I've heard two pieces of advice that seem to conflict. Should I soak my cedar planking before tacking it onto the ribs (this is a repair job) or should I finish the inside of the plank so it is sealed under the ribs? I've also heard to soak the ends in hot water before tacking. What does everyone else do to prep their planking?

Hi Kevin
The two pieces of advice you have been given are unrelated and therefore the question would seem to be "are they worth doing?" rather than which one to do.

The only reason for wetting planking prior to installation would be to make it more pliable and thus easier to bend around the curves of the hull without splitting. Whether you need to do this depends on the area of the hull you are working on and the quality of your planking stock. The curves of the bilges can sometimes be tricky to plank without the plank splitting. Quarter-sawn planks will take lateral bending better than flat-sawn stock. Rather than soaking the planks, applying hot water to them as you tack them in place is a more common practice. Obviously, in new construction, it would be impossible to soak a long plank even if you wanted to.

Varnishing the inside of planking ( ie. the area behind the ribs) before installation is always a good idea because it cannot be effectively varnished afterward and sealing the wood in this way reduces the amount of water the wood will absorb when the canoe is in use. However, the benefits of doing so on replacement plank sections (ie. in a repair)will be minimal unless the canoe was built that way in the first place.

Hi Kevin,

Planking for canoes is not normally soaked before installation. If you do soak it, the planking will absorb a lot of moisture and swell. After it is tacked on the canoe and dried it will shrink and leave large gaps between the planks.
Planking is easily bent around the curves of the bilge by swabbing it with hot water as it is tacked on. Another good method of softening the planking for bending is to put a wet cloth on the area to be bent and then iron it with a hot clothes iron.
If you are tacking close to the end of the plank there is a chance of splitting the planking. That is probably why your friend suggested soaking the end. Istead of soaking it, take the head of one of the brass tacks and place it so the edge of the head is running across the grain of the wood (or at right angles to the edge of the plank)in the spot where you want the tack to go. Tap the head lightly with a hammer and it will score the wood with a small indentation running across the grain. Now tack down through this indentation and you should not split the wood. Alternately you could predrill the end tack locations with a fine drill bit before tacking.
If the canoe was a new construction or a lot of planking was being replaced then it would be a very good idea to pre varnish the planking. If you are just replacing one or two small pieces of planking then it is probably not worth worrying about doing.