Vera Cruise
by David Ellingson

16 June 2009

I finished planking the hull this weekend, its starting to look like a real boat! The planking went on in big sheets, scarfed together to span the entire length of the boat. I couldn't see how butt joints would finish fair.

The big panels handled like giant cooked lasagna noodles, not heavy, just unwieldy. A few neighbors helped me set them down on the applied epoxy. The temperature was cool (about 50F) so I had plenty of time to fasten the panel before the epoxy started to cure.

To glue the planking onto the framework I used System Three GelMagic (slow cure). That stuff is great. You just mix it up, spread it on, and there it stays, no dripping or sagging even on vertical surfaces. I used System Three T-88 to glue the scarf joints which worked just fine.


I included a picture of a finished joint. Scarfing was pretty easy using the technique described in the "Boatbuilding with Plywood" book.

The strength of the finished scarf was amazing. I destroyed a few sample pieces to check joint integrity. In all cases the plywood failed before the scarf joint. I used BS1088 9 mm Okume for the planking.

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