Planking a round sided hull is easy and fun. In fact it is easier than one might imagine. It just takes a little time and patience. The first thing to do is to find a set of lines for a boat that you really like. If its your first one you should start with a design that has no complicated inside curves. At the bottom of this document is a detailed diagram which can be printed and referred to.

So you have this set of lines for a boat which normally consist of a profile view, top view, and end view. The end view needs to be the exact size that you would like the boat to be since these lines will be used to construct the frames. You can use a copy machine to enlarge or reduce the lines, or if you're lucky enough to have the actual construction plans these will naturally be more accurate with clean crisp thin lines.

First you make all the frames and stem. To do this you lay the drawing on a perfectly flat surface that can accept pins and hold them firmly. I have a special building board made of balsa wood that takes the pins nicely. A piece of homasote will do as long as its flat. Use a piece of waxed paper on top of the drawing to keep the frame from sticking. To build each frame just assemble the pieces one at a time with yellow Tite Bond glue, and hold them in place with the pins.

Each plank will just barely touch its friend on the other side of the boat right at the stem. If you imagine all these points where the planks converge describing a line in the profile view, then this line is traditionally called the rabbit line. The stem uses the rabbit line as its front edge, and both sides of the stem are beveled to allow each plank to barely touch its brother on the other side of the boat. Later the ends of the planks will be covered by what I call the sacrificial stem.

Then you need what is traditionally called a Strongback. The Strongback keeps all the frames and the stem in perfect alignment with one another until the planking process is complete. Each frame is secured in place with its center directly on the centerline, and held exactly perpendicular to the strongback when viewed from the side, with diagonal braces. The frames that are nearest the bow are placed, with their faces that face the bow, directly over the section lines. In other words the thickness of the foward frame, which is commonly around one eighth of an inch, extends aft of the station line. The frames that are nearest the stem do the opposite. This is all to eliminate the need for beveling the frames.

Now comes the fun part. For a boat that is around thirty six inches long you will need a big supply of one eighth inch thick planks. For each plank, start with a plank about three eighths of an inch wide, and taper it to around three sixteenths of an inch wide at both ends using a sanding block. You don't need to fuss too much about the exact shape of each plank because there is tremendous room for error. The inside of the bull will be reinforced with epoxy and any gaps between the planks can be filled easily. You can also bevel the edges of the planks as needed to close gaps.

So you have This plank and you want to bend it around the frames. First you attach the sheer clamp which goes along the sheer line through a notch in each frame. Then you attach a row of small scraps of wood to each frame along the sheer line to keep the first plank from sliding down. Put a dab of Tite bond on each frame where the plank goes and then on goes the plank. Use a rubber band around the backside of each frame with a piece of string to hold the plank in place while the glue dries. You can put a screw eye right where the frame meets the strongback to guide the string in the right direction and you can adjust the tension of the rubber band with the string. I like to use little scraps of basswood as cleats to tie off the strings.

Then you do the plank on the other side and when the glue dries you then cast off the strings and do the next plank and before you know it you've planked up the boat. At the chin, which is the part of the stem that meets the water, the planks will want to get really tiny at the ends. Guess what, you can cheat and fill this part in with a solid block called a chin block. The really fun part comes when you get to finally cut the hull free from the strongback. After you're done celebrating you cover all of the joints on the inside with epoxy right over the yellow glue, and fill an the gaps and bumps with wood filler on the outside. I use the smooth water based kind that doesn't have all that pulpy sawdust in it. I also use water based sanding sealer on the outside with about three coats to join all the planks edge to edge.

Then comes the sanding, and I mean sanding and sanding. The more you carefully sand the outside of your new hull, the less lumpy its curves will be.