The Marshall Expedition

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Over the last week and a half the crew has been working long hours to finish planking the boat.  Saturday afternoon we nailed up the king plank, and the boat looks fantastic.  With the skin on the boat, we have passed a huge milestone in construction.  We only need to pack the seams with oakum before she can be flipped and finished.  In planking the boat we used all green lumber below the water line.  Typically, batteau builders have allowed their boards to dry out, and kept track of how much width the boards lose.  Boats are then built with flush seams, and ripped with a circular saw to allow for packing oakum and swell once the boat is put back in the water.  Instead of calculating the swell of the boards, we built a trough from cinder blocks and tarps, and kept all of our boards soaking.  Doing this allowed us to build the boat flush, then let the boards dry out and gap so we can pack oakum (wood fiber and grease) into the seams.  Once put back in the water the boards will swell to their original width, ensuring extremely tight seams.

Each run of planking requires several specific steps.  First, we need to figure out the width of board to use, and where to place butt joints.  Butt joints need to be alternated along each run of planking so as to avoid a hinge effect at pinch points on the boat.  Essentially, we don’t want successive runs of planking with joints on the same rib.  With the width determined, each rib must be planed to fit the board so we have a flat surface to fasten it to.  Planes must be planned and made 2 runs ahead of the last run of planking nailed up in order to have enough room to operate the planer effectively.

Andrew planes rib arms

With the planes made and boards selected, the board must be ripped on an angle so the seams will be flush from inside to outside.  The best way to determine the appropriate angle is to clamp a board into the position of the next run of planking, rest the fence of the circular saw on the run below it, and, with the blade at 90 degrees, rip the seam so the blade cuts just below the outside corner of the top board.  Once the angle was determined, we set the circular saw to the proper angle and ripped the board.  Once the board is cut we generally planed the inside edge to eliminate any error in the saw cut.

Angle cut on an planking board

With the angle cut, we then cut the butt joints.  We used three boards for each run of planking and were careful to avoid placing butt joints on the same rib.   Butt joints are cut so that the planks evenly split the width of the rib at the joint.  Once we liked the way a board fit, we clamped it into position.  Each board has a natural bow and cup.  At times it was a laborious process to force the board to go with the taper and rocker of the boat, but we developed an effective system of getting boards into place and are very pleased with the final product.

Clamping it down

With the board in position we do our standard pre-drills for our boat nails.  While one man drives the nail into position, another sits on the inside of the boat and braces the rib arm to avoid any splitting.  The first three runs of planking were made with the top 2 runs at 6” wide and the third at 10”.  By placing a 10” board on the water line we hope to avoid having a seam that sits directly on the water line.  After the first three runs, things became a bit more complicated.  As the boat is tapered, once we began working our way into the flatter sections of rib, we needed to begin tapering our boards.  Knowing that our king plank would be 9” where it met the nosecones, we decided to keep it 14” on the center rib.  We then split the difference between the remaining distance between our king plank marks and the last run of square planking three ways.  With our lines marked on each rib, we would clamp a board into position aligned with the appropriate lines, get under the boat and trace out where we needed to cut.  On each run of planking that was tapered there were 2 transitions, with the angle becoming more gradual with each successive run.

Andrew traces a tapered board

With the line drawn, we ripped the board and followed our standard angle cutting and planing procedures.  The most difficult part of cutting the tapered boards was creating a smooth transition were the angle of the prior run changed with the taper at the butt joint.  Once we were into the tapered boards, we also had to change our clamping methods.  We used ratchet straps to bring boards into position as we did not have any clamps that were long enough.

Dylan backs up a board that has been strapped into position

Once we were planked up to the king plank we took a trip to go retrieve the board from the pond it has been soaking in.  The 44′x16”x1” oak board easily weighed several hundred pounds.  After cutting it down to a more manageable 36′ (we only needed 33′), we placed it over the gap in the boat.  From underneath the boat we traced out the lines we needed to cut and flipped it over.

Andrew rips the king plank

Once the board was cut we planed the edges just enough to allow the board to be stomped into its space.  The king plank spans the entire boat, reaching into both the nosecones.

Nailing up the king plank

We believe the one piece king plank, along with our continuous cap rails, will lend significant structural stability to the boat.  Finishing planking was a huge step for the crew, and the boat looks awesome.  There is very little flat on the boat, with 2 distinct chines below the waterline.  In many ways it resembles the hull of my creek boat.  With proper weight distribution, we will be able to dig an edge of the boat into the water as we make moves.  When running rapids in a kayak, you edge into deeper water to effect a turn.  I expect to see the same principle at work as we run rapids on the New.

Planking finished up

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With the nose cones built, we have completed the most difficult part of the construction process.  Planing the stem and rib so the boards sit flush, cutting the joint angles, and ripping the seams so that the joints are flush is a meticulous and difficult process.   However, with the help of several batteau veterans we have built a pair of nose cones we are confident will withstand the rigors of our journey.

