Split clinker plank in Vattern Snipa "VRIXLOS"...........pass the putty???

[skaraborgcraft]

Firstly, seems to be an issue posting pictures,so i will post briefly and try again.

Vrixlos has been hanging in the slings over winter,and now,hopefully, the sub zero weather has gone,she can come out and get wet,ready for launching. more to follow.

[skaraborgcraft]

https://picasaweb.google.com/100193283995815724740/March122012#5719101931522383682https://picasaweb.google.com/100193283995815724740/March122012#5719101931522383682 definately a problem with pictures this evening......

[skaraborgcraft]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4T4IEhsUtyo/T15U59akX0I/AAAAAAAAATM/W3PZ2EzcXDc/s576/PICT2063.JPG?gl=US

Working now......ok.....slung at a nice height so the car gets under.....and ideal for scraping the bottom before getting stuck in with the pine tar. Heres the split plank......

[skaraborgcraft]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JxMZBAYBGIU/T15VhkiqLoI/AAAAAAAAATc/BflMTyHxUaY/s576/PICT2064.JPG?gl=US

runs about 2/3rds of the plank length. About 1/4 in wide.......another shot below......hopefully...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H4kz_L2WXpE/T15VP_-3WqI/AAAAAAAAATU/YHvqVbUtQG8/s576/PICT2065.JPG?gl=US

[skaraborgcraft]

A few people saw this split last year and said it was too wide to close and i would have to replace the plank. Well, i used a thing called "ettan", a product made in Sweden, a very sticky resin made from natrual resins. Although she did leak for a good while,over a month, she did eventually swell tight,and the ettan is soft enough to just get squeezed out,you can scrape it off and re-use it....its great stuff. However,it really is a flexible plank while its swelling,and its not a good idea to sail too hard. I was going to put a lead tingle over it,but found that the larch is really quite dense,and i dont wish to pre drill any holes. I consider Sika_flex to be too hard once set,i dont think it will compress,and then will maybe stress the fastenings......anyone tried sika on a clinker split like this and got away with it?

I had intentions of routing out a uniform slot to be filled witha glued spline,but this should have been done at the end of last year while she was tight,i think if it was done now,the swelling is going to be an issue on the fastenings. Just how flexible are copper fastenings under those conditions? I really dont want to elongate any holes and make things worse further down the road......or should that be lake..... Cheers

[Peerie Maa]

Peerie Maa had several old splits in her when I took her over, plus a new one as long as that. The older ones were repaired with larch tingles clenched to the inside, so that is what I did with the big one.
You can see them here:
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/peerie_maa/Idiot proof/straps002.jpg

[skaraborgcraft]

Cheers Peerie. I did do some repairs like that on a folkboat, except the repairs were on the outside of the hull,much easier than having to deal with than internal ribs. I dont think i can get anything under the ribs,which is why i considered the outside attack with a router and batten. Your tingles look rivetted rather than clenched??? You look as though you have floors and ribs....Vrixlos has only bent ribs and one joggled oak frame right aft. More internal pics please Peerie!

[Peerie Maa]

She has three sawn frames, and a pair of top timbers for'd and aft, at 3' spacing. No steamed timbers.
The original tingles butt against the frames, however as I have re-framed her, the new ones run under the frames.
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/peerie_maa/Idiot proof/straps026.jpg
Router and batten is the best way to go, if you ca guarantee that the plank stuff is clean enough to hold glue.

[chainyank]

Hi Skaraborg,
I know your problems well, as I have cracks of varying degrees on my Koster. As I think you know some were so bad that I had to replace the planks, others I just use Ettan on, some I have covered with lead sheet, and yet others are riveted to buttblocks on the inside, like in Nick's boat. I think you could do the same with clinched nails, they don't need to be rivets, though I would use them IMHO. They are there to stiffen up the plank, more than to solely keep water out. You will still use the Ettan to keep the water out, for this reason it is not critical to cover the while plank (ie under the ribs). If you feel that the plank is severely weaken by the cracking, a spline will not hold up. As you say the cracks close up when the planks "take up", but I understand that they give a little when pressed on from the outside. I think the buttblock system is the best solution to your problem, but as you say maybe it is best done in the fall. So whats one more summer with squishy planks in the long run?!

