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Le Coureur 1776 1:48 (CAF) by Salty

A little more planking, plus I have made a start in holes for the nails. I have an electric drill with a few flexible shaft which made it quite easy. I am going to try 0.6 mm copper wire, but won’t start until I am happy with the finished planks.

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I am scraping the planks as I think this gives a crisper finish than sanding. The photos show some things that I missed that could do with more work, despite the fact I tend to work with magnifying reading glasses.

Kind regards

Salty
 
Paul, I tend to take pictures with my iPhone which look OK on the small screen with lower resolution, but get some nasty surprises when I look at them on my iPad which has a much larger screen and higher resolution images.

I am a little more than half way through planking and am reasonably happy with the spacing on the stem and stern, although the area of the bilge on the stern post has been quite difficult.

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In the bottom photo you can see I have reached the section where the hull will be open.

Kind regards

Salty
 
Here she is with both sides of the clinker planking completed.

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As you can see, the planking is in various stages of finish - more refined near the keel, to a complete mess further up. I think with a bit of effort I can tidy things up and have everything looking respectable in the end.

In case you were wondering, Le Coureur is resting on a length of ebony. I bought a couple of pieces with the idea of using it for the gunwales not on this ship, but on a future project perhaps. In any event, they have been very useful supports while the ship has been upside down when being planked.

Kind regards

Salty
 
Hi Salty,
Not sure how you can properly provide the gain on the forward portion of the planking with the morticed frames but wondered if this is explained in the kit. The planks never ended with an overlap as they could not seat properly in the rabbet as can be seen in your photos. CAF has a good reputation, so it is surprising they missed something so basic.

Allan

Picture and a thousand words..........

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Allan, thank you for your post.

The diagram in your post is referenced in both the CAF instructions and the ANCRE monograph and shows the most common way of making the gains with a progressively increasing bevel. There no specific information about what how much to bevel use, that’s left to the discretion of the builder.

After a bit of research, I discovered gains can also be formed with a rabbet

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I just found cutting a rabbet was easier for me to get a nice fit. I don’t think there’s necessarily a right or wrong way to go about it, just so long as the stepping effect of the clinker planking reduces to almost nothing at the bow.

There aren’t too many instructions in CAF kits, but there’s enough, particularly when read in conjunction with the plans. They are more about what needs to be done, not how to do it.

I have now finished the gunwales and bulwarks:

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There’s still a bit of finishing work to do trimming particularly on the stem and transom.

As you can see, I have made a start on the nailing as well. I am using 0.6 mm copper wire and there’s probably 2000 or so to do. I’m doing an hour at a time, but will work on other things in the meantime.

Kind regards

Salty
 
Although it’s not been difficult work, finishing the hull has taken a long time. I have chosen to scrape the planks as it leaves a crisper finish than sanding. I am happy with the results of the nailing as well. Although there are a lot of them, I don’t think they overpower the look of the hull. Further, I am pleased to report only one drill bit was killed in the entire process.

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Kind regards

Salty
 
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Very impressive build! Your attention to detail on these lap joints is amazing. I haven't followed any builds that use these. Impressive.

Your treenails/nailing look perfect. Not too much and the contrast with the planks looks great too.

I'll continue to follow your wonderful build! Thanks for sharing.
 
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