Earlier this summer I removed a bad plank as part of the reframing work I am doing on my power boat. Yesterday I finally finished reframing past the aft end of the plank, so I decided to put the new plank
on.

 The first step was to measure the missing plank. I started by marking station locations on the hull and measuring the distance of each of those stations from the top forward edge of the opening. You can see
 the station locations marked on the hull with masking tape in this picture.

 The second step was to install the butt block at the aft end of the opening. I left 1/2" between the ends of the butt block and the frames.

 Next I measured the plank width at each station.

 Then I marked the stations on the new plank and transferred the widths to the plank.

 One I had the plank width marked at all the stations I put a spline on the plank, lined it up with the width marks and drew in the line for the new plank edge.

 The old plank broke into a number of pieces when I removed it, which I saved. Here I am using the old plank tip to mark the angle where the plank meets the stem onto the new plank.

Next I took the pieces of the old plank and laid them on the new plank to make sure the marked plank width was consistent with the width of the old plank.

 When I was happy with the plank widths I had marked, I used a small skill saw to cut just outside the line. This small rechargeable saw can follow a gentle curve where a full sized saw can't.

 After I rough cut the plank, I used my electric plane to trim the plank to the line. I made all the cuts with the plane set to 1/64th of an inch. After the trimmed the plank to fit into the gap, I hand planed the
 caulking bevel onto the top edge.

 The plank I was replacing was 7/8" thick. I used 4/4 stock for the new plank. After I was happy with the shape of the plank, I planed it to 7/8" thick.

 The next step was to put the new plank on the boat. Unfortunately, because of a commitment I ran out of time after getting the forward half of the plank fastened.

 Last night when I got back from my commitment, I used some 2x4s and my truck to push the plank end into place and braced it there for the night. Today, I finished fastening the plank. I still have to caulk
 the new plank, but I am glad it is on the boat.

 This was a comparatively easy plank with only about 1.5" of twist. Because of that twist, this plank took about 6 hours to cut out and install. The garboard planks, which are next on the list have much
 greater curvature and twist. They are going to be much tougher.

Send comments to me at tortuga@todddunnmicroyachts.com