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Taking the Tongue-and-Groove off Tongue-and-Groove Cladding...


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...to end up with square-edge planks. Why? - no practical purpose really, just a fanciful notion for aesthetics, I guess.

 

I have a 12' forecabin; the horizontal TGV cladding boards that I've ripped out were fixed to vertical battens. To follow the shape of the hull into the bow, short boards were used.

 

I always thought it looked a bit crap, having all the end joins in a line, and want to get a bit more of a smoother look.

 

Battens are at roughly 4' intervals - what I thought I might be able to do, is use 3m cladding, cutting and fitting them to the battens so that I could achieve a staggered 'planking' pattern. Not quite as on a ship's deck, but close.

 

This will probably mean that the boards won't quite line up - but as long as there's less overlap than the 15mm thickness of the boards, I'm quite happy with that.

 

There must be some downsides that I haven't considered, that somebody here with more experience could warn me of, please? Maybe movement and gaps appearing?

 

Thinking of using 15mm spruce boards, bending/kerfing them. Am I headed for disaster?

 

 

TIA

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9 minutes ago, Bee said:

Personally i would cut them up and fix vertically, follow the cabin taper . then paint them

Like I say, I already have vertical battens and I'd rather not have to put in any more woodwork - but also, at about 8" under the gunwales, the hull cants inward, and more so towards the bow. So for those two reasons, I'm discounting vertical cladding, but thanks anyway.

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4 ft is a long distance to ask cladding to span. I would be tempted to fit some intermediate battens.If there is nothing else to fix to these can be glued to the hull (which will involve carefully cutting away the insulation and making good). You will need to set the new battens so that together with the existing battens they make a smooth curve. Test it out with a thin strip of wood across several battens.

The tongue and groove detail helps to ensure that the face of each board matches its neighbour. Without it you may find, especially round the curved bit, that you end up with unevenness due to each plank taking the curve differently. That said, if there is any double curvature you will end up having to taper some of the planks, so it will be messy to maintain the t+g detail, especially if you don't have a router available.

In my experience kerfing timber usually results in uneven bends unless you have many closely spaced kegs - in which case you could have used thinner timber in the first place. I would be tempted to try dry bending with a hot air gun as described at https://hvartial.kapsi.fi/bend/bend.htm.

 

Edited to add that with the top bend canting in you will definitely have to plank this area separately, which will involve angled cuts across the ends of the planks and a mismatch of joints above and below the cant line. A cover strip over the joint would probably improve the appearance.

Edited by David Mack
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3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

4 ft is a long distance to ask cladding to span. I would be tempted to fit some intermediate battens.If there is nothing else to fix to these can be glued to the hull (which will involve carefully cutting away the insulation and making good). You will need to set the new battens so that together with the existing battens they make a smooth curve. Test it out with a thin strip of wood across several battens.

 

That's a pity, I've already (spits out PU dust) fitted insulation. Battening followed pattern of old, ripped-out woodwork fixed to angles welded to hull. I do still have some timber and Stixall, though. Ah well, thanks for that.

 

6 minutes ago, David Mack said:

The tongue and groove detail helps to ensure that the face of each board matches its neighbour. Without it you may find, especially round the curved bit, that you end up with unevenness due to each plank taking the curve differently. That said, if there is any double curvature you will end up having to taper some of the planks, so it will be messy to maintain the t+g detail, especially if you don't have a router available.

 

That's what I meant when I said I'd be happy with some degree of overlap. Not bothered about detail if you mean V-groove / beading - in fact, would prefer square-edge in terms of looks. Bending may help...

 

10 minutes ago, David Mack said:

In my experience kerfing timber usually results in uneven bends unless you have many closely spaced kegs - in which case you could have used thinner timber in the first place. I would be tempted to try dry bending with a hot air gun as described at https://hvartial.kapsi.fi/bend/bend.htm.

 

That's actually welcome news. I'd much rather be using a hot air gun than cutting kerfs, and thanks to my weakness for the Lidl mystery aisle I do have a shiny new HAG.

 

Ta

 

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11 hours ago, Sir Percy said:

That's actually welcome news. I'd much rather be using a hot air gun than cutting kerfs, and thanks to my weakness for the Lidl mystery aisle I do have a shiny new HAG.

 

Ta

 

 

Witch aisle was that in? ?

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1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

Witch aisle was that in? ?

 

Voodoo/Necromancy or possibly Cycling, although not sure what use a Hanger Alignment Gauge is for boards, do they even have derailleurs?? :D 

 

 

20180210_103208.jpg

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2 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

Voodoo/Necromancy or possibly Cycling, although not sure what use a Hanger Alignment Gauge is for boards, do they even have derailleurs?? :D 

 

 

Good thing I realised this was a joke, else I'd have got all bent out of shape.

 

3 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

Witch aisle was that in? ?

 

Middle, middle, aisle of Lidl

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1 hour ago, jacob said:

A nice sharp chisel will easily shave off the tongues

 

or I could just look through online customer reviews for the ones which say, 'came delivered with half the tongues broken off'

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