Jack12477

Over the last few days I made the shackles for the lower dead-eyes for the shrouds attached them to the eyebolts in the the runner plank with 0-80 x 1/4 inch hex head bolts and nuts. And YES they were a PITA to get those tiny nuts threaded onto the bolts. Also added the screws to secure the chocks to the plank. The shackles were made from 20 gauge copper wire.

If you mean the Marie Jeanne Denis, you did follow me. Remember we changed the home port from France to Ireland and made new decals (with your advice) to put the Coat of Arms on the sail..... I have a new log you can follow - an ice boat/yacht from 1888.

I have not seen the Billings kit so I can't comment on it, but I have built the AL Marie Jeanne kit (see signature for link to build log) and had no issues with the kit. Wood was first class, Denis points out the sail are pre-made with a nice bolt-rope sewn on, metal parts were good - no flash to remove. Instructions were about as good as all other kits by any manufacturer. I had fun building the AL kit and the model came out pretty good.

How are Ice Yachts Measured and Classified? The Classification is by sail area. In the early 1900's a gentleman named H. Percy Ashley wrote a series of articles for Rudder Magazine documenting the ice yachts of his day, including several articles titled "How to Build an Ice Yacht"; in these articles (which I've been using as reference material) he describes two different but very similar Classification systems (which are still used today). The first system he describes divides them into 4 classes. Class 1 - measuring 600 square feet of sail area and over; Class 2 - measuring 450 square feet of sail area and under 600 square feet; Class 3 - measuring 300 square feet of sail area and under 450 square feet; Class 4 - measuring less than 300 square feet of sail area. Boats in each class display the class number on their sail. In the second system he describes the classification and letter carried on their sails as follows: Class A - measuring 600 square feet of sail area and over; Class B - measuring 450 square feet of sail area; Class C - measuring 400 square feet of sail area; Class D - measuring 350 square feet of sail area; Class E - measuring 300 square feet of sail area; Class F - measuring 250 square feet of sail area; Class G - measuring 200 square feet and below. Boats in each class display the class letter on their sail. Both of these classifications were in effect in 1913. I do not know why there are two different but very similar systems. Most people today use the classifications interchangeably. The Rocket and the Jack Frost are both Class 1 (or Class A) boats with over 900 square feet of sail area each.

I use medium CA - gap filling - (15-20 second cure time) - holds pretty well for me.

Frank, that's what I did with my Willie Bennett skipjack - see here Great job on the railings on your boat. Been following along silently and learning a lot from your narrative.

Moving on, I've assembled the boat, attached all the guy wires to the backbone/runner plank. Installed the mast step, and jib traveler, installed the tiller and it is functional - it does turn. Started working on the mast. Installed the 1st four "cleats" for the shrouds, painted the upper section white, rest is stained Golden Oak and covered with high gloss poly. Still more work to do on the mast. And need to construct the boom, jib club foot and gaff. The mast is only press fit into the mast step for now so I can remove it and continue working on it off-boat. Our ice yacht club is having our end of season pot luck dinner this Saturday; I'm going to take the model with me and hope to get some feedback from the group, especially the members of the New Jersey club who actually own the boat I'm modeling. Progress photos follow: Overall photo of boat Mast step with Cleats Basket with "chicken bar", tiller and stern runner. Added the rope wrap to the tiller handle. (Sorry for the blurriness - camera won't focus any closer) Fore and aft stabilizer guy wires - prevents runner plank from racking and getting out of alignment with the backbone (perpendicular to backbone) Jib traveler

Small update: I completed the stern rudder. the o-ring suggested by John (Jhearl) worked great and looks convincing from a distance. I decided to glue the two halves of the backbone together including inserting the lower half thru the runner plank truss. To keep the runner plank in alignment guy wires are connected from the bow to each side of the runner plank approximately 3/4 of the length from the back bone; additional guy wires secure the runner plank to the stern. The longitudinal guy wire which runs under the backbone from bow to stern was also added. (The two guys wires running from the stern to aft edge of runner have yet to be installed).

