At last the hull planking was finished. Some good, some bad. The worst spot is at the bow, where it was difficult to hold the planks firmly in place, even when the planks were pre-bent.
Wood filler was added and allowed to dry overnight. Then lots of sanding. The hull looks a lot better, and nearly every surface is ready to accept the second layer of planks. However, some issues remain at the bow.
In the meantime, it’s time to take care of the deck planking. I decided to go with a pattern that repeats every 3 planks. I marked out lines every 33mm with the intention of having planks 99mm long.
Starting aft, I laid the first plank along the center line, then worked out and forward. For caulking, I first tried lining the planks with a black artist’s pastel, but found that it created a lot of black dust that was making a mess. So I switched to artist’s charcoal, which was a little cleaner. The port and aft edges of each plank were marked with the charcoal.
Once all planks were laid and the glue was dry, I sanded the deck down and added nail marks with a mechanical pencil. I found the whole process of the deck planking very satisfying.
