apply one example to all ships over a period of time and place built.

For all we know right now maybe the Brits used straight deck planking the French curved their deck planks, North Americans could have done both i know clipper ships used straight deck planking, naval ships used curved.

here is a lake schooner built after the war of 1812 and the blue lines start at the edge of the deck planks and run straight, then i traced over the caulk seams in red and they seen to bend. Once again the ends of the planks butt the side, there is no nibbing into a margin plank.

real deck.jpg

i now wonder why? is there an advantage to curved vs straight?
 
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No one will tear head off if they lay straight deck planks instead of curved ones. Straight deck planks are easier to lay and the cutouts for hatches, companienways, etc. are easier to cut out.
Curved model planks in pear with a thickness of 1,4 mm and a width of 6 mm can be bent well with water, a soldering iron and patience. There are modelers who bend their planks without water and only by heat. Then it takes longer.
Curved deck planks are like the stern of the Arab Chebecke and are supposed to resemble the female curves. (Sorry, is not to discriminate).

Best regards
Thomas
 
Straight deck planks are easier to lay and the cutouts for hatches, companion ways, etc. are easier to cut out.

i did notice the planks curve more at the sides and the curve gets less and less as they approach the center until the center planks are straight so around hatches the planks are pretty straight.

No one will tear head off if they lay straight deck planks instead of curved ones.

this is very true and at the scale of a model the curve may be so slight it does not matter. I think it comes down to just curiosity and a fun fact. In a model It might come down to the plank ends, seems curves planks butt the waterway and straight planks nib into a margin plank, that is noticeable on a model.

OR
you can argue the point with someone who insists their models are built to extreme historical accuracy, How would they know if the deck planks are curved or straight unless they are working from shipwreck data and of a wreck where the deck survives. It is back to "best guess"
 
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