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11/23-28/2011: After the Thanksgiving holiday, planking continued. The counter was planked, trimmed to shape, and the transom built up and trimmed to shape.

The rest of the planking is pretty straight forward. The planks will get tapered at the bow to about half their width, but as they run aft they narrow then widen again because of the wine-glass shape of the forms aft. That'll mean putting in some stealers. The "get it planked anyway you can" style I used on Pride just bothers me - even if it is getting glassed and painted so it won't be seen, I want it planked properly.

12/3: Planking continues with some work cleaning up the shop and getting the table saw up on wheels in between. There's a fairly hard bend from station 32 to the counter, but wetting the plank and prebending them makes fairly simple work of it. It'll get interesting again when I reach the stern post and make that turn to go down it.

I'm a bit concerned that the top of the transom will try to flatten out when I take out the forms, so I'm gluing on this former to hold the shape until I can get something inside to keep it in place. More of my advanced planning.

12/6: Still plugging along. A busy week kept me out of the shop until the weekend with a Monday off. As each strake goes on, it gets to a point where I can't do any more until the glue sets - which in places like the counter, where the planks are sprung in, means the clamps stay on till the next day. In the mean time I trim and sand where I can, pull nails, etc. Pulling the nails out of transom showed the brace did it's job which was comforting.

12/10: I cut and fit the keel pieces. The keel is CDX plywood and done in two stem sections, four keel sections, and the stern post. After filling between the garboards, then shaving and sanding the bottom flat and solid, three of the keel sections were glued and nailed to the hull.

The stem pieces were cut and roughly fitted, but the bow planking will have to be completed and trimmed before they can be attached. I also made a card template for marking the wale, which will be applied to the hull after it's glassed.

12/11: After planking some more I couldn't resist any longer and popped the hull loose from the building board. I just had to see it right side up. With the forms merely tacked to the building board, it came loose without too much effort and the hull didn't flex at all. Nothing sprung or twisted, and I'm pretty sure it'll hold it's shape when the forms are removed.

I wasn't happy with how the last two strakes on either side of the stern post went in. These were making the turn from the flat of the counter to the vertical sternpost. I cut them out and will redo them to fit better.

12/14: One turning plank got installed on the 13th and today trying to get the one on the other side adequately clamped I managed to break the glue seam where the planking meets the counter. There's a strip glued to the inside of the counter that catches all the plank ends and that came loose on the counter side. Nothing broke and it was just a matter of regluing it - getting a clamp on it was quite another matter.
I wound up with two plywood strips and a block of wood with a Jorgensen clamp to apply pressure. It seems to have done the job.

At the other end of the hull, I actually closed up the planking at the bow.

12/18: Another weekend and more planking. I'd really hoped to have the planking done, but clamping them down at the stern post became a challenge. Once that was figured out, it got easier and another 6 or so strakes went on in quick succession.

A lot of planks got on above the shear strake, in fact, all of them from the waist back along the quarter deck to the transom.

12/19: the planking is done! With clamping to the stern post solved the remainder went on very easily. A couple of stealers and drop planks and the bottom was closed up. Then it was back to the topsides to put on the last 5 planks of the bow bulwark.

I pulled out the dead-flat form to see how much trouble it would be with the tumble home, etc. No problem at all, the hull has plenty of flex to it to get the forms out when the time comes. After a break to let things set up, I trimmed the waist break to size and it was done.

Here's a fellow that's glad that bit is done.