So, after all that prep work, it's finally time to put the deck on. If we've done our work carefully before, this part is straightforward and fast...
Although right now it's blowing stink outside and the snow is drifting up against the building, this past week has been a reminder that spring is truly coming. Temperatures in the 40's & 50's, clear sunny days... these are the kinds of days the boat builders love. You can work steadily and comfortably inside, or do some cutting and sanding outside in the sun. Either way, it can be a good reminder of why some of us decided to stop working in an office.
Of course, on a day like to today with the wind howling around the unheated shop, a cubicle with a couple of dinosaurs taped on top of the computer monitor is looking mighty sweet... The folks at RIYachating.com have
webcam at the Museum pointing out to the harbor to give you a little taste of conditions here.
But on to the deck, because that's the big news of the week.
Joel and Robin work on the aft section of the deck
While Karl and Hank work on the forward section.
The boat is decked from the outside edges, starting at the covering boards, and moving inwards.
By the way, all that blue tape and kraft paper on the outer edges of the boat are protecting the covering boards. When you work on something that long, the last thing you want is someone scratching them up...
The deck is planked in a herringbone weave where it meets in the center.
Getting the herringbone right is not very hard when you've got a plank that ends in the cockpit. If you look at the photos above, you'll see that the planking is left to run long into the cockpits. Once everything is planked, we'll mark and cut these long ends so that they're flush with the edges of the cockpits. What this means for the folks cutting the herringbones is that they only need to get the angle right, they don't have to worry about the length of the plank.
It's a different story when we have to install a plank that runs the full length of the boat. In these cases, you have to get the angle right at one end, and then carefully mark the other end. If you get the angle wrong on the 2nd cut, you're out of luck because you don't have any extra length to work with. It's a one shot deal, and can be a bit anxiety provoking. However, after a while you just hum along and make your cuts without thinking much about it.
It's handy to have a mini work bench to cut your decking.
This one has a channel to hold the decking in place while it's being cut.
The planks are fastened to the deck beams with silicone bronze ring nails,
These nails have ridges on the sides that make them hold like a pit bull. They do Not want to come out once they're driven in. You really don't want to drive a ring nail without being very sure of yourself.
There's an exception to the ring nails, however, and that's where the planks terminate. We use silicon bronze screws at the very ends of each plank.
It's a little easier to control how tightly a screw is fastened down, and thus a little easier to control splitting. In case you didn't know, wood tends to split when you fasten close to the end of a board.
We've been using little home made clamps to hold each new strip of decking exactly level with the strips that have already been attached.
Now, you may be thinking that this is unnecessary since the decking is all being nailed down to the same deck beams... and you'd be right, as long as you're looking at the decking right over the beams. The decking between the beams, however, is unsupported, so it can flex up and down. Flexing is not good in a deck.
The solution to this is to edge nail the deck planks to each other. Here you can see 2 nail heads set just below the edge of the plank.
We drill and slightly countersink for each nail.
These holes guide the nails as we drive them. Without these pilot holes, the nails could wander and come out above or below the surface of the deck. That's no good.
Here, Robin is using a straight edge aligned with the top of the deck to make sure that he is drilling parallel to the deck face.
The decking is fairly thin, and it doesn't take much to get off center and drill through the surface.
After the holes are drilled, nails are driven in so that their heads are just below the edge of the plank.
Those clamping blocks make sure that the new decking stays aligned with the old decking. In tight spaces where there isn't room to swing a hammer, we need to use a punch to get to the nail.
You may have noticed lots of pencil lines on top of the deck a few photos back. These pencil lines are drawn above each nail so that we know where they are. That way, when we drill for the next nail, we don't run into the previous one.
The nails that fasten the decking down to the deck beams are designed to resist upward pulling forces, but the nails that are driven into the sides of the decking serve another purpose entirely. These nails are used to lock the planks together so that they act like one giant board, rather than many thin boards. These nails keep individual planks from moving up and down relative to their neighbors. Without the side-nailing, the planks could move like guitar strings, but with the side-nailing, they are locked together like woven fabric. This makes the deck much stronger and stiffer.
Speaking of stronger and stiffer, we've gotten the new bronze knees made up. These will help support the extra-beefy beams that hold the mast partner (the place where the mast is supported by the deck).
These big sheets of bronze have been bent to fit exactly in the space where the laminated deck beams attach to the laminated frames.
And yes, those are Tums up there in the photo too. Sometimes boat building can be a tad stressful....