Hey Pat
Looks great !!! I love this boat. Is the ply sheets part of the kit or did you switch them out for the diagnol sub planking?

Been steadily working on getting the strip planking done. It's not hard, just takes time. The first two bottom planks runn edge to edge the full length of the hull so there's nothing special going on here.

The third plank up won't make the curve, so the front is spaced 1/2" above the second plank at the bow, and flows straight into the second plank about 1/4 of the way back. A steeler will be added to fill the gap.

Fitting a steeler really isn't a big deal, but does need to be worked in slowly, and fitted carefully to avoid an uneven fit, or unsitely gaps that will need to be filled later.

My favorite method for fitting a steeler is as old as boats themselves. Mark reference points on the plank and hull. Then using a divider, find the correct width at each point of reference and transfer that dimension to the plank. Connect the dots and cut away the excess wood. Then carefully fit the plank, sanding as needed to get a snug even fit. Once it fits nicely, it's glued in place with white glue and clamped until dry.

The remaining planks are added in the same manner as the first two. The top two require much trimming and fitting into the sheer. I might mention too, that the planks are shorter then the hull, so need to be added in forward and aft segments. The joints are staggered to eliminate a built in week point on the hull.

At this point, all the planks are in place, and the gaps filled with spackling paste. Once dry the edges were rough sanded. The next step is to sand the surface and level everything up nice and fair.

PAT

Jeff, The lite ply bottom sheeting is included in the kit. I'd guess that by doing the light ply/balsa subplanking there's probably 10 or 12 oz. eliminated from the finished weight of the model as compaired to the typical 1/16 ply diagonal planking like is on the Cobra. And that leaves more room for the weight of larger battery packs.

PAT

Starting to look like a boat, Pat!!!

Surprized to see that the sub-planking goes on this one without the hull structure anchored to the workbench... any risk of building in a twist this way or is the substructure pretty rigid?

Aero, It is, feels like - progress. The first two planks went on while the assembly was still nailed down, and by then was totally rigid, so was lifted to do the rest. At this point its nice and straight and true.

PAT

Good deal!

At this point, the hull sub-planking is finished. Got the bow blocks on and shaped, and the planks sanded and puttied level and fair.

The inside of the hull was given a coat of West Systems resin to seal the wood and show the leaks between the plans. Interstingly, there was NO seapage between the planks anywhere!

From here it up to the deck sub-structure.

PAT

Pat, what kind/brand of white glue do you use?

Tim, I'll use any of the "Carpenters" or "Woodworkers" glues available, depends where I buy it. Titebond and Elmer's are the two most common. Having used both over the years I really can't see much of a difference from one to the other.

PAT

Thanks for the quick response, I know that it doesnt have to be watertight because of whats going over it, but, I didnt know white glue was strong enough to hold the bend.Also, why do you wait to put on the last transom piece? Thanks for these build threads, they will be invalueable when I build the CC Commander and the Catalina.

Originally Posted by azcaptain

As I recall, one difficulty I had was keeping those early installed interior pieces of mahogany from getting messed up from glue, etc, before finishing them with poly. If I was to do it over, I'd stain and poly these panels before installation. Maybe you've got a better approach????

I'm doing mine before I do anything else....I installed a piece of 1/32" ply to the cockpit sides and my planks will be individual planks per the real boat rather than a sheet of mahogany. Here's a test piece for the forward cockpit at bulkhead 4

Bud