mikiek

Your welcome man. Thanks for the good word.

Well, maybe the cold will stop me. The CA isn't CAing. Will not stick. Even put some on my finger and rubbed it around. Felt like water. Bummer.

Work continues on Trajta. We've had a little excitement here in SE Texas - some cold weather. Nothing compared to what you Canadians live with but for around here it's almost a blizzard. Temps below freezing for over 24 hours - expected for another 18 - 24. In my area that in the 20's, teens at nite. The shipyard is kinda chilly but it won't stop me. I'm into 2 things at the moment. Prepping the hull (read sanding) for some finish and doing a few odd tasks in preparation for planking the decks. As far as the hull goes, I'm taking a different approach than usual. I REALLY want to stain & varnish the hull rather than paint. But as you may know, I'm pretty anal about how my stain comes out. IMO filler & glue can ruin any stain job. This time around rather than filling gaps & low spots I am sanding those areas to the point where they disappear. A lot of sanding! The hull planks are noticeably thinner - hope I don't poke a hole thru them. It has also been very hard to resist putting some sort of something (stain, finish, etc) on the hull. You know how that is? So far I have succeeded. The pix don't look to different than the previous ones, but if you run your hand down the sides the difference is noticeable. The other odds & ends are rather unique to this build. Trajta did a lot of cargo hauling. Rather than openings in the deck to lower stuff into the hold, she has a section of the deck open. In that area bulkheads are planked, there is a bit of flooring and the bulkheads have openings where things are loaded into.That was probably a bad description, the pix may explain it better. At any rate I am planking the bulkheads and getting ready to do the flooring. And since that area is open to the hull there are also some faux frames to be installed there. This will prove challenging as the plans call for 3mmx3mm walnut sticks and they will have to be bent to fit the hull. One problem I have to deal with. In the last pic you might see a notch in the keel. There was a frame piece there but after planking you take it out. My planking method requires marks on each strake where it crosses a frame. Usually no problem as I lay that side of the strake inboard and no one ever sees it. Not so this time with the section of open deck. To make things worse I used a Sharpie to make my marks. You can see my dilemma. The floor I'm about to do will cover part of it but not all. Nothing to do but sand Stay warm......

The color is what had me wondering David. I like it.

That beech could make a cool deck me thinks. I'm curious how it takes stain. Natural might do very well. I would also like to find something besides walnut. I ordered 5 different species and will be cutting sticks myself.

Thank you all for the likes and kind comments. If you knew the history between the owner and my dad (both in photo) and our families you would know how special the moment was. Those two go back literally to before I was born. And I'm no spring chicken. Most folks don't keep connections like that.

Owner got his boat back today

David - are you able to determine what kind of wood the hull is?

Looks like mostly sanding to me Tom. Be careful with the filler. It's easy to fill all the grain and even the joints between planks. You can lose the "plank effect" if your not careful. It'll get too smooth. None of that work was done perfectly back then. Something you reminded me of with your bowsprit. When you start putting all the cleats and stuff on especially at the foot, the bowsprit won't slide thru the opening anymore. Not enough clearance with everything glued on. So make all those parts, but be careful what you glue on. If the part is inside the bulwark, don't glue it until you have permanently fixed your bowsprit into the bits. Looking forward to seeing some paint! Stock ip on the masking tape.

Finished the hull and barely stopped to admire. The last few strakes dropped right in. And I won't mention the div*****s. I do have some small gaps that are more than I can tolerate however. So I dived right in to the repair work. Actually, it is some experimentation. I haven't given up the idea of finishing the raw wood rather than painting. My gripe is the spotting left from glue and filler when I apply stain. Glue barely absorbs it, filler usually either absorbs too much or not enough. I'm left with discolored spots on the hull. Well glue is glue and all you can do sand down past it. Filler on the other hand has possibilities. I've posted about mixing certain fillers with a bit of water so that you make a paste and can apply with a paint brush. I'm going beyond that this time and attempting to color the filler the same color as the walnut sticks used for planking. Honestly, I think it might work. I'm using Elmer's filler and walnut crystals for the dye. The ratios are all by eye so if you try this at home you're on your own. After applying to a couple of spots the first thing I see is the color lightens up as it dries. So what matched well when applied ends up lighter than desired. I added some more crystals to darken. Now the mixture looks darker than the wood when applied. I think the key will be to only apply where it is needed and not slather the entire hull. Before it dried completely I took a wet (yes wet not damp) rag and wiped the excess off the hull surface. I am only trying to fill the gaps between planks after all. Here's a spot after that. Not too bad. I've been griping about having to glue the strake ends straight to the stem & stern. In several places this left an unsightly gap so I'm trying to fill those as well. And I guess I should add a few obligatory pix of the planked hull. Gotta get back to the shop to wipe down the excess filler......

