Chuck Seiler

I just made hotel reservations for the conference. They only had the special rates available for 25, 26 and 27 October. I want to spend a little more times there (24-28) and had to make three separate reservations. I was told I will be in the same room the whole time and the rates for Wednesday and Sunday were pretty reasonable, so no big deal. Just be prepared to be on the phone awhile.

Except the glue is on the opposite side of the plank.

I am spending the rest of the weekend on some side projects. First, I am testing out different stains that I intend using on the keel and unpainted planking. I like the "Golden Pecan" I used for the interior of my PHILADELPHIA. That was on boxwood. We'll see how it works on cherry. I am also considering "Natural". Next, I am laying out the lines for the garboard strake to see if the scrap cherry (or spare planking) supplied in the kit will suffice or if I need to go with plan B. Due to the nature of the scrap available I will have to use 3 planks in the strake. The center plank is an easy straight run. In the below picture, I have applied blue painters tape to the areas that will be most complicated. Close up of stern area. I removed the tape and stuck both pieces to a 3x5 card, then cut out each form. They are both pretty straight, no upward curve. This makes it easier (and options of wood more). I fitted both bow and stern to both sides. Almost perfect fits. It will be easy to fabricate (he sez). The below picture shows the stern plank fitted and clamped in place. It has been soaked and clamped in place to dry. Huzzah!!! First plank in place. I will do the other side, then wait until I have all the rest of the exterior planking done before proceeding with the rest of the garboard strakes. I won't know what 'lumber' is available until I get the planking done...with or without snapping the planks.

Faring of the hull has been pretty much completed. I still have a little touch up to do, but that is minor. I think Chuck refers to medium grit sand paper. I started off using 120. Later, in reading the Medway Longboat log I noticed he mentioned using finer grit. I switched to 220 and had easier time of it. Less 'grab' on the sides. I had to change paper more often, but the results were better.

At this point I want to make a declaration. We will see how well it works out. Before I started building I decided I wanted to strengthen the keel area. I won't get into details here but I anyone is interested, I can explain later. The plan was/is to install the garboard strake. In retrospect, it will not only provide strength, it may help with the unsightly keel joints. Making it won't be a problem (famous last words). What to use is. My original plan was to get some 1/32" boxwood and use it for the garboard strakes as well as the 2 unpainted strakes, using the existing planks as templates. That way all the exposed planking would be the same. As a lazy SOB I am rethinking. Plan B is to use extra planking material for the GS. That will depend on what the GS needs to look like and how many planks I break (and where). After all, I don't need to use cherry for the PAINTED strakes. I will have a better idea once I make a template for the GS. Hold that thought.

Did you plan to plank it? Since you already started to paint it, probably not....however.... When I built the solid hull SULTANA I decided to plank above the wale and just paint below. It turned out great. Wale=black and above the wale=natural wood.

Of note, the black flag is still used today as a symbol of anarchy.

I have done a bit of work and am now going back and documenting. The next step was placing the frames into the build board. Almost all were overly tight. I tried to sand them so they were not too tight, but also not loose. At first they were fine, but as I repeatedly inserted and pulled, testing the fits, the frames ended up getting looser with the working of the wood. I should have used Chuck's "blue tape" solution. They ended up being sloppier than I would have liked. We shall what impact, if any, this will have. Another problem I had was with the keel joints. Chuck said not to sand the char from the slots, so I didn't...kind of. The frames were all too wide and needed to be thinned in order to fit in the lots. I made a single pass with an emery board to get the big chunks of char, but otherwise left the slots alone. I tried to be careful not to sand the frames too much so that there would be a tight fit. My experience with the frame tops was fresh in my mind. Test fit of frames individually and as a group proved successful, however when I applied the glue dab for the final placement the frames did not insert fully into the slot. Something expanded. 😞 I let the assembly dry 24 hours and tested it. There was still some wobble in the frame-to-keel joint so I gave each joint a shot of CA glue. It doesn't look as good as I would like, but I have a plan. 🔨 Faring begins. I am just getting around to reading Chuck's build log on the Medway Longboat in detail. I like the idea of tape reinforcement on the frames. I wish I read it sooner. The assembly is quite delicate, so slow and easy

Chuck, Thanks, but no need. Repaired and back on the road.

Magnifiers have been found!!!! Frame assembly continues and they look much better. I have unglued the bad frames and re-glued. Frame D broke and I had to repair.

Are you saying that you only glue the planks to the frames and not to each other (edge to edge)?

I have had the opportunity to look at my frames a little closer. Two of them are a bit off and I have to un-glue/re-glue them. I think the problem is that I wasn't lining the batten up correctly with the line on the frame. Bad eyes!!! I have to find my magnifiers before I continue.

Perhaps I am missing something....but how is that a dolphin? Or is it one of those 3 Mile Island dolphins?

I hope to do you proud.

