Endeavour 1934 by Julie Mo - Amati - Scale 1:35 - America's Cup UK J-Class Challenger

[Julie Mo]

On 7/2/2017 at 4:24 AM, hof00 said:

NZ won the latest Cup, as you may know,,,,:

 

Cheers....HOF.

 

No matter who won the Cup, the Boys Down Under would have been the winners.  It wouldn't surprise me if they made up 75% of all the crews combined.  Thanks to the Kiwis and Aussies for allowing their talent to race for other crews!

[robnbill]

Hey Julie, this is looking great. One trick I learned from others on the forum is to use a combination of wood glue and CA when attaching strips. The CA can be placed along the strip in several spots with the wood glue in between. This allows the CA to hold the strip while the wood glue cures. Another thing you can do is to use CA and your bending iron. The CA will adhere almost immediately with the application of heat. However, if you get it too hot, it will burn off. 

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Julie Mo,

Your build is looking very tidy, it will be nice to see the gloss on that hull. Will you be going for a cellulose laquer?.

Regards Richard.

 

 

[Julie Mo]

4 hours ago, Riccardo1966 said:

Hello Julie Mo,

Your build is looking very tidy, it will be nice to see the gloss on that hull. Will you be going for a cellulose laquer?.

Regards Richard.

 

 

Yes, Richard, I will be using nitrocelluose lacquer.  In fact I did a light spray on one side of the hull today.  It's primarily to protect the mahogany planks from oils and other contaminants until I'm ready to do a final spray.

On 7/3/2017 at 8:08 PM, robnbill said:

Hey Julie, this is looking great. One trick I learned from others on the forum is to use a combination of wood glue and CA when attaching strips. The CA can be placed along the strip in several spots with the wood glue in between. This allows the CA to hold the strip while the wood glue cures. Another thing you can do is to use CA and your bending iron. The CA will adhere almost immediately with the application of heat. However, if you get it too hot, it will burn off. 

Hi Bill,

I've been using CA glue sparingly because it can be such a mess, though I haven't tried the CA/PVA trick.  With those thin strips I glued to the keel, that would have indeed been a trick.  Sometimes I wish I could shrink myself because working with these tiny parts is VERY challenging! 

 

What I most like CA for is filling in those tiny areas too small to use wood slivers.  I take some sawdust from the same wood and fill in the gaps.  Then I dab CA on it.  After it's cured, I sand it smooth.  It's great if you aren't planning on using stain or dye but sometimes the CA-sawdust composite can be darker than natural wood after a clear finish.

[Julie Mo]

I got all the mahogany strips for the keel glued in place and smoothed.  It turned out okay. 

 

Then came the lacquer, mostly to protect the bare wood from contaminants.

 

I took the hull outside to spray the lacquer.  With the house closed up, the lacquer smell permeates every room, even with the shop door closed.  So the hull got a little sun today.  

After I get the deck glued down, I'll trim the planks flush.

 

On a sad note, when I was gluing the keel strips in place, I used rubber bands around the hull.  At one point I placed the stern on the floor to put some rubber bands on at the bow.  The bow was leaning on my knee with the keep in the air.  The weight of the keel spun it around and I heard a sickening CRUNCH!  I looked at the stern and about half of the planks on the transom broke off below the rail line.  Two steps forward, one step back...

[cog]

It looks like it is cut from a single piece of wood ... smashing job, Julie ... darn beauty

[src]

That finish looks amazing Julie. Really sorry to hear about the mishap though. It is repairable?

Sam

[Julie Mo]

Thanks guys!  Always nice to hear compliments from the pros.  That means a lot to me. 

 

Sam, yes, I should be able to repair it.  I just have to remove the old planking from the transom and replace it.  The only hurdle working on the transom is getting some sort of clamping or banding that won't pop off.  I don't remember how I did it the first time but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

[RichardG]

Sorry to hear about the backward step. 

 

The two steps forward are really good though.

 

It's been nice to see you back and working on this.

 

Richard.

[cog]

You could make a mold to keep her from moving around, and have notches to attach rubber bands to ... or ridges for clamps  (i.e. on the mold )

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hi Julie Mo,

Good to hear that you can likely repair her, These things happen all too often but we live and learn.

The coat of laquer has brought your work out very nicely.