Yes and No ! The runner plank (cross plank) has a bow (curvature) in it starting at mid-section and running out to the runners on each side which allows quite a bit of flex in the plank which in turn smooths things quite out a bit. Think of the old leaf springs that used to be on the rear axle of cars, sort of the same principle, except it's at right angles to the backbone (keel) which allows each runner to independently flex upward. In addition the stern rudder has a rubber bushing to absorb some shock. But if you hit a section where the ice has cracked and lifted (ridge) you can get quite a jolt when the stern goes over it. The length of the runner (skate) also acts to cushion the ride and the skate will pivot vertically on the bolt. But generally speaking we try to avoid really rough ice and stick to place where the sun and other elements have worked to smooth the surface. Replacing a broken runner plank is not as easy as running down to the local lumber store and picking up a new plank. There's a lot of work that goes into making a new runner plank.

Michael, we've had some very weird winter weather here this season with temperatures going from below 0 F to as high as 72-74 F in January. To try and answer your specific question about the ice. Orange Lake is located Northwest of the city of Newburgh NY; it's a relatively small shallow lake measuring 1 mile by 1.5 miles with a depth of 9 feet. The ice thickness the first 3 weeks in February measured 12 inches, safe to support the boats. As to how it got so smooth and snow free: We had a warming spell in late January which made the surface of the ice mushy so the boats stayed of it so as not to carve deep ruts in it. This was followed by a 3 inch snowfall, followed by a slight warming with a day of heavy rain, and then a deep freeze (10-20 F at night). This combination resulted in the snow melting, filling in the existing black ice base, leveling it, then refreezing into the smooth surface you see in the video. Altho it was not completely "glass smooth"; it did have a few "rough spots" but the length of the boat's runner blade tends to smooth out the ride. And there were patches of frozen "snow ice" mixed it with the black ice. This is the typical ice formation pattern/process we experience here in the valley and it results in a very smooth level sheet of ice. On the river this sheet can be 14-16 inches thick, 1 mile to 1.5 miles wide (width of river outside the shipping channel) and 4-6 miles north-south on the river. The section of the river by me between the city of Kingston NY and Saugerties Village is roughly 2 miles wide, including the commercial shipping channel which in this area runs very close to the western shore giving us a very wide open area along the eastern shore for sailing. Earlier in the season we had expectations of being back on the river ice which had frozen to a thickness of 2 feet in December-January but was very hummocked and not suitable for sailing; unfortunately while we waited for the river ice to smooth out (which it will do over time) we got hit with the mid-January extreme warm-up (70-72 F) which caused the ice sheets to separate, then wind, tide and river current quickly cleared the river of any ice - much to the delight of the Coast Guard ice breaker crews and commercial shippers who had been fighting to keep the shipping channel ice free. The last time we had good ice on the river for sailing was in March 2014 (when the video of the launch of the NJ Ice Yacht Rocket was filmed). The ice on that day was 14-16 inches thick and we had an ice sheet along the entire eastern shoreline for several miles north-south. Generally speaking our winters here tend to range from 15-25 F at night to mid-to-upper 30s F during the day with the occasional 4-5 consecutive days of sub-zero nighttime temperatures and occasionally 40-45 F daytime temperature. This winter has been abnormal in temperature swings. In fact as I type this response the weather forecast is for 3 inches of snow Friday into Saturday.

John, thanks. Had not thought of the O-rings. I have a good hardware store in the village that carries just about everything, I'll have a look there.

