Billboard

The billboard is a relatively small detail that I have rarely seen added to builds, but provides a very nice additional detail. The name belies the purpose, as it’s not intended to display any sort of information or advertisement as one might assume now days. Instead, the billboard protected the sides of the hull and the chain plates from the extremely heavy anchor as it was pulled up and stowed.

  A second layer of planking is mounted to the main wales for protection using 1/16″ x 1/8″ strips of basswood. Though softer, basswood is easier to work with and is ultimately painted black to match the main wales so the difference in texture is unnoticeable.

The rest of the setup is comprised of a flat ‘bolster’ along the main wale just below the preventer plates, two stanchions that support the planks from the bolster to the channels, then the planks themselves. I used boxwood for the bolsters, stanchions (1/16″ x 1/16″) and planks (1/16″ x 1/8″) so that they would match the other hull fixtures (such as the fenders, etc) after being coated with wipe on poly. Final touches are the blackened bolts that mount all the planks to the wales and stanchions. Though there were likely two bolts per plank, this small scale only provides enough room for one.