Cheers Richard

[Julie Mo]

Here's the damage:

There's a little crack that was washed out when I took the picture.  It's just above the bitter end of the transom planks that are broken off.  So they all had to be removed.

 

When I started removing the top planking, it took some of the sub planking with it.

 

On the transom there was an extra sub planking laid in so I pared it smooth with a chisel and cleaned up the edges.  I could have used some mini chisels for this operation.

 

I couldn't get the last two planks to stay so I had to remove them for later installation.  They are in place now so I'm waiting for the glue to set.

[Omega1234]

Hi Julie. 

 

My my heart always skips beat when I see beautiful work being accidentally damaged. The good bit is that you're well on your way to fixing it. 

 

A quick question about the diagonal hull planking and I'm sorry if I missed it in earlier posts-would the real hull have been planked like that and then given a clear varnish?  Just curious. 

 

All in all, lovely, lovely, lovely work!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[cog]

Lovely job Julie. What rubber bands are good for ...

[Rat-Fink-A-Booboo]

Fantastic Job Julie.

 

Best wishes

Don

[rony]

What's good in a tree that can always be fixed.
Nice and clean work.

[albergman]

Congratulations Julie

 

I've been watching quietly from the background and willing you on to finish this beautiful hull.   Pity about the minor setback but I knew you'd figure it out.

 

That lacquer finish just makes it all worth while for me ... seeing all those individual planks suddenly transforming into a uniform, beautiful, organic shape!!

 

Love it.

 

Frank

[Julie Mo]

Thank you so much, gentlemen!  Such compliments.  I don't know what to say but thank you, again!

 

 

[Julie Mo]

I spent the last couple of days working on some minor details.  Some of the planks at the rail weren't firmly bonded so I fixed those.  I also planed down the rough edges at the rail and checked the fit of the plywood deck.  But before I could do that work I had to make a working cradle.

As the work moved away from midship it became obvious I'll need to add braces closer to the bow and stern.  I also decided to make up a laminated piece for the keel.  The solid mahogany just doesn't look right, too monolithic and too dark.  Lead shot and epoxy are on their way so the deck attachment will have to wait.  In the meantime I decided to tackle the deck cabin.

 

These are the parts:

Before removing them from the plywood sheet, I lightly sanded the entire sheet with 320 grit Granat sandpaper, being conscious of minimizing loss of thickness.

The tolerances weren't what they were with the frame.  Kind of disappointed with that.

You can see how sloppy the tolerances are in the above picture.  There's no way the light sanding took THAT much off.

In order to get everything plumb and square, the pieces will be glued together in sections using the base of an engineer's square. 

 

The hide glue should be ready now.  Time to begin assembly.

 

 

[Julie Mo]

Here's today's work

Right now, I'm not liking it.  The crystal ball is predicting some changes.

[Julie Mo]

The brain won't stop until it's happy.  If I can be so bold, I admit to hating what the kit provides for the deck cabin.  My vision is to have something less boxy, something that has accommodations for guests, something more inviting and maybe a bit more modern.  Time to push the envelope without committing any aesthetic crimes.

 

I looked at several photos of the current Endeavour and the deck cabins and surrounding woodwork are all pretty boxy except this:

I like the idea of a "safe place" for guests.  Lionheart has this:

Something like that would work.  I like the fact the forward part of the cabin doesn't look as boxy.  Boxy is the one part of the J-Class boats I've never liked.  So boxy has to go.

[albergman]

52 minutes ago, Julie Mo said:

The brain won't stop until it's happy.  If I can be so bold, I admit to hating what the kit provides for the deck cabin.  My vision is to have something less boxy, something that has accommodations for guests, something more inviting and maybe a bit more modern.  Time to push the envelope without committing any aesthetic crimes.

 

 I like the fact the forward part of the cabin doesn't look as boxy.  Boxy is the one part of the J-Class boats I've never liked.  So boxy has to go.

I'm with you there Julie ... that really old, boxy look just doesn't do it for me either.

 

Can I be so bold as to suggest you look at this 130' modern yacht but with classic lines built by Spirit Yachts .   I like the modern look of the deck "house" and you might get inspiration from it.   I think it's a wonderful blend of the modern and classic.

