edge beveling/tapering strip planks

[Cecil Borel]

I am strip planking a 32 ft sailboat using 1"x1" strips. Although I am about half way through the planking process, I am asking for advice about beveling the edges and tapering the strip planks after they are attached to the boat. I have been hand planing the planks to fit, but keep banging my knuckles into the frames as I work the plane down the plank. Sometimes, I have just ignored the gaps and filled the spaces with epoxy. As I approach the previously planked areas, I am trying to work in some cheater strips, which require a smooth taper and rolling bevel. There are also areas where the gap was just to great to get a good fit without planing.
I was wondering how some of you master strip-plankers handle the problem?

[JimD]

Well Cec, I ain't no master :D but I leave that kind of planing to a practiced touch with a belt sander loaded with a coarse grit. To avoid sheering off my knuckles I wear snugg fitting leather work gloves, don't know if they sell Watson brand where you are but they're worth the ten bucks to me
jimd

[Paul Scheuer]

A technique used in stipper canoes is to mold a slight concave groove on one edge and a rounded tongue on the other. The hull forms with no gaps. You might use a little more lumber but save a few knuckles.

As far as the taper goes, you might be able to do it on the bench before molding. If you're doing your own slicing, you could slice at a slight angle and get two tapered pieces per pass.

[Ross Faneuf]

Are you edge-nailing the planks? If so, then don't bother with beveling; let the epoxy do the work.

I build my boat (Ceol Mor - 36', similar to your size) with 3/4 x 1 1/8 strips. I had to put in 6-8 stealers each side, which I tapered before installing on the boat. I did this by making up a long wedge - a piece of stock 3/4 thick on one end, tapering to a point on the other, and about 12 feet long. I made it by drawing it on a piece of stock, bandsawing it out rough, then planing to the line.

To taper a strip, I would feed this taper through the table saw with a strip, sawing off a matching wedge from the strip (less the kerf). I would do this each end, and there I had a stealer. The taper was so gradual I never bothered fairing it - I couldn't even see the transition.

BTW I included an exhaustive description of how I do strip planking in an earlier post which you should be able to search for; many other replies and opinions available therein.

[ 01-13-2003, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: Ross Faneuf ]