Hi Mark, welcome aboard. The wire/shroud that runs along the underside of the backbone (keel) is there to strengthen/stiffen the backbone and counteract the upward pull from the mast/sails. There are additional wires/shrouds that run from under the bow to the port and starboard side of the runner plank and again from the aft side of the port and starboard runner plank to the stern (just under the basket) - these add additional cross stability to the boat. These are in addition to the traditional shrouds and stays attached to the masts. I've never seen a spinnaker used on these boats. In theory they can travel at speeds of 4 to 5 times the speed of the prevailing wind, e.g. 20 knot wind = 80-100 knot speed. In the video of the Rocket's launch she's hitting speeds of 55-60 MPH (88.5-96.5 KPH). The Jack Frost, which is the same size and class as the Rocket has been clocked at speeds of 90 MPH (144 KPH) up on a lake in New Hampshire back in the early 1990s, and record books indicate she has reached 100 MPH (160 KPH) Here's an article that explains the science behind their speed; while the article talks about America's Cup "wet water" sailboats, the same physics applies to our "hard water" sailboats aka ice yachts. Because the ice yacht has almost no friction, or drag, over the ice, just as an ice skater has little or no friction/drag, the speeds are significantly greater in an ice yacht than the America's Cup racers. How Do These Boats Sail Faster Than the Wind? | KQED Science Here's some drone video done by Jordy Mathews taken this past February (2018) on Orange Lake NY of the Vixen, an 1885 Lateen rigged ice yacht approximately 40 ft in length; on this particular day she was probably reaching speeds of 40-50 MPH (64-80 KPH) on a light wind.

The entire backbone was rebuilt from scratch. The original had rotted to the point of being unusable. I wasn't involved in the restoration so most of what I know is 2nd hand from a couple of our club members who traveled to NJ to participate in the rebuild.

I was thinking along the same lines as you are, Carl, a tube within a tube. The Rocket does not have the banding, the Manhasset is the only boat I know of that is banded like that. And yes, I have been using EdT's build logs for guidance on the metal work.

The next challenge will be to fabricate the stern steering skate and steering mechanism. Here's a drawing taken from an old 1909 book on ice yacht construction. The 2nd photo is of the actual steering mechanism on the ice yacht Manhasset which is undergoing restoration by our club. That is a 2 and 1/4 inch high by 3 inch diameter rubber block/bushing in the photo and labeled M in the drawing. The forged rudder post is 9 inches in length above the shoulder M, and 1 and 3/8 inches in diameter. The tiller is 2 ft 9 inches in length and 1 inch in diameter. The measurements scale down to ridiculously small values. Since I don't have a machine shop, lathe or milling machine, nor the skills to operate one; I will have to fabricate it from scrapes of brass I have left over from other kits and jewelry making items I've been collecting from JoAnns and Michaels which came in handy while building the Willie Bennett I think I will be able to use Chuck's (SYREN) internally stropped blocks for most of the blocks on this ice yacht, or at least that's the plan at the moment. I will post more when I get this part figured out.

I decided to dry fit everything I've done so far to see how the overall appearance and fit is. Here's the results so far. (the blue tape is just to temporarily hold the two halves of the backbone together) - The two fore runners are attached with a 0-80 hex bolt and nut. Not sure how well it can be seen in the photos.

Welcome Michael. Yes, it has taken me a while to start a scratch build.

I finished the basket. Quite challenging trying to wrap 4 different pieces of wood around the template. I started with a 1/4 x 1/8 strip of basswood, then I added as the top piece a 1/8 x 1/8 piece of walnut to the basswood; as a final step I had two pieces (one inside, one outside) if 3-4 mm wide x .5 mm thick walnut veneer. For the "flooring" I cut small strips of veneer and glued then to the floor which is a piece of 1/32 birch plywood cut to the shape of the basket. As a final step I careful cut out using a razor saw the center slot where the basket fits over the backbone., sanding and filing until it fit. For some added strength and extra glue up surface I added the two sq piece of basswood to the underside edge. The thin veneer was especially hard to work with because each piece kept splitting as I tried to shape it to the curve of the basket. It's left over 2nd planking material from several of my Artesania Latina kits. Looks great when sanded and poly'd but splinters easily. Once everything is fully cured I will add a coat or two of high gloss poly.