 

Frank

[Julie Mo]

OMG, Frank!  That's it!  It's perfect!  Just what I was looking for.  Thank you!  I was doing searches for Wally and other maxi yachts but Spirit didn't come up.  Wally was just too modern.  But I think I can work the Spirit topsides into the J-Class Endeavour.  I'll just have to figure out how do make it happen.

 

Thank you so much, Frank!  

 

Now I've got to get back to the boat yard and get those planes and chisels out.  

[albergman]

13 minutes ago, Julie Mo said:

OMG, Frank!  That's it!  It's perfect!  Just what I was looking for.  Thank you!  I was doing searches for Wally and other maxi yachts but Spirit didn't come up.  Wally was just too modern.  But I think I can work the Spirit topsides into the J-Class Endeavour.  I'll just have to figure out how do make it happen.

 

Thank you so much, Frank!  

 

Now I've got to get back to the boat yard and get those planes and chisels out.  

Woohoo!!   Great!  Look forward to seeing what you do with this.

 

I first came across Spirit when one was used in the Bond film Casino Royale ... when they took a pale blue one into the Grand Canal in Venice.

 

So-o-o glad you didn't pick Wally.   Ahem, I'll say no more.

 

Frank

[mikiek]

I like the table, except getting in and out might be a little unglamorous.

[cog]

58 minutes ago, mikiek said:

I like the table, except getting in and out might be a little unglamorous.

Ever sat in restaurant with only booths???

 

Frank,

A very nice find. Very slick.

 

Julie, You have your chiselin' cut out for you I'm gonna like this, I'll just sit back and relax, and watch her chiseliness create a piece of art

[Julie Mo]

7 hours ago, mikiek said:

I like the table, except getting in and out might be a little unglamorous.

We'll let the "glamorous" sit at the ends.

 

So I slept on the Spirit deck cabin layout and woke around 3AM finding an Oyster in my thoughts.  What was prominent in my mind was how some Oyster yachts have three flat forward facing windows, the port and starboard windows angled back a bit.  The angled windows creating a different look than the half oval of the Spirit.  Still have to let my 3D mind build the two different models to determine which works best with the hull.

 

Here's an Oyster 118

Not the three flat windows I've seen on smaller Oysters but it gives one an idea of the difference between the two.  One thing I would NOT do is the extended roof.  Great for cruising on a real boat but not right for Slàinte (yes, I've christened the yacht Slàinte ). 

 

Right now I'm still leaning toward the Spirit deck layout.  A little time in CAD world and we'll see how it pans out.

[Julie Mo]

Spent the day drawing the Spirit 130 deck to the scale of Slàinte (ex-Endeavour).  When scaled to length, Spirit has a wider beam.

The kit doesn't have enough winches to do this winch layout.  Have to figure out where I can buy winches.  I'll print out some sheets and see how it fits but we may be onto something.  

 

EDIT: I think Endeavour was 136' LOA.  Spirit is 130' LOA but the beam is considerably wider, to the point the winches were edging the rails, so it's back to the drawing board.

[albergman]

2 hours ago, Julie Mo said:

Spent the day drawing the Spirit 130 deck to the scale of Slàinte (ex-Endeavour).  When scaled to length, Spirit has a wider beam.

The kit doesn't have enough winches to do this winch layout.  Have to figure out where I can buy winches.  I'll print out some sheets and see how it fits but we may be onto something.  

Oh lovely!   This looks nicely proportioned too.   

 

Winches ... I saw Harken miniature winches available years ago so maybe someone  on here knows where to get them ... I turn my own and they're not hard to do.   Be glad to chat about that if you want to try it.

 

Frank

 

 

[Julie Mo]

Been doing a lot of CAD work trying to find the key to the city.  This is one part 3D, one part one-line perspective of how the S130 setup might look.  Still a lot of work left to be done.

Dark blue lines are vertical in the cockpit and helmsman pit.  Green lines represent horizontal edges and breaks between deck finishes.  The brown box is a sub-pit for the 60" wheel.  There would be a raised wood wrap around both the helmsman pit and cockpit.

 

Believe it or not, the squares just before entering the companionway represent two more companionways that go down to the lower level.  Please don't ask me if I am going to recreate those stairs.  I've already committed the rest of my life to this.