G.L.

Patrick, The wire on the sides of the cabin ceiling, is that for lighting?

Nice precision work!

20.1. Finishing the hull. Dead eyes and chain plates. Making hardwood disks to make the dead eyes. Foto And at the other side I drill three holes in the position where they have to be in the dead eye. Now I just have to place the dead eye in the hinge, close it and drill out the holes in the jig . I use the mill on the Dremel to make slits above the dead eye holes. I make rings from copper wire. The large rings will become the iron bounds and the small rings the iron bound rings. Soldering the iron bounds. The making of the chain plates is very similar to the making of the hinge of the trawl gate. First bending a strip of brass around a 1.5 mm drill to make a loop at the end. Closing the seam of the loop with solder and sawing the outer ends of it. The assembled dead eye and chain plate. I determine the angle in which the chain plate has to be placed with a string around the trestletrees. To have the dead eyes at the correct height, I lay a wooden lath as height indicator on the rail cap... ... and mark the middle of each wale plank on the chain plate to drill the bolt holes. Once the holes are drilled, I mark the holes to be drilled in the wale and drill them. Now The recesses can be sawn in the rail cap and the chain plates can be nailed into place. Just below the cap rail the chain plates are supported by a wooden 'guard'. Guard, ready to be placed. Port guard into position. Kept in place with two glue clamps until the glue is dry. Below the railing and on top of the wale a rub rail is glued and kept in place with tape. Starboard side.

Mark, I think you are right about the absence of a backstay. With the trawlgate at portside just aft of the mast, there is no space for a backstay. That might be the reason why the mast is inclining forward to be better supported by the shrouds.

Just received an answer of Mr. Verleene: He does not know either why the masts rake forward. Maybe someone on the forum knows? The top sails were regularly used.

Hello Mark, I must owe you the answer on the first question. I passed your question to the author of the practicum, his grandfather skippered a smack. For your question regarding the topsails. A lot of the smacks had two sets of top gallants, one for the winter and a longer one for during summer. So I guess that the topsails were used, weather permitting, to sail to and from the fishing grounds. I am not aware if 'race days' by fishermen were organized in our region. To be sure I check it also with Mr George Verleene.

Dave, I discovered this morning your log of the HMS Blandford cross section. Looks like a engaging project, on scale 1/32 it will become a very nice model. I subscribe to follow your log. Wishing you an interesting build. Lots of regards,

19. The spars. 19.1 The spars. Making the mast To make the mast, I start from a square pine stock. I narrow it towards the ends with the sanding belt. I then scrape the corners until I get an octagon. Next step is sanding the octagon to a round shape. The mast will keep its octagon shape from the mast step until about 6 cm above the deck and a square shape at height of the hound pieces. The mast on the cross section. It is leaning slightly forward just like on the real smack. (The picture of the smack O122 below belongs to Georges Verleene, the author of the practicum that I use to build this cross section. The helmsman on the picture is George's grandfather and the woman amidships his grandmother. In that era women did not sail on fishing vessels, the sails were probably hoisted especially to pose for this picture. You can clearly see that the vessel is moored. ) Making the hound pieces. Making the trestletrees and the crosstrees. Laying a metal band around the trestletrees. Gluing the trestletrees with the bolsters on the mast.

Thank you Michael and Patrick

Thank you Pat. There is still some work to do: This week I will start to make the mast. That mast must also be rigged. The hull must be colored. I would like to make a work boat to store on the boat slide and last but not least the steam capstan has to be made. So enough to keep me busy for some more months.

Patrick, You are surely on the right track!

That will become a very nice boat!

18.10. Deck finishing. Pin rails. At both sides of the cross section, there is a pin rail. I make them from two oak sticks. I shape the forward end of both rails with a round file. Making cleats for below the pin rails. Gluing the pin rails with cleats into place at starboard side. The rail is temporally laying on two wooden blocks to hold it at the correct height. And at port side.

Overview of the deck arrangements.

18.10. Deck finishing. Anchor chain pipe. I lay also a small protection plate for the anchor chain on the deck. A little bit outside of the edge of the cross section stands the anchor winch. The protection plate will also serve to secure my loose end of the chain. I saw the plate with a hole in it. ... solder a copper collar on it and saw and file the round end in shape. The plate is then blackened and glued on the deck.