Day 2 of the build and I have completed 6 frames and mostly have the keel done (more on that later). As I have a tendency to go off the beaten path, I appreciate Chuck's warnings "DON'T DO THIS!!!!!!!" in bold red letters. I will pay close attention to those. Nothing exciting to report so far, but I did want to make a couple points about the keel: 1. I really liked JpR62's (Jean-Paul) idea about using a 1/32 piece of scrap to offset the inner keel piece. I used some scrap wood from one of the plank sheets. After testing, I found I had to sand it a wee bit thinner, but it worked great. Thanks Jean-Paul. From JpR62's buildlog 2. I have issues with both the stem area and stern area. To accommodate these, I modified my build order so that I essentially built the keel in two pieces. The scarf joint is so precisely made that the two pieces should join together very easily (we shall see). Chuck's instructions regarding adding the inner keel to the outer keel makes this do-able. The instructions say to taper the stem and keel pieces before assembling. My concern is that if I do that, the pieces will not lay flat and I will not get a good joint. On the other hand, if I glue all four pieces together and attempt to taper, this is a recipe for snapping the keel. Assembling the forward part of the keel and the aft part of the keel separately solves this problem (I hope). I am not wild about sternpost/aft keel joint. To my view it affords too little support for the joint. I am too lazy to do alternative. I glued the sternpost to the aft keel using inner keel piece as a guide. All was clamped in place to ensure adequate alignment. Once dried, I used scrap piece to offset inner keel (the center it in the keel assembly). Glue in place. This results in a strong assembly. I can now taper. Bow and stern keel assemblies Here both halves of the keel structure have been glued together and the center piece of the inner keel (with slots) has been added.

Greetings from San Diego! I am building Chuck Passaro's QUEEN ANNE BARGE and I figured I would do a build log. If you are reading this, it means I am half finished. I wanted to wait until I had significant progress before I published. My past efforts at logs usually turned out poorly. I get bogged down trying to document the build and end up getting distracted from actually building. Today is 08 July 2018. (Your calendar is different.) A grueling 7 months at work has come to an end (the grueling part, not the work) and I figured I would celebrate by getting back into building. I chose the QAB for a couple reasons. I really like Chuck's instructions. I have made or am in the process of several models which Chuck has written practica for. I also have used his "stuff" (line, blocks, windlass, etc). Top notch material. I wanted to do the MEDWAY LONGBOAT he is working on, but that will not be available for awhile. I couldn't wait that long. I decided to give QAB a try because of the quality and because many of the processes he uses for it will be found in the LONGBOAT. Another reason, although minor is a family connection I found with the Queen Anne period while doing ancestry research. I won't go into detail unless somebody is interested. I ordered the kit about 2.5 weeks ago. As usual, Chuck shipped it to me immediately and I have been studying the plans and instructions since (as well as other build logs). The build is finally underway.

Dowmer: I had taken a hiatus from all building due to work related issues. I am starting up again with Chuck P's Queen Anne Barge (build log to follow soon). It is a simple project that won't bog me down. PROVIDENCE is on the back burner, but not forgotten. Ken: SOS said he got the plans from the captain of the replica. They appear to be the same as was featured in the book, since the author worked closely with the builders, except as noted above. I had attempted to get with the author and publisher to get permission to use the plans, but was unable to do so.

A Chuck convention this weekend.

There is another downside to over-beveling your planks. The planks will meet snug on the surface, but there will be a gap as you get deeper into the plank.The resulting finish sanding could remove that vital upper layer and create a gap in your planking. Don't ask me how I know this.

Rum comes later in #6 "Alcohol is your friend, part 2-When all else fails"

I wonder how many people take advice like this, versus they have to touch the hot stove before they listen. (ouch, that IS hot!!!) I have spoken on this topic often, so it is close to my heart. I usually see "Yeah, I hear you, but that doesn't apply to me." Far be it from me to judge. An old friend of mine built a fully rigged, quite detailed miniature of HMS VICTORY as his second model. For some it DOESN't apply to them. Most it does. I hope that those who disregard this and get the complicated model, only to 'touch the stove' don't get discouraged. Instead, I hope they have the wisdom to set that project aside and get a simple starter kit to learn on. OTHER WORDS OF WISDOM FOR NEWBIES: 1. You can never have too many clamps. 2. Alcohol is your friend. It helps you unglue previously screwed up glued up parts so you can try again. (Including ALL the planking from one model...just saying.) 3. Magnification and light are also your friends. 4. If you get frustrated or tired, set it aside and come back to it later. 5. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then you are making them wrong. A couple years ago when I was more active in my local club, I would help man the ship modeling both at the County Faire. One of my mates would demonstrate making treenails with a drawplate, making his length of 'nails' increasingly smaller. As he got down to about 1MM and showed everybody his creation (ooooo ahhhhhh) I would chuck up a inch or 2 of bamboo in the ol' Dremel and whip at an inch of 1MM treenail in under a minute with a piece of fine sand paper. Good quality bamboo is strong for is size. I use BBQ skewers, but you have to make sure you get good ones. It takes some practice and is prone to burnngfingers if not careful, but they are great. I use hem to affix small furniture items to the deck.

No hats?

Chuck, When do you anticipate these being available for the group build? Where do I signup?