Le Coureur 1776 CAF Model by OT1138

My #2 and #3 frames are the biggest mistakes that need to be corrected. I unwisely relied on the jig to get them in the right place and wasn't careful enough about cross referencing them with the plans because it was so difficult to see them.

Notice that frame 3 is angled backward, with the top pointing to the stern. The bottom crosses the rabbet line. Both this frame and #2 will need to be removed and repositioned. On a positive note, it will give me the opportunity to file away a little more of that stubborn char.

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Very good work, and it was the correct decision to adjust the frames - well done
 
Clean up of frames 2-3 (on both sides) took a few hours but it was worth it.

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Knocking out the last of the misaligned frames today. Frames 34-36 (starboard) are off. Frame 36 sticks too far out, while frames 35 and 37 are out of parallel.

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Note that this side looks a little rough as the char isn't really cleaned off the frames and the lower stern counter isn't quite cut to fit yet.

The plans indicate that the spacing between these rear frames is 7.5mm, so I cut a small spacer to help align them. Then I removed the top parts of frames 35-37 so I could reposition them in place. As before, this was achieved using a small syringe to inject acetone in the joints.

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After repairs, this section looks considerably improved. The frames no longer have a snaggle tooth effect and don't jump out to the naked eye.

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ot1138 said:
Time to start the outer planking. The instructions say to start with the wales. I'm not so sure... what happens when we inevitably hit an error with the steps and there's a gap?

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I also prepared first the parts for the wales and after some thinking I decided to leave them on side and started with planking row 25, so the planks close to the keel
 
Like @Uwek, I decided to hold off on the wales until I see how the lower outer planking goes. I laid out the first strip and a question immediately came to mind. Do you see it yet?

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A hint...

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You guessed it. The aft part of the frame sits above the surface of the sternpost. Normally in a carvel planked ship, this would be flush. I have no idea of what is proper for this ship so I started looking at the photos provided by Boudriot. No definite clues there but it appears that the lowest plank sits flush with the stern post, while the ones above seem to have a sharper line indicating that they may be partially clinkered... yet even they appear to be flush where they meet the sternpost.

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I sanded down the planks aft and lower edges to sit closer to the keel and sternpost.

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Meanwhile, I finished the lower plank. I had a little bit of trouble getting it to align perfectly with the rabbet near the center point of the ship, but close enough for now.

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As you can see, I clamped on plank 24c to see how it would fit. Some of these planks are a bit tricky because they have a twist to them and do not want to sit flush. A good soaking and several clamps will be needed.

It appears to me that a gradual transition from clinkered to carvel is called for on these lower stern planks. How to achieve this is obliquely described in the Ancre monograph:

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As it turns out, the Boudriot plans seem to confirm that there is indeed a very slight clinker (almost but not quite flush) where the planks reach the sternpost. If you don't have the Ancre monograph, you should get it. It's quite good!

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So I propose that we will need to sand an angle where planks 24 and 25 meet, so that they gradually transition from figure 1 to 3 in the figure above.
 
No photos yet, but I beveled the matching edges of planks 24 and 25 from frame 31 aft. It's not so easy to get a perfect bevel at this scale. But the planks do fit much better.

A question one might have without having tried this is, why not just sand the planks flat near the stern? The problem is that the clinkering means there is always a gap in the upper plank. The presence of this gap greatly increases the chance that you'll sand through the top plank (I would say, it's virtually 100%). So the beveling technique appears to be mandatory as far as I can tell.
 
Beveling is working out nicely at getting a better initial fit of the stern planks. Barely any sanding will be needed for plank 24. Takes a bit of practice though. I found that a piece of 220 grit sandpaper glued to a flat metal plate does the best job of cutting a sharp bevel.

The same technique is also needed at the bow.

I have also been pleased to find (so far at least) that the steps don't need to be perfectly aligned to get an acceptable run of planking.

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Here's a closeup of the beveling I've been talking about. Gets easier with practice. This allows the upper plank to "merge" into the lower one and greatly reduces the risk of sanding through it, if you're seeking to make it flush with the sternpost.

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I didn't take photos but plank 23b was not usable for me. The plank has a pronounced curve on a relatively straight part of the hull, resulting in a pronounced dip in the lower edge of the piece. I am not planking the other side, so I was able to replace it with one of the straighter #25 planks from the port side (panel 1N).
 
Was making decent progress until I found plank 21 would not fit. Numbering the steps showed that plank 22 was too high starting at frame 8.


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I photocopied the fore planking pattern and cut it out. My fore planks were all sitting too high, with the characteristic "smiley face" pattern starting. I decided to remove the planks and adjust each one.

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Plank by plank, I carefully sanded the top edges down so they matched the pattern.

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Looks so much better now! Planks 21-25 now lay parallel to the keel of the ship.

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Progress! The fore and aft ends are tricky to get perfectly straight. Additionally, when sanding to transition from clinkered to carvel, glue tends to get exposed. You can see this in the spaces between the fore planks below. This can be gently cleaned out with the tip of a sharp blade.

I've been gradually making nail holes as planking progresses while the frames are still visible.

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Turns out that the beveling of the ends is quite an important and well known process with clinker planking. The bevels are sometimes called "geralds". Some boatmakers bring them to a point at the end of the plank but this is said to make the plank vulnerable to splitting when it's nailed.
 
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