[skaraborgcraft]

Cheers both.I will live with a sqishy plank for another summer for sure. One of the last weeps to seal was under two of the ribs, easy enough to access from outside, but just was difficult to get any ettan in from inside. I think the glue issue is a possibility with tar enriched larch....im sure it could be cleaned with solvent,but thats not my thing. I have thought about "cross stitching" once the plank is tight with small recessed dutcmen,just to lock the plank stable. I think in the end, the tried and tested wooden plank-on-plank,nailed and clinched,or roved will be the quickest repair. I have some treated fir that i bought for an exterior garden deck, some of it had excellent grain and hardly any if very small knots.....i put that to one side and bought some more after rummaging the stack for more good stuff. I may try that, its going to get saturated in pine tar before it even makes it in the boat.

Thanks for the photos Nick, i was thinking or modifying my seating just like that.

[kbowen]

Good luck! I have a Rangley Lake boat that had some split planks and I wasted lots of time every year screwing around before I finally replaced them. Admittedly, these planks are only 5/16" thick, but I think the splits happen if the lap somehow sticks and stops sliding with the wet / dry cycles. On the Rangley, I think it needs to be close fitting laps with no sealer or caulk to allow the laps to work. Once you commit to replacing a section of plank, and get the materials, it doesn't take much more time than patches and gick and it is much more satisfying and permanent IMHO. It's worth making a simple router jig for doing the nibbed scarfs when the planks are thin.

[skaraborgcraft]

KBOWEN, these planks are about 5/8 thick. Im not sure if the split is caused by the lack of movement in the laps, there is no sealer of any kind,just wood on wood. My problem would be to find a board wide enough to replace the plank in one go, though im not averse to a butt joint if needs be. Its only that i dont have the materials on hand that are putting me off replacing the whole plank. Like Chainyank,my Koster also needs some plank work,and my folkboat too, i would rather do all the planking operations in one go over autumn or spring.....but not this spring....too much other stuff going on.... Cheers

[kbowen]

My problem would be to find a board wide enough to replace the plank in one go, though im not averse to a butt joint if needs be. Its only that i dont have the materials on hand that are putting me off replacing the whole plank.

I am in the US Midwest, where we cut down all the trees for farmland 100+ years ago, so I totally understand the problem of finding suitable material. I think anything that involves a parallel sided joint will be short-lived. Is there any way to cut a V shape from the outside and put in a wood piece slathered in some flexible goo?

[skaraborgcraft]

I am in the US Midwest, where we cut down all the trees for farmland 100+ years ago, so I totally understand the problem of finding suitable material. I think anything that involves a parallel sided joint will be short-lived. Is there any way to cut a V shape from the outside and put in a wood piece slathered in some flexible goo?

I could run a batten as a guide and run a V groove router bit down the split,but i would rather do that when the plank is swollen rather than now. When its swells its a tight plank,and much stiffer, but it is a weak point im very much aware of.
Shes back on the trailer and outside,and she has a few buckets of water in her bottom, typically i woke up to snow, but the water only had a very tin iceing on top.....that will teach me to get carried away so early in the season. Im hoping after a couple weeks i can get the gap sealed abit better than last year before launching......it was an strange experience to be rowing across the marina in a boat that was slowing submerging and getting harder to row with each stroke. Some locals sink their boats in their slip and keep them under the ice all winter......stops them drying out.....a practice the marina is trying to stop as it spoils their maintanence program. I will probably go for the glued spline as a tester,i would like to keep a smooth inside if i can,if it fails then i will just plank over on the inside, if i have not found any suitable timber to replace the entire plank. A "V" batten will need some kind of fastner unless that flexible goo is also a glue,such as Sikaflex. Thanks for the suggestion.

Plenty of wood around really.....im surrounded by forest here in Sweden,but im particulary fussy when it comes to planking timber,with so much timber around,you may aswell put the right piece in rather than one that just ok.

[lagspiller]

If you let the board swell, what do you use for glue? From what you write, I have a hard time understanding that some of that polypropenol would be your fastener of choice... (the glue that needs water and foams up as it dries). Or am I wrong? It may be 'plastic glue', but it is flexible, strong, invisible when dry and works well with water.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be best to glue while the board is dry and use resorcinol or even epoxy?