The Man who Never Was by Neil Port

Author:Neil Port [Dr. Neil Port]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: na
Publisher: Neil Port Independent Press
Published: 2016-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9: The New Hjervard and the Tainted Gift

Village of Kholm, Repairing the Dwarf Ship

Small splits in the hull of the dwarf boat could be sealed by hemp soaked in pine tar and forced in by a hammer and chisel, but several of the hull's planks had been too damaged for that.

Bafurr was in a friendlier mood when he explained the problem to Sindri. A single line of hull planking from the stern to the bow was called a ‘strake'. Large boats used one long piece of timber for each strake, tapered to join at the bow and stern. The bottom of each plank was laid over the top of the one below (something called ‘clinker built') before they were tightly bound together with sinew. In the mountains where the dwarves came from old, giant trees were not hard to find.

The hull was built first and then the internal frame was inserted, layer by layer, using steam to bend the timber into place. The hull was then nailed to the frame but the greater strength came from the hull.

"The men of Kholm don't have any cedar. For planks they mainly use ash but they have some cured pine that's not too soft. It will do till we get home. The real problem is that their planks are short. Normally we would remove the frame entirely and loosen the strafes above and below and fit new strafes and then re-insert the frame. Now we will keep as much of the original planking as is solid, cut out the rest and insert shorter planks into the gaps.

"We have copper to nail them onto the frame but we will need a much stronger frame than was intended. It's a terrible hodgepodge and it will be heavier for portage. I just hate to do something like this to one of my boats."

They removed the decks, cabin, benches and mast to expose the underlying frame. Then they replaced the weakened hull planks, which showed them where the frame needed reinforcing.

"This is one reason that no one does it this way," Andvari said as they watched the others struggling to fix it. Andvari was better, but still too sick to help and Sindri knew too little about boats.

"I have often wondered if you could build a boat around a strong frame." Andvari told him. "Build the frame first and then you could use shorter planks to build a boat of any size you liked, you could join two planks to a short thicker one at either end so you wouldn't need to taper the strakes and it would be stronger and easier to repair. Trying to strengthen the frame after the boat is built is the worst of both possible worlds."

The next step was to float the boat and check for leaks before putting the benches and decking back. Checking for leaks was something Andvari was an expert at and Sindri went with him.

"All the new joints are leaking!" Sindri cried out.

That set Andvari laughing so much that it ended in a bout of prolonged coughing.

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