lower stern planking

[bandido]

On my La Soleil Royal, it shows the planking on the lower portion below the waterline, as running diagonally rather than Horizitionally. Is there a structural reason for that?

 

[NMBROOK]

Hi bandido

Interesting question.Personally I think it is because if you ran the planking horizontally you would end up with several narrow planks tapering to nothing when you get to the curve around the bottom of the transom.Angling the planks in this area prevents that.

Kind Regards

Nigel

 

[Uwek]

I agree with Nigel

Take a look at these sterns, which makes the problem at the lowest point visible



The biggest problem here was to get the watertightness at the edges of the construction



sketches taken from the informative web-page

Bertan 23 - Our boats Chapter 14: The galleon. Sixteenth - Seventeenth centuries

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

maybe this is why
lower transoms are run horizontally so if you run the planking in the same direction, you will get long seams that are not backed up with anything. Like the blue arrows maybe you might get a seam that falls on a transom like the green arrow.
Another problem with horizontal planking is the face of the transoms are not flat they bevel so a tight seam is difficult.

if you run the planking on an angle first you can bend a plank to the beveled face of the transom and if the transoms are placed close together you can nail along the edge of each plank and into the transom.

the upper part is the stern timbers and they run vertical so the planking would run horizonal

 

[bandido]

maybe this is why
lower transoms are run horizontally so if you run the planking in the same direction, you will get long seams that are not backed up with anything. Like the blue arrows maybe you might get a seam that falls on a transom like the green arrow.
Another problem with horizontal planking is the face of the transoms are not flat they bevel so a tight seam is difficult.

if you run the planking on an angle first you can bend a plank to the beveled face of the transom and if the transoms are placed close together you can nail along the edge of each plank and into the transom.

the upper part is the stern timbers and they run vertical so the planking would run horizonal

View attachment 301087

Thanks for the info makes sense

 

[NMBROOK]

Dave, I agree with your reasoning, however French Men of war of the 17th Century prior to adopting a round tuck stern had vertical timbers supporting the transom planking.These timbers were then fastened to the horizontal timbers.Later, when the French adopted a round tuck then the planks were nailed direct to the horizontal timbers.

Regards

Nigel

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Dave, I agree with your reasoning, however French Men of war of the 17th Century prior to adopting a round tuck stern had vertical timbers supporting the transom planking.These timbers were then fastened to the horizontal timbers.Later, when the French adopted a round tuck then the planks were nailed direct to the horizontal timbers.

Regards

Nigel

that has been a problem in this hobby for years builders take a fact or building method and apply it to all ships over all time.
Your right the French did not build ships like the British and Americans and Dutch ship building is different. Over time methods evolved.
What i suggested is one possibility is many different types of sterns and construction methods.
Do you have some sort of sketch or image showing the method you described?

 

[NMBROOK]

Here you go Dave taken from the Saint Philippe monograph.If you just stick to just French Naval Architecture,there are huge variations in design that span Late 17th to early 18th Century framing.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

thanks for the post

 

[Recusant]

Hmm, just wondering if the diagonal planks also might have helped to support the transom and poop/quarterdeck timbers since they are fastened to the last hull frame and run diagonally? They might have helped since the sterns and bows, being the weaker sections of hulls, hogged so quickly.