Talk:Carvel (boat building)

Inclusion
I propose that we expand this article to incorporate other objects that employ this construction method (e.g., lutes and related instruments). Perhaps the page should be moved to "Carvel (construction method)". -- Gyrofrog (talk) 22:18, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Terminology
Is the term/word carvel in general usage or only used in the world of boat building? I have not come across the word other than in boatbuilding but some would say I have lead a very sheltered life! Boatman 11:36, 18 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Hello Boatman. Carvel is common word in the english speaking boating world- world wide. I would qualify that by saying that the carvel method is seldom used in the  Western world since about the 1950s as it has been superceded by different boat building methods that are cheaper, lighter and less labour intensive and therefore cheaper.


 * I had never seen the word "carvel" (other than a brand of ice cream) before I came across it in the tanbur entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 14:15, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

How old is carvel boat building really?
In the History section it is claimed that "The first carvel-built ships were (...) of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries". I have no knowledge about the truthfullness of this claim, but I seames to comflict with the story told by the following graphic that is featured elsewhere on wikipedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Continental.coast.150AD.Germanic.peoples.jpg
 * Good call! The specific problem was that the article text omitted the early history, of carvel boats, and skipped straight to much later ships - giving a very misleading impression.  I’ve added a sentence, citing the reference the map you found is based on (or, rather, the more-recent second edition).  I’ve also done related things with the Shipbuilding article.
 * - SquisherDa (talk) 03:40, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I have seen the replica of the Hjortspring boat during construction, and I agree that that method of sewing the planks together along the length of the plank could be called carvel planking, but the standard Viking longships like those at Schlei Fjord (exhibited in Hedeby museum), the burial ships at the Oseberg museum in Oslo or the Roskilde ships at Roskilde museum all are clinker-built, as is the Nydam boat that represents our best-known specimen of Anglo-Saxon ships.

The ancient Egyptian ships found on the Red Sea that could be disassembled and re-assembled after an overland transport (some were e.g. carried to the Euphrates during a campaign against the Mitanni) were mortise and tenon-joined rather than just caulking. Jorganos (talk) 22:14, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Carvel vs clinker
I don't think it's true to claim that carvel is inherently the stronger; for a given number of hull frames, clinker is stronger as its planks are fastened together, whereas traditionally carvel planks are attached only to the frames (and not to each other). Also, although carvel gives a smooth hydrodynamic surface, clinker (especially in a dinghy) operates as a series of chines which suppresses spray and provides some hydrodynamic lift at the bows. If anyone thinks I'm wrong, please explain why; otherwise I'll amend the text accordingly! (But see the "linen build" amendment that I'll shortly add). Arrivisto (talk) 19:18, 22 December 2018 (UTC)