Arctic Tern Build

May 12, 2017

Making the pattern for the Garboard Planks

Today I worked on the pattern for the Garboard Planks.  I used a piece of ¼” plywood to make the pattern.  I first ripped the plywood into two 10” widths.  I used hot glue gun to glue the ends together to give me the 15+’ length that I needed.  I then clamped one straight edge along the centerline of the keelson and measured and marked the pattern for the location of the edge of the plank. 

I then used a flexible strip of wood to mark a fair curve between the marked spots on the pattern.  Once the curve was marked, I used a saber saw to cut along the marked line and finished with the use of a sanding block to insure that the edge was faired correctly.  Lastly, I fit the pattern onto the port side of the boat to make sure everything lined up correctly. 

Once I was comfortable with the fit on the port side, I flipped the pattern over to check the fit on the starboard side.  I found that I needed to add a bit to one edge to match the marks on the number 4 form.  I will adjust this when I transfer the shape of the pattern to the actual Okoume plywood planking.

Next step will be to cut the Okoume Plywood for the Garboard Planks along with scarfing.