Materials for Construction

Procuring wood is one of the first steps in building a batteau. While there is some debate as to what wood to use above the waterline, it is clear that white oak should be used below the water line and for all ribs and stem pieces. On the first Rucker built in 1988, we mixed red and white oak and there was a tremendous difference in the performance of the two woods with the red oak being clearly unacceptable in both strength and rot resistance. The reason for using other woods above the waterline is to save both weight and money. We chose instead to use white oak for the entire boat, with the exception of the walkboards which were poplar on the first 3 Ruckers and cypress in the 4th Rucker.

The quality of the wood most likely will be determined by the budget you have available. In a perfect world, we would have preferred no knots in any of the wood. In the real world we did the best we could to cull and work with the wood we had available. The Anthony Rucker is 44 feet long and 7’2" in width. The dimensions of the boat you build will obviously determine exactly what wood you will need but starting with this list will be helpful.

Batteau can be constructed equally successfully using green lumber or air dried lumber. Green lumber is heavy and the water is hard on tools but in some ways is easier to work than air dried lumber. Ruckers 3 and 4 were built from wood we purchased green and then let dry sticked for 2 or 3 months so I’d consider the partially air dried. Rucker #2 was built with kiln dried lumber because it was what we could find at the time. Using kiln dried lumber turned out to be a pretty serious mistake which shortened the life of the boat significantly. Using kiln-dried lumber made the construction of the boat easier, but the wood didn’t do well when exposed to the radical swelling and drying a batteau goes through during its life.

One factor, which will vary depending on the moisture in your wood, is the spacing left between the planking boards. Boats built with green lumber can have the planking boards nailed with no space between. The latest Rucker had lumber which had been air dried for about 2 months, and we left a gap of ¼-5/16 inch between boards. This calculation is crucial and will be different for each boat depending on moisture content and board width. If too much space is left, the boards don’t swell tight and obviously the boat will leak. If too little space is left the boards will swell tight, continue to swell and cause the boards to buckle. A couple of weeks prior to planking the boat, I cut several test pieces, measured them carefully then soaked them under water for 2 weeks. This has been done on each of the 4 boats we’ve built and we have reasonably accurately determined how much the wood will swell. In my opinion leaving either too much or too little space between planking boards and the worst miscalculations you can make on the construction.