Wood over Steel
Like all ships of the period, SMS Pommern had a teak deck consisting of planks secured to bulkheads. There are two ways to do this: cut and lay individual planks, or draw them with drafting ink. The drawing option seemed the most difficult, as if a mistake was made, or ink spilled, it would be a disaster. Plus, I did not have the talent to draw a deck. Individual planks would be tedious and time-consuming, but when has that stopped me before? So let's begin!

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The Basic Shape
If I was going to individually plank a deck, I needed a deck to plank. I first cut a paper template by tracing it on the hull, then used that template to cut deck sections from 3mm aircraft plywood, which were then sanded and filed to fit. Not very scientific, but effective and they fit tight.

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Sealing the Deck
I left the newly-cut deck alone for a month while I finished a course at university, and when I checked them again I saw that the fore and aft sections had buckled and warped. No problem; I steamed the deck sections and secured them to plywood to dry. Once they had completely dried and were flat again, they had to be sealed to prevent them from warping again, so I gave both sides (and the edges) several coats of varnish. The two smaller pieces, are the sections that run along the sides between the fore and aft sections.

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Back to the Pommern Index Page
Deck Intro / Cutting the Planks / Planking / Lower Decks / Sanding / Water Gutters / Chain Runs/ Final Product