While I wait for the arrival of some scale hardware from two different sources, I decided to tackle the "basket" next. In some historic documents, notably those of H. Percy Ashley who documented many of the early ice yachts, this is referred to as the "steering box" or "cockpit"; however I've only heard it referred to as the "basket" . The first photo below is of the basket on the Rocket. The 2nd photo is of a basket reproduced by my friend Reid who is restoring an old ice yacht. Note the original side rail in his hand which is from the original boat that was used as a template. To make my scale model basket I took measurements from one of H Percy Ashley's articles on ice yacht which is 8 ft length by 3 3/4 feet in width and 6 inches in depth. Scaling this down to 1:24, I then drew a rectangle on some graph paper 4 inches long by 1 5/8 inches wide. I then found the center line of the rectangle, then used a compass placing it so the pivot was on the centerline and the pencil touched all 3 sides of the rectangle; drawing an arc on each side of the rectangle. Transferred this to a block of scrap MDF and cut out the plug on my band-saw; I then smoothed off the curve on the miniature belt sander. Screwed the plug to a plank for stability and ease of handling, soaked the wood overnight, then used the hair dryer on hottest setting to slowly bend the wood around the plug. This will form the side rail. I will add a layer of ultra thin mahogany veneer left over from one of my Artesania kits to get the mahogany look seen on Rocket. Photos of the jig follow:

Welcome Mark & Steve, still lots of front seats available.

Marcus, go back to the beginning of this blog and look for the link "Rocket Launch - YouTube video" and click on it. You'll get a front seat view of her sailing over the ice - probably going between 55-60 MPH.

The dark spacers on the original are turned spindles - looks like mahogany - on the model I duplicated them with the tops of toothpicks I found in the grocery section of our local Target store. No, you're right on the original Carl, they used a threaded carriage bolt which I am trying to source. I just used to hex nut for perspective. Altho the hex nut bolts are used to hold the runners in place so I can still use them there. I'll post a photo later of the toothpicks I used. Updated for picture of toothpicks used.

Welcome Carl I've been fiddling with the runner plank, actually made 2 of them plus a tiny mock-up half plank to fiddle with. Been trying to match up some scale hex nuts for size. the one depicted below is a 0-80 x 10 mm hex bolt with low profile nut from Scale Hardware. I measured it with digital calipers and it scales up to about 2.2 inches in 1:1 scale, which may be slightly oversized. Next month I will get another chance to get more measurements so I will verify what size the bolts actually are. It's hard to tell from photos. Here's some progress photos to-date. The mock-up half section of plank to test the scale hex nuts. The model dry fit together (blue tape holding two halves of backbone).

Welcome Marcus. One of the <many> contributions from our Dutch friends.

As you can see in the previous photos the backbone is cut from two separate 40 ft long Russian White Spruce or Pine (forget what they said) and stacked atop one another. The bottom portion of the backbone insert thru a square pocket in the truss of the runner plank with the top portion of the backbone notched to fit over the top portion of the truss. The backbone is 8 inches wide and varies in thickness from 6 inches at the bow to 16 inches thru the mid-section to 11 inches near the stern, just forward of the "basket" as seen in the following photos. The backbone is transported as two separate pieces and assembled on site. It takes a lot of crew and heavy lifting to assemble. The overall model will scale out at 25 inches in length and 13 inches in width; haven't calculated the mast height yet. For the backbone I will use two 20 inch long pieces of 3/8 inch poplar which I will taper as needed to match the thickness of the original. For the runner plank I will use 3/16 inch basswood for the bottom portion and 1/16 inch basswood for the top truss portion. The chocks which hold the runners and the runners themselves will be fashioned from 1/8 x 1/4 inch basswood. I'm still mulling over how to model the the iron blades which insert into the wood portion of the runners. I have been purchasing sample scale nuts and bolts in various sizes from one of our sponsors, Scale Hardware, to determine which sizes will match the hardware on the original.