Posted by Jonathan Labaree on March 10, 2003 at 17:48:39 from 207.5.234.19 user JLabaree.
In Reply to: Re: The design of the Swallow. posted by John Nichols on March 10, 2003 at 17:05:59:
John,
I don't have my Gardner books here at the office, but I'm surprised to hear he recommended western red cedar for planking. It's a pretty stiff and splintery wood as cedars go. I believe he was much more likely to recommend Atlantic white cedar. It is the traditional wood for New England boats - from skiffs to 35 foot lobster boats. Western red cedar is frequently used in strip planking, but rarely in for traditional lapstrake or carvel boats (I could be wrong about this and would certainly stand corrected). Atlantic white cedar (also known sometimes as Eastern white cedar, but NOT Northern white cedar) is pretty expensive these days. Cyprus is not a bad substitute. If you are going to go with white oak for the frames, try to get it green - it's much better for steam bending.
I built a 14' clinker peapod to Gardner's design when I was in high school. I had the fortune of building it under his watchful eye (we lived in Mystic and my father worked at the museum, so I was able to build the boat in one of the shops there). We used 3/8" atlantic white cedar for planking and white oak for the frames, stems, gunwales, and keel. It is possible to plank with white oak, but it must be a lot of work. Mystic Seaport has one of MacGregor’s original Rob Roy canoes (the 12 foot one) and that's planked with oak, presumably for sturdiness. But that would create a very heavy craft.
That peapod of mine can take quite a bit of abuse, even those it's planked with 3/8 cedar. It's been pulled up on a lot of Maine cobble beaches and has sat out the low tides on mussel beds for many summers.
I'll look around for a sketch of a traveler. What do you mean by “strop”. What type of rig are you planning to use?
- Jonathan
PS. apologies in advance if I'm way off base on the western red cedar thing....