Cambered decks...

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globalkoster

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Hi there,

can anyone tell me when they started designing "cambered decks with (brass)ports" on motorboats or/and sailing boats? My cutter yacht has such a deck (built in 1908) and I'm trying to find out if this is original or a added feature in a later stage.

greetings,

Roland
 
How much camber are you talking about? A fraction of an inch per foot of beam is normal, but some designers are now increasing head room by using several inches per foot.
By brass ports do you refer to circular plain glass ports, or deck prisms (round orange squeezer or rectangular prismatic deck lights), which were also very common.
 
Sorry, I can't see the camber in the pictures listed, only raised decks above the upper strake line. Are we talking about the same thing ? Camber is the degree of curvature of a transverse deck beam (cf the camber of a road). Traditionally I think it is about 1 1/2 " in 5 feet. Certainly something like that is the camber on my boat built in the 1880s, and which I repeated when I replaced the deck beams.

I have photocopies from C P Kunhardt's classic book "Small Yachts - Their Design and Construction" published I think in 1886, and the yachts featured certainly appear to have cambered decks.
Coach roofs are another matter. I think these, like deckhouses, have often had much greater degrees of camber, but not necessarily constant front and back. One attractive design has a flatter camber at the front, where the deck sheer rises, and a greater camber at the rear, so giving a horizontal roof line with corresponding greater headroom.
 
Like this:

xenia6.jpg
 
Hi Roland
There is nothing unusual in Conabor, many cruising yachts were built that way although she does look better with the rubbing strip separating the fo'csl from the topsides as in the picture of her afloat. It would improve her looks even if you continued with paint rather than go back to varnish. As to whether she was built like that the only way to tell is to look for scarf joints where her stem and apron may have been extended and extensions to the tops of her frames. No joints- original design. Some joints- repairs due to damage or rot. Everyone jointed- modification.
 
Hi there all.

First of all I have to admit I meant a raised deck instead of cambered. (I'm not a native speaker..;-))
The last owner did paint the side of the raised deck. I prefer to separate the two levels too. I'll try to get it back in the original wooden setting. I enclose a picture where the two parts meet. Somehow it does look like a seperate part.
You mentioned that many cutters where built like. this. I've surfed the internet but I haven't found any pics sofar. Do you have any examples?

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l193/globalkoster/DSC00318.jpg

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l193/globalkoster/DSC00317.jpg

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l193/globalkoster/DSC00335.jpg

greetings,

Roland
 
Hi Roland,
Those photos indicate a later addition to me, especially what looks like plywood delamination. Ply would not have been available in 1908. It looks OK from outside, but I'll not comment on the internal structure. I would get a good boat builder to look at her.
 
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