As the Durakore strip planking process progresses and you need to plank around tighter curved areas such as the bilges, then some dress making skills are required.
Due to the limitations of how much the strips could take up the shape of the hull, some strips needed to be cut to suit the line alignment of the next plank.
I did this by laying a second strip over the full length of the hull, butting the ends against the temporary screwed plank, allowing the strip to run where it naturally wanted to bend around the shape of the hull.
I then traced with a pencil where the edge of the second strip wanted to sit over top of the temporary screwed plank.
I wished I had a photo of that part of the operation, as it is really easy but difficult to describe simply. However the photo to the right will show how the strips were cut to run into each other. This may help.
Hopefully I do not make this too confusing. Basically I would lay the new strip on the edge of the strip already fixed to the hull mould. I would then draw a pencil line in behind the new strip following the top fixed strip edge, to produce the tapered edge to enable to new strip to fit into the tapered gap that had to be filled. Confused, well please take a good look at the photos.
The most important thing I realised here is to take care in the alignment of the strips, so that the strips appear to lay flat and fit perfectly over the entire hull, without any humps or hollows, or being twisted like a propeller blade to lay over the hull mould frames.
It is best to just cut them in allowing the strips to flow into the hull, without unduly forcing them.
This part of the project took me approximately 2 months of spare time after work and full weekends around the clock. There were no recreational days. At the end of this stage of my Trimaran project I was rewarded with a very fair looking hull, it looked good but I had so much more to do.
Due to the limitations of how much the strips could take up the shape of the hull, some strips needed to be cut to suit the line alignment of the next plank.
I did this by laying a second strip over the full length of the hull, butting the ends against the temporary screwed plank, allowing the strip to run where it naturally wanted to bend around the shape of the hull.
I then traced with a pencil where the edge of the second strip wanted to sit over top of the temporary screwed plank.
I wished I had a photo of that part of the operation, as it is really easy but difficult to describe simply. However the photo to the right will show how the strips were cut to run into each other. This may help.
Hopefully I do not make this too confusing. Basically I would lay the new strip on the edge of the strip already fixed to the hull mould. I would then draw a pencil line in behind the new strip following the top fixed strip edge, to produce the tapered edge to enable to new strip to fit into the tapered gap that had to be filled. Confused, well please take a good look at the photos.
The most important thing I realised here is to take care in the alignment of the strips, so that the strips appear to lay flat and fit perfectly over the entire hull, without any humps or hollows, or being twisted like a propeller blade to lay over the hull mould frames.
It is best to just cut them in allowing the strips to flow into the hull, without unduly forcing them.
This part of the project took me approximately 2 months of spare time after work and full weekends around the clock. There were no recreational days. At the end of this stage of my Trimaran project I was rewarded with a very fair looking hull, it looked good but I had so much more to do.
