usedtosail

Or if you do bend over to pick it up, you look around while you are down there to see if there is anything else you can do while you are there.

Thanks Fernando. I installed the mast and added the block and tip. It really rakes very much forward. In the second picture you should be able to see the brass sheaves in the block. I made the three dowel pieces of the lanteen yard and glued them together. I tried using wood clamps to hold them together but they kept rolling out of alignment so I used these magnets on a sheet of metal which held them nicely. There are other pieces that get attached to the yard which I will add when these dry. There are also wraps of line around these dowel pieces that I need to add too. In the mean time I have started making the two oars. Soon it will time to make the sails - the kit supplies material to make them but it is a bit thick so I may use some thinner cotton that I have left over from the Constitution build (the sails I never added).

I know if you use Stay Brite solder it will blacken in the blackening solution. There was a resent discussion on MSW on blackening techniques especially after soldering.

I finished up the bow sprit today and started the mast over the weekend. Here is the bow sprit installed with the brass strip that holds it down to the deck. You can also see the anchor and anchor line that I added. The anchor came from the kit but the line is extra I had from another kit. The supplied line looked more like twine than rope. I used some white glue and weights to get the line to hang a little more naturally. I used my lathe with a steady rest to hold the dowel while I tapered it. I gave the dowel a coat of wipe on poly and painted the block and tip white. I turned the tip from a chunk of boxwood earlier today. I am now working on the lanteen yard, which consists of 3 dowels tied together, with 2 of those tapered. These are rather long so I tapered them in sections using a sharp file instead of a cutting tool.

Thanks Popeye. That's a good question. I am not familiar with these boats at all so I am just going by the plans.

I attached the bulkhead hooks to the hull by gluing them and adding a couple of nails. I also made the other hooks on the hull that are used to pull the boats up on the beach. I tried using the supplied brass round stock for these but I could not get the bend to look right. I had some aluminum round stock that was about the same diameter so I used that instead. It bent much better and blackened nicely. I attached these with four nails each after milling the flats and drilling the holes on the mill.I cleaned up the two anchor pieces and am in the process of painting them black. I also started working on the bow sprit. I started by milling two flats on the end of a dowel, then milling a matching slot in another short piece of dowel. I rounded the end of that piece and flattened the bottom to sit flat on the deck. I then switched the mill to the lathe and tapered the bow sprit with a tenon on the thin end to attach the block. I am in the process of making the blocks for the bow sprit and mast. The bow sprit block has a single sheave and the mast block has two sheaves. I started with rectangular pieces for each of them and first milled the slots for the sheaves. I then turned the pieces 90 degrees and drilled the holes for the sheave axes. I put the mill back into the lathe configuration and used the cutting tool to round the corners off, then a file and sandpaper to round the outside end. For the inside end I used the angle of the cutting tool to roughly cut the taper, then I removed the piece from the chuck, cut the block off the blank and finished rounding the end by hand. I squared up the ends of the slots with a small square file. I am sure there are a lot of you guys that can make these with hand tools but I am very happy to have a mill/lathe to make them. I still need to paint these blocks, add the sheaves, and make the tip of the bow sprit to complete it.

I was not happy with my blackening results, so bought some Sparex and tried this technique last night and I am extremely happy with the result. There was no solder on these parts but even so the finish is so much better than anything I have blackened before. The coating is very even and much more durable than just using the blackening solution without the Sparex pickling. Previously I was using white vinegar to clean the parts before blackening, but the Sparex, baking soda solution, acetone, blackening solution method worked so much better. It takes longer but the results are so good to make it worth it. Here are the parts just after blackening and rubbing with an old T-shirt. And here are some of them after some rough handling to fit them into place, cut the ends and drill holes for attachment. Very little damage to the coating, where as my old method would have needed much more touch up. I am even more sold now.

