Scarfing Lapwing

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Just interested to get some comments.  I am building a Lapwing which calls for 8 strakes each side.  Most of the strakes are involving one scarf of two pieces 8 ft each.  This means that all the joins are in roughly the same area - midships.  Is this a problem and if so should I be making some of the  strakes in thirds to spread the area where the scarfs are landing.

I imagine that if basically the scarfs are as strong as the ply it should be OK.  Comments appreciated.

[John Turpin]

I struggled with that also. They say to stagger joins, but to do so, you have to create unnecessary scarfs and waste ply. In the end, I made the choice to save wood and joins (and time).  In planks 1 through 5, my scarfs are near their neighbors.   In 6 through 8, you need three sections and I could then space them out.  But, I chose the easy way.

[Tom Lathrop]

It is not necessary for the scarfs to fall in one place.  The strakes near the sheer require two scarfs and can be alternately reversed to space out the scarfs.  Similar steps can be taken to land the other scarfs away from each other.

On the other hand, I don't think it makes any difference with well made scarfs, which are just as strong as the plywood.  The photo shows scarfs on Lapwing and I am not in the least worried about them.

[Richard Whitney CS#70]

Thanks Tom - thats what mine look like too - that is reassuring. I will spread the joins around when I get to the last three strakes.