Mark Pearse

The planking is finished & I've spent a few hours sanding. This planking method (strip planking at scale) was visually messy, so it's very nice to see the hull lines start to become more visible. Although the nature of strip planks (being parallel sided), the planking lines throw the optics of the shape off a bit, as the line of the planks towards the keel don't bear much relation to the hull shape....the planking just follows the ones above with no tapering.
 
The stern photos show the excess hull near the transom - that planking needs to be cut away - as the hull has the sweep down from the upper deck to the height of the transom. Photo below shows that gently curved line of that transition.

 
I'll do a bit more sanding & then start on the keel & outer stem pieces. Also the infill piece that will turn the square cutaway at the stern into the curved propeller cutaway. 
 
They are a fat boat.....

 

 

 

 
plus this for comparison:

 
thanks

The model has been progressing, but the planking is pretty slow, but it is getting there. The simpler nature of a 'strip plank' style hull does reduce the technical difficulties a lot, but balanced by the relatively narrow planks. And the previous planked model was using Huan Pine, which is very supple, this is Basswood / Limewood & it's much stiffer.
 
The lovely lines are appearing, although it's not so visible in the model yet - the scallops from the gunwale line around the cockpit hasn't been cut yet .... & it's probably normal anyway.
 

This one shows the technique: bulldog clip clamps to hold the planks to the moulds & rubber bands to assist pull the planks down to the previous plank. The gunwale scallop at the stern is marked approximately in pencil & will be cut after the model is fully planked & removed from the building frame.
 

 
I'm starting to use the heat gun to put some pre-twist into the planks.

The epoxy is messy, but all will be forgotten once the sanding starts, but for now another few weeks of a plank or two per day.

thanks

I started the outer stem & keel piece, that goes from the deck at the bow around to the keel. I decided to glue laminate it in one piece, partly because - as with the glued planks replicating strip planking - this is more akin to the way the actual yacht was constructed, as a timber / epoxy composite construction.
 
I had some sheets of Sapele from something & even the 1.75mm (maybe 1/16th) thick wasn't happy doing the curve, with heating. I had some 2.5 thick strips of Huon Pine, & they were happy to do it, with a bit of heat from the hot air gun. I'd rather a harder timber, but oil based enamel paint is quite tough.
 
I came across some tiny fine brass nails that I had bought & didn't use on a model, & decided to try using them to ensure the laminating is a close fit to the hull shape. Partly because the timber needs a finished thickness of 5mm, & with 2 @ 2.5mm there wasn't much adjustment possible. Anyway, it looks to have worked well, & hopefully hasn't been glued to the hull... I left about 1mm of nail sticking out, so I can pull them out.
 
It worked nicely:

 
Except for 2 (where a little more oomf was need to hold the timber in), the nail heads are left projecting a little to aid removal:

 
Here's where you can see how well this worked - no gaps! Helped by the general pliability of Huon.

thanks

I started the outer stem & keel piece, that goes from the deck at the bow around to the keel. I decided to glue laminate it in one piece, partly because - as with the glued planks replicating strip planking - this is more akin to the way the actual yacht was constructed, as a timber / epoxy composite construction.
 
I had some sheets of Sapele from something & even the 1.75mm (maybe 1/16th) thick wasn't happy doing the curve, with heating. I had some 2.5 thick strips of Huon Pine, & they were happy to do it, with a bit of heat from the hot air gun. I'd rather a harder timber, but oil based enamel paint is quite tough.
 
I came across some tiny fine brass nails that I had bought & didn't use on a model, & decided to try using them to ensure the laminating is a close fit to the hull shape. Partly because the timber needs a finished thickness of 5mm, & with 2 @ 2.5mm there wasn't much adjustment possible. Anyway, it looks to have worked well, & hopefully hasn't been glued to the hull... I left about 1mm of nail sticking out, so I can pull them out.
 
It worked nicely:

 
Except for 2 (where a little more oomf was need to hold the timber in), the nail heads are left projecting a little to aid removal:

 
Here's where you can see how well this worked - no gaps! Helped by the general pliability of Huon.

thanks

Thanks Roger. That's my opinion entirely. A lot of this is educated guesswork based on (extremely!) inadequate source material. Of course we can't be sure it's all correct, but a lot of the fun is in the investigation of source material and speculation as to how it could be done, given the pictorial evidence (often affected by artistic licence), the archaeological evidence (often frustratingly incomplete) and the practicalities of sailing a wooden vessel.
 
And if later evidence proves one of the guesses wrong, one still has the satisfaction of having done the best one could with the information that was available at the time.
 
So, on to current progress. Shrouds and halyards in place, but only the foremast shrouds have been finalised.

I really do need to clear my workdesk before I take photos!
 
I made new silkspan sails - I wasn't happy with the first iteration. This time I made them oversize and folded the edges over instead of gluing strips of silkspan to the edges. The cross was painted on with Tamiya acrylic paint. I needed two coats for the "face" side and one for the other side. Considerably happier with the second version.
And I've added the blocks to the yards - for the tacks at the lower ends and the vangs at the upper.

Druxey, if I might pick your brains - how did you attach the bolt ropes to your silkspan sails (they look particularly good)? And the robands?
 
Steven
 
 
 

I love that last shot, beautiful planking.
More use of Huon Pine, lovely stuff!

Nice to see her progressing, Mark.
 
