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Narrowboat gangplank


Workhorse

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Can anyone give me any idea's as to the timber that should be used to make a new gangplank for my narrowbaot.

What I don't want is to get the plank all finished and looking good and then for the thing to twist. The plank should also be as light as possible.

The size i'm looking at is: 275cm long x 22.5 wide x 4.5 depth.

 

Any idea's?

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Can anyone give me any idea's as to the timber that should be used to make a new gangplank for my narrowbaot.

What I don't want is to get the plank all finished and looking good and then for the thing to twist. The plank should also be as light as possible.

The size i'm looking at is: 275cm long x 22.5 wide x 4.5 depth.

 

Any idea's?

Try a length of scaffold board. They're mid quality larch that's not allowed to move (health and safety and all that), about the right dimensions (though I can't be bothered translating your fancy-dan foreign measurements) and about 11 quid for a 13 foot long one.

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Can anyone give me any idea's as to the timber that should be used to make a new gangplank for my narrowbaot.

What I don't want is to get the plank all finished and looking good and then for the thing to twist. The plank should also be as light as possible.

The size i'm looking at is: 275cm long x 22.5 wide x 4.5 depth.

 

Any idea's?

 

I made two boarding planks from mahogany. One stayed really flat, whilst the other could be used for a prop on a biplane.

 

For us luddites that is about 108 ins X 9 ins X 1 3/4ins

Funny that I can work in metric all day, but have never been able to visualise in metric.

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Gangplanks are always a bit heavy, especially the scaffold plank ones. If you want a lightweight version, have you thought about one based on a length of aluminium ladder and a sheet of ply. You can buy them complete (but quite expensive) or make one from a scrap length of old ladder yourself. The wood can be quite thin because it rests on every step.

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If you are any where near a major construction project nearing completion, they may have some of the reduced length scaffold boards, and you may be able to buy one cheap. When they were finishing the restoration work on Avoncliffe aqueduct a few years ago, there were about twenty shortened boards which the scaffolding hirers would not take back. The contractor did a brisk trade in shortened boards for the price of a pint each, that's how I got mine.

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I'll tell you what would make a good lightweight gangplank.....car trailer ramps. One made from ally, not steel of course.

 

A piece of checkerplate with the sides folded to make a box section. No welding required because if the seam is below the top plate they will only ever be stood on from above.

 

Not sure of the cost of this. I was given half a sheet by the chap who made a floor for his Norman 20. When the boat was sold last year it has been taken out again.

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We fished our gangplank out of the Caldon Canal a couple of years ago. It is a scaffold plank and there were loads that had been thrown into the canal off a building site. The plank has metal protectors on each corner and painted up it looks ok even though it is not used much.

 

Steve

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We fished our gangplank out of the Caldon Canal a couple of years ago. It is a scaffold plank and there were loads that had been thrown into the canal off a building site. The plank has metal protectors on each corner and painted up it looks ok even though it is not used much.

 

Steve

 

 

 

Thanks for the info. I seems that scaffolod poles are the more common thing to use as a gangplank. Mind you, how do they paint up, or is it a matter of rubbing down first?

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Thanks for the info. I seems that scaffolod poles are the more common thing to use as a gangplank. Mind you, how do they paint up, or is it a matter of rubbing down first?

They sand down alright (though I've got a planer/thicknesser so that saves time), planks that is,not poles, then primer and then fourteen coats of your finest marine paint, rubbed down with flour paper between each coat.

 

Or a couple of coats of dulux gloss works for me (other gloss paints are available).

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I found a discarded scaffold plank which had cracked - nevertheless, the remaining pieces were of sufficient length to suit, a bit of work with the belt sander and a dollop of paint and 'job done'.

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Because no doubt you'd fall in.....unless you are skilled gymnast

 

 

How did you guess?

 

Welcome to the pleasuredome workhorse. One slip of the fingers and they're on you like hyenas on a rotting carcass.

 

:rolleyes::angry:

 

Thanks for the warning. Friend or foe?

Edited by Workhorse
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We had an ok plank, that went the way of all wood, then a bit of scaff board for a bit, out of the cut, but it wasnt upto much, and then a 10ft lenght of oak (also out the cut), which was great for walking, but heavy as you like for lifting.

- Then (long story) we ended up with a alumium based one, simuar to the boarded over ladder idea.

- I guess its ok, but its huge, takes up loads of deckspace, is still quite heavy, and just massivly overkill.

 

Oneday we will have the perfect board... Proberbly just a good grade of softwood. Maybe some douglas...

 

 

Daniel

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