I agree with all the above, of course, but have wondered on occasion when an area to be planked is no longer than a single plank. I will use my Ragusian Carrack as an example:
View attachment 435311
The plans show the areas circled in red continuing the planking pattern, even though they are short enough to have been planked without joints. That is, the joints I've X'd in blue need not be there, I think. I've included them in my model, as the continuous pattern looks good, but in reality, wouldn't they have been left a single plank for these areas, rather than being cut unnecessarily, creating weaker areas and more joints to caulk?
Hmmm - I've rethought this a bit. The 2nd circled area (left to right) definitely continues to the left, so this would not apply. And the planking circled to the right probably continue on the other side of the forecastle exterior bulkhead, so this may not apply. The leftmost circled example, however, definitely WOULD apply to this question.
Also, When the decking pattern and deck beams below would end up resulting in an extremely short plank, like the rightmost two X's in the middle circled areas, one wonders if a slightly modified pattern resulting in longer end beams might make more sense.
I guess the question is: would the attractiveness and consistency of a pattern take precedence over the entire deck, or would more practical modifications to this pattern be made?