Ralph Smith and William Davis came by last week and gave us an excellent start to our rear nosecone, nailing up all but the last two boards before leaving.  Over the past few days, with the help of Chip Coleman, Captain of the Rocky Creek Wildfire and home builder with The Coleman Company, and Mason Basten, we completed both nose cones.

Chip Coleman and Mason Basten check the joint on our top nose cone board

In order to nail up our nose cone boards, we first had to plane flat both the arc of our front rib and the stem.  Essentially, we cut a board that spans the space we need and leaves a few inches to spare.  By holding the board up against our rib and stem, we get an idea of the plane we need to achieve in order for the board to sit flush in both places.

Dylan planes the stem

Next, we place the board in position and draw a line following the center of our stem down our board.  We then set the circular saw to the appropriate angle and cut this board to ensure it will fit flush with its counterpart of the opposite side of the nose cone.

Andrew cuts the angle on the front of a nose cone board

With the front angle cut, we then clamp the board into position.  As the nose cone boards must be twisted to fit flush on the planed surfaces of the rib and stem, we need to cut the 90 degree edge so the seams will be flush.  With the board clamped into position, we carefully run the circular saw just below the outside corner of the top board.

Dylan rips a seam on the nose cone

The fence of the saw must be kept flush with the bottom board.  Once the planes allow the board to sit flush, the front angle is cut, and the seam is ripped, it is time to make it real.  Clamping the board into position, we do our standard pre-drills.  Our square cut 3 1/2” 10d Tremont boat nails bulge in the top third, and taper down.  A 9/64” pilot is drilled for the full length , and a 3/16″ pilot is made for the fat upper end of the nail.

Mason Basten pre-drills

We then drive the nails into position.  This process is repeated for each board on the nosecone.  Once finished, the ends of the boards are cut halfway back on the rib, in order to leave room to nail planking.  All told we are extremely pleased with the quality of our nose cones, and expect them to stand up to the the challenge of the voyage ahead.  Personally, I can’t wait to stand at the helm as we slam through the wave trains in the New River Gorge.

Andrew drives a nail

Chip prepares to cut the boards halfway on the rib

Boards cut on the finished front nose cone, Chip ready to cut the other side

finished front nose cone

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This has been a huge week for the Marshall Expedition.  In addition to beginning construction on nose cones we have been very blessed to receive  gear sponsorship, financial support, and logistical backing.  First off we would like to extend a huge thanks to Exofficio for a generous clothing sponsorship including convertible pants, underwear, base and mid layers, and a windproof/ waterproof shell.  The crew will wear this excellent quick dry, durable gear daily.  Foul weather gear was donated by Red Ledge, a company we sought out based on crew member and commercial fisherman Kevin Ferrel’s suggestion.  In the severest of storms, our Red Ledge jackets and pants will keep us dry and happy.  Hopefully we won’t need them to often.

Both the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society and the UVA Alumni Association have come forward with generous financial support of the project.  We are proud to have these two organizations behind the Marshall Expedition.

On Tuesday of this week, Mason Basten, Kevin Ferrel and I scouted the “James River Gorge” for the best upriver lines through this arduous succession of shoals and rapids.  Balcony Falls is the biggest rapid in the gorge, generally considered class III.  Beyond balcony, there are plenty of other challenges in the gorge, but we are confident that with the appropriate rope and pulley systems and a determined crew we will successfully ascend through this magnificent section of river.

Yesterday, Ben Moore and I took a trip Fayetteville, WV to meet with Adventures on the Gorge and the National Parks Service.  Ben is an avid whitewater paddler and outdoors adventure program coordinator at VCU and has been a huge help thus far with promotions and sponsorship.  Ben works as a guide during Gauley Season for Adventures on the Gorge and set up the meeting with one of the owners, Doug Proctor.

Part of Adventures on the Gorge HQ

Doug and the other folks at Adventures on the Gorge were all very excited about the project and very open to helping with safety and logistics in the Gorge.  Many of their guides have been on the river for over twenty years and we are very excited to have their experience and knowledge on our side as we navigate the Gorge.  The New River is a National River, so we also set up a meeting with Sherri Clendenin, the program specialist at the National Park Service on The New.  Again we were met with enthusiasm and support.  We are very grateful to have the support of these two organizations as we navigate the New with its myriad challenges.

View of the Gorge from Adventures on the Gorge

The night prior to our trip, the whole region was slammed with rain, and the New was running extremely high.  Ben and I were able to scout access to the New River Dries, the section just above the Kanawah, and below the Hawks Nest Dam.  We visited Hawks Nest, a scenic overlook on the New originally named Marshall’s Point in honor of the 1812 survey.  It was extremely exciting to be in wild and wonderful West Virginia, preparing logistics for the conclusion of our epic journey.  All told, we have made a great deal of progress in the past week, and are  fired up to finish the boat and get on the water.

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