Thanks E.J. Here they are completed with the hoops painted black, then ends dark green, and the corks added. I painted the hoops freehand which probably shows. I did pick the best side of each barrel to put the cork, so that will be the side that shows. I have also made the bulkhead hooks as the plans call them, which to me are chain plates of a sort. They have a strap with a loop at the top that is attached to the hull and a bracket that fits over the loop. The shroud is then hooked to the bracket when the mast is rigged. I made the hooks for this too. The instructions say to use a nail to hold the bracket to the strap, but I found some very small screws and nuts that were the perfect fit, so I used them. There has been a discussion lately on MSW on a better blackening technique than I have been using which I really wanted to try. I bought some Sparex pickling powder which I mixed up last night and first soaked the metal parts in it, then rinsed in a baking soda solution, then acetone, then the blackening solution. I have to say these came out so much better than anything I have blackened in the past - the coating is very even looking and much more durable. It takes quite a bit longer but to me it is definitely worth it. Today I started to install these on the hull. I placed the dowel for the mast in the mast hole and tied a string near the top where the shrouds would start from. I used the string to mark the locations and angles of the bulkhead hooks on the outside of the hull. I then removed the trim in these locations on the starboard side using an X-Acto saw and knife and a square file. I then placed the hooks in the gaps and marked their lengths and the locations of the holes for the nails, and drilled the holes using the mill. I am going to touch up the green paint on the trim before installing the hooks. It was pretty scary having to cut the trim at this stage but I took my time and started with small cuts. Here are the starboard hooks after all that. The blackening is a little scratched up but so much less than if I had used my usual blackening. I am even more sold on the Sparex method now.

I need a few extra lights in the shop so I bought these LED lights on Amazon. Cheap and very light weight but nice and bright.

I started working on the barrels. These needed to be scored to simulate the slats, so I used the rotary table from the mill to hold the barrels as I scored the top, then turned it 20 degrees and scoring again. After I stained them this is what they look like. I now need to paint the bands black and the ends dark green.

Great job. She is just beautiful.

Some progress on the smaller deck items. I finished painting the stove and added blackened wire pieces for the grate. I added the pawls to the capstan, which are hard to see since everything is black. I also built the bucket as shown on the plans. The kit provided two disks that you attach to a strip of wood, then use thin planks around the disks. The plans show to use a mixture of rectangular and triangular planks, but I used some geometry to calculate the widths of the planks at the top and bottom of the bucket, then cut tapered planks to those dimensions. As per the plans, I waxed the top disk and just glued the planks to the bottom disk and each other. I sanded the planks and removed the top disk, which came out easily and will be used as a cover. I gave them a coat of oak stain and will add some wipe on poly when they dry. I also added the bowsprit support to the bow. This is just a piece of wood that goes around the hole for the bowsprit. I first made a template from some manila folder material. Since this area of the bow is curved, I thought I was going to have to carve this piece from a thicker piece of stock, but thanks to a tip from Popeye in an earlier post, I just cut this piece from a 1/16" basswood sheet with the grain running vertically, so the piece was very easy to bend around the bow. Thanks Popeye for the great tip! Its our 32nd wedding anniversary today so no more work in the shop today. Off to a new restaurant tonight that sounds very good. Have a nice weekend all.

Here is the state or the Panart Santa Lucia Sicilian Cargo Boat. The major deck furniture is completed. I am currently working on some small stuff - stove, bucket, and capstan.

Thanks Popeye and EJ. I like adding those little extras if they come out well. I made the ladder for the inside the wheelhouse and glued it in after painting the area inside black. I will have the wheelhouse cover open slightly so this area will be visible. I finished adding the locking straps and bars to the other hatch and finally finished the wheelhouse. There was a lot of painting so it took a while. I also added the eight cleats to the deck. These are a bit more narrow now then they were when I took the picture in the last post, which are closer to the plans. You might notice a round plug in the deck. There are actually six of them. I learned the hard way that when working on a boat that looks very similar at both ends, make sure the boat and the plans are oriented the same way before drilling holes! I am currently working on the capstan and the cooking grill.