Riveting a planked hull

[Bob Perkins]

Hi,

I've been doing a lot of reading and I can't find
the answer to this question.

If you are planking a hull, you can use screws or
rivets. I saw a partially built Herreshoff tender
at the Wooden Boat Show that had both. (and thought
of the question after we left, duh)

My question is, if you use rivets, do you countersink
the heads so that you can fair the hull later?
It seems that using a hand plane to fair could get
tricky if you don't countersink them enough. But
everything I have been reading on riveting shows the
rivet heads at surface level with the planks.

I hope this question makes sense...

Thanks,
Bob

[Chadd Hamilton]

Hey Bob. Hope I can put my $.02 and possibly help you out.

Q: if you use rivets, do you countersink the heads so that you can fair the hull later?
IMHO: It boils down to personal preference. I've done both. Leaving them flush is considered a "Bristol" finish, I think. I use rosehead boatnails and have been countersinking them about 1/8" on the pram I am currently building. It's just deep enough so that my block plane doesn't snag them.

Hope this helps.

[ 08-28-2002, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: BlueEarth ]

[Bob Perkins]

Does this mean you have a backing iron with a dimple (or something) to back the head of the countersunk rivet while peening the rove?

btw: Yes, you did answer the question that I could not find written anywhere smile.gif

[Chadd Hamilton]

Yep, your right on it. My bucking iron is a very large lag bolt about 10 inches long...very heavy On the bolt end I drilled a hole roughly the diameter of the boatnail head that I use. Then-this is funny-I hacksawed a 1/2" off the drill bit I used and hammered it into this hole until it protrudes about 1/4". Very basic, but very cheap and effective. I've seen the same done with maul heads etc...

So when you starting this boat?

Here is Walt Simmon's version of the Bucking Iron:
http://www.duck-trap.com/tools375.jpg

[ 08-28-2002, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: BlueEarth ]

[Bob Perkins]

Thanks for the info.

I'm currently in the "building my shop" stage. I had a 26x28 (2 car) boat shop made.

It has radiant floor heat, 100 AMP service, very well lit, etc. I'm in the process of building shop fixtures (currently working on mitre bench with storage) to get all of my tools, etc. off the floor, and moving tools out of the cramped cellar. (no more hitting my head, yay)

Once the shop is done, I will make the boat decision. I'm looking at the Dec/Jan timeframe to get a boat started.

I'm torn, I want to do a planked hull (Lawley Tender) - But I really want to do a Mohogany Runabout (Hankinson Biscayne 22) I own the plans to each.

They will probably both get done at some point, but which first...