I guess I'm used to multiple planks per strake. Yeah, it's more effort to cut the sticks, but IMO they lay a lot easier and quicker. This is my first shot at using single stick walnut for a strake - I'm not overly impressed. Missing the rabbet didn't help. NOTE TO SELF: Always make a rabbet even if it's not called for.

Yes she still lives. Hull planking has been very slow. I've had a tough time getting strakes glued at the bow & stern. Clamps are next to impossible to use there, so it's been the finger clamps which really slows things down. I was getting 1 maybe 2 strakes per night. As the pix will show, there will have to be some filling of some sort at that point where the strake ends come into contact. That will have to be stuffed in between the strakes and the stem or stern post. I still have 5 strakes left to lay, but I always like getting to this point. I can already tell the last few sticks are going to fit like a glove. The dividers came thru again. Not a single stealer or any other partial plank. So I'm kinda proud of that. There will have to be a decision made as to paint or stain. A few strakes (some of the early ones) have enough of a gap that they will need attention. I hate using filler on a surface that I want to stain. I've tried all the tricks for that but always end up with the "filler spots" when the surface is finished. I hate painting over walnut but that may be where I'm headed.

Agreed Doug - while some eyes would notice those things, most do not. It took some time before I realized it. The cutaway build I did is very attractive despite the design drawbacks. Yours will come out nicely I'm sure of it.

Doug - I found scale to be all out of whack on the cross section I did. A handrail that would have hit a scale person right about the chin. I like the brass rails.

Tom - that barrel almost looks like brass. Mine were pewter. If you're not satisfied with the height, you could make some slightly oversized wheels. Don't forget the quions too. Depending how far you shove it under the cascabel it will give the muzzle some additional height. It doesn't look bad as is.

Thank you Antony. I believe that's it.

Hi Mark - yes it seems like I am down to the ole finger clamps. I don't know if it's the cold or what - it's about 50F in the shop - but the CA (medium) is not setting even after a few minutes. Hence the need for something to hold the end down for 15-20 minutes while the wood glue sets.

Working on my hull planking. This build is a little different in that it doesn't call for a rabbet. Sure I could have added one. I should have added one. I'm left gluing the tips of planks to the stem & stern and I'm having a tough time getting a clamp to stay put there to hold the plank. It wasn't too bad at first starting at the wale and working down. Now I'm about 2/3 finished and I can't get a clamp to hold in place. A rabbet gave the stick something to bite into, to wedge against. I was hoping some of you might post a pic or two showing how you do it.

I think I've heard of that. I wish to heck I could remember what that slope is called.

Very cool story David. It's nice to know the history. The restore I did has what sounds like a similar deck. One solid "slab" with the planks drawn on. Maybe an easier thing to do at the time. I imagine getting a consistent batch of 3/32x1/16 sticks might have been a challenge 60 years ago. For sure the Byrnes saw wasn't around yet

Bulwarks looking good Tom. Getting a little ahead but based on your decisions and while I'm thinking of it. If you glue your structures to the deck, don't forget the centerline slope (can't recall the nautical term for that). Your deck will slope from the centerline down and out to the waterway. The bottom of your structures need to account for that otherwise they will rock like a see-saw. They will be sitting right on the fulcrum.

That reminds me - keep a lookout as you break it down. Try to look inside places you might not break down. On my recent restore I found the manufacturer's stamp on the deck underneath the skylight structure. Megow's Models. Apparently, they stopped making models in the late 40's . You never know what you might find.

Was it thread? Some prehistoric Amati style rope? You are quite fortunate to get the parts & plans. That should save you a lot of photography. You mentioned a friend gave this to you. Is he the builder? If no, does he know the builder? I'm just wondering about the background of the build.

Looks like fun David. I just finished a 75 year old restore for a family friend.I know what you mean about the dust build up. Oddly enough, saliva makes a great cleaner and dissolved old glue very well. I'm curious if you can determine what kind of line was used for the rigging? Mine was all black (even the running) and it looked very similar to todays braided fishing line. I was able to salvage almost all of it.

I believe they call that "Natural" stain There is such a thing believe it or not. It's a Minwax color (or non color). I use it quite often. No color, it just gives kind of a wet look. Do you not have any thinner? Add a little to what you have left.