Hi

"P.C. Ford" skrev i en meddelelse
...
On 20 Sep 2003 04:30:27 -0700, (Al) wrote:

Snip

As far as the cedar goes, I only have Western Red available to me, I
apologise for not specifying this earlier, does this alter your
analysis? As a matter of interest, why are you recommending the cedar
over the oak, is it just ease of working?

In the US, as far as I know, oak was never used for small boat
planking.

Oak is heavy and hard to work. It is stronger of course. The strength
is just not needed. The Lawley yard had a saying about their thin
scantlings on their dinghies. Something to the effect that if the boat
is going on the rocks, the difference between 3/8 and 7/16 is not
important.

Now Oak work different in thin planks. Oak and Ash have some simularity with
these matters, but a thin Oak plank is a different thing than a softwood or near
softwood .
Oak don't like it to dry and ofcaurse you can prefere a good Larch from a bad
Oak, but done right , and with top quality wood Oak add more than just the good
looks, it will drain your bank account, unless you master just a few skills,
Oak is perfect for Lapstrake boats, and with Epoxy , you can lenghten any plank
so you can experience a lapstrake boat without butts, in Oak , where the rule
is, that this can be 2/3 thickness now it is stronger wood.
Still why do you bother, Computer drawings with unfolded planks do exist with
Cyber-Boat, but from my best knowleage , most unfolding is done from smothened
single curved skins . You can hardly find modern designs, that is projected and
the most "modern" lapstrake design, that you would reconise, is the danish
folkboat .
Still with materials you have a wide choice even the computer thing is fiddeling
and square box in inches , ---------- Nice boats was once build in this smart
building method, even it still is difficult to project in 3D ,you can chose high
quality , but please read about Oak before you decide, as what you need is the
true gray Oak not the "Oak" that is often used with furniture , do it carry
acid and is bone hard or is it a weak specie for outdoor use even nice and
without knots ; with Oak you can ask cirain qualities.
BTW. --------- A Lapstrake is the one that carry less frames , acturly they are
build without, and the ribs put in after, this acturly define the Lapstrake
method , compared other methods.
With Cyber-Boat you will find true 3D Lapstrake computer models, being the basis
for the unfolded planks , but I guess no one even care that with 3D-H you can
complete the Lapstrake method, with a perfect 3D-Honeycomb framework, at last
one reliable, that can be cut from sheet material, Anyway the 3D-H building
method, that offer you to build a new WTC without the weak trusses and hangers,
proberly will produce very few true Lapstrake boats. Mahogony is what I prefered
when I made boats .Only later I taken lame cheap chipwood into consideration,
and acturly offer plans for a tremendures Longboat , that you can build
extremely cheap , the plans are free ,the plans don't care if it is plywood or
crome plated Gold , but if you realy want to make good use of thin Oak planks,
why didn't you check the full-scale plans here ;

http://w1.1396.telia.com/~u139600113/

Or ;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cyber-Boat/

O.T. you can se what 3D-H can produce , beside boat frames ;
http://www.designcommunity.com/scrapbook/2806.html

P.C.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/structure-testbench/
Check Foto's folder for design.