Bending fir/pine false bottom planks

[Thorne]

My dory has a rocker of about 8 inches, and now that the centerboard is installed it is time to build the false / sacrifical bottom.

Since I can't get 1/2" fir at all, and the 4/4 stuff at a decent price (plus I have no planer), I was considering using 1/2" pine. Whatever wood I end up with, it will be painted with red lead primer and bedded in Dolphinite.

Any suggestions as to what woods to use here in the SF Bay area, and how to get a decent curve on the planks?

Can I just wet 'em and clamp 'em onto the boat for a few days before painting and bedding and attaching?

[Thorne]

I went ahead and got some knotty fir planks from Home Despot.

They are kiln dried to 3/4" which is thicker than I wanted, but that's why it is called a false or sacrifical bottom, eh?

http://www.luckhardt.com/bottom-planks1.jpg

[Rick Clark]

Thorne
Hey you can soak them in water for a day or two and then stack them on a couple of bricks with spacers in between them and weight the end down.

Let them dry slowly and then check to see if that curve is what you want.

If not re wet and do it again with a higher center point almost the same a steam bending.

Is this what you are looking for? I used to do this untill I made my steamer. smile.gif

[Thorne]

Rick -

Thanks -- I've gone and done just that, hosed them down and propped them on sawhorses with buckets of water to produce the curve.

Considering the softness of the wood and the reasonably gentle rocker of the boat, I'm not expecting any issues -- but if one cracks I'm out all of $3 or so...

;- )

[ 12-03-2005, 08:20 PM: Message edited by: Thorne ]

[merlinron]

if you need more flexibility, you can "steam" without heat for cheap by using pvc. tubing and downy fabric softener. get a length of pvc tube (two lengths if needed, and a joiner)of the appropriate size, an end cap and a clean out plug. glue the end cap on one end and the clean out on the other.poor a gallon or two if longer, of downy in the tube and top it off with water, throw the lumber in it and screw the clean out plug in. now put it outside up off the ground on a sunny day. 6-8 hrs later the lumber will be like a wet noodle. if you can get black pvc tubing, it will work even better.

[Rick Clark]

That sounds even a better Idea with the PVC.
I used the PVC and ran the steam up thought and had 1/2 in hole in the top, use a 5 gal. can the old gasoline type, that had the spout stuck on the bottom .
But I think I will give merlinron's a try. smile.gif