John

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

The planking is finished & I've spent a few hours sanding. This planking method (strip planking at scale) was visually messy, so it's very nice to see the hull lines start to become more visible. Although the nature of strip planks (being parallel sided), the planking lines throw the optics of the shape off a bit, as the line of the planks towards the keel don't bear much relation to the hull shape....the planking just follows the ones above with no tapering.
 
The stern photos show the excess hull near the transom - that planking needs to be cut away - as the hull has the sweep down from the upper deck to the height of the transom. Photo below shows that gently curved line of that transition.

 
I'll do a bit more sanding & then start on the keel & outer stem pieces. Also the infill piece that will turn the square cutaway at the stern into the curved propeller cutaway. 
 
They are a fat boat.....

 

 

 

 
plus this for comparison:

 
thanks

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

I've started on the keel. The shape is not complex, so it can be modelled pretty easily. For stability & strength I decided to make it from horizontal strips of timber, dowelled with brass. The timber is a nice straight-grained piece of Huon Pine. The keel is not a difficult shape: it fairs with the hull, but essentially it appears to be even from there down to the bottom of the keel.
 
This is the keel side on. The yellow bands will be done in strips of timber.

 
The strips, in plan:

 
The timber pieces cut to shape, plus the 1/8th brass rod:

 
Stacked & trimmed, & sitting on the hull. It doesn't look quite right, but it will. The hull has more sanding to get it down to the right size, I have left that to assist get the fairing with the keel right.

 

 

 

thanks all
 
 
 
 

Hi Steven
 
The weathering you did with the timber decking & elsewhere really looks great, it's very credible.

Why thank you, Mark. Unfortunately, they are going to be on the weather side, so I think Doreltomin's point stands. However, perhaps a flick of the rudder(s) could take the load off for a short time even if they were weather shrouds. [And of course if they were just completing a tack and hadn't yet got under way, these guys tightening the last weather shroud could well be believable].
 
Tartane, yes, I'm still going to be using lateen sails. I've looked carefully at your arguments and they aren't convincing enough to make me change. I realise that you have the best intentions in making your suggestions, but I have done plenty of research of my own and I'm satisfied that I'm making the right decisions. What may have been the practice for a chebec in the 18th/19th century is by no means necessarily what was done in the 12th century, and I believe I have ample evidence to back me up.
 
Theoretical reconstructions will always be a matter of interpretation of the available evidence, and our interpretations are different. I think the best policy is for us to agree to disagree. I'm not really willing to engage in any further discussion on these points, as I find it's distracting me from the build.
 
Steven

Hi Steven,
 
I hope you don't mind my adding to the discussion, but I don't agree that this is an error - if the shrouds were on the leeward side then they won't have a lot of load on them. A helmsman could intentionally sail an angle to de-load a shroud so it can be worked on. 
 
 

Hi John,
 
She looks very good in the photos, but they don't do this model justice... I was at the museum Friday - the Walter Reeks book launch - & dropped over to see if you were in. Saw the model Meteor though, it's exquisite. 

I've come across this discussion a bit late, but that's probably a good thing, as I've had the opportunity to read arguments for and against the lateen interpretation.
 
Tartane, I appreciate your input and suggestions, as I do those of the others who've posted on this subject. I've also done a lot of research on the rigging and configuration of lateen sails, not only on this build but on my dromon of some years ago. And though I don't regard myself as an expert by any means, I feel I have a good understanding of the rig. 
 
Of the mosaics I posted at the beginning of this log, only one is actually under sail, and even that is having the sails furled. There are two other ship mosaics of this series in San Marco, plus one from another similar series, but two have the sails completely furled,
  
and the other (from the other series) shows pretty definite triangular sails.

Although the classic image of a lateen sail is triangular, with a sharply angled yard:

The sail can take many configurations, including with the yard all but horizontal, depending on the angle of the ship in relation to the wind:
  
  
and see also 1:23 to 1:30 in this video:
 
 
Though the yards in the mosaics are mostly not far from horizontal, I am nonetheless satisfied that they depict lateen, not square rig. The first picture in my log could be interpreted as almost any type of sail, but the second seems (at least to me) to taper to a point at the bottom - in other words, a triangle. This is supported by the multitude of mediaeval representations of lateen rigged Mediterranean round ships.
 
     
     
I am not trying to claim that all Mediterranean ships in the mediaeval period were lateen-rigged - particularly after the cog began to reach there from the Atlantic - but there is certainly ample evidence for my interpretation of the sails of my Venetian ship to be lateen.
 
Tartane, I do appreciate your posting the picture of the knevel. I had been puzzling over how to  belay the shrouds, and though I've already committed myself now, I find the knevel to be a simple and practical apparatus, and better than what I came up with myself - to the point that I wish I'd seen it earlier as I would have used it on this model. The wooden toggle that joins the shroud to the rope loop has been found time and time again in marine archaeology from ancient times through mediaeval, and is still use on Mediterranean lateeners today.
 
Yes, I'm doing exactly as you pointed out when tacking, that the leeward shrouds are loosened to allow the sail to belly out and take full advantage of the wind. I mentioned this in an earlier post.
 
Steven
 
 
 

Hi Steven
 
The weathering you did with the timber decking & elsewhere really looks great, it's very credible.

On the undecked starboard side the carlings are installed

The carlings support the ledges which in turn support the deck planking


This completes main deck framing. Now for deck furniture.
Dick