JerseyCity Frankie

Hi all,
 
Years ago I read "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum, and in January 2012 I decided that I would build his boat, the "SPRAY", in 1/48 scale POF with bent framing. The way Slocum built it.  I started asking questions on this forum, and I want to thank all those who answerd with help.  The information on this forum is invaluable.
 
Then the research began.  In the first chapter of his book, Slocum said he was given an old "fishing smack".  So I looked for fishing smacks of 1800.  About when his was built.  Someone suggested the "Emma C Berry" for framing, so I hunted for information on that boat.  I also gathered as many plan drawings of the "Spray" as I could find.  About five.
 
Now it was time to check and redraw the plans.  The first thing I discovered was that ALL the plans had errors.  Things like, the shear and section views would agree and the shear and the plan views would agree, but the width of the plan was no where near the same as the width of the sections.  Of the drawings I had, the drawing from the appendix in the book was the closest.  So I traced that into an old copy of AutoCad and worked out the errors.
 
Checking the fishing smacks plans had shown a frame spacing of from 15" to 22" I chose 18" for framing the Spray.  I drew a section at each frame.  I offset a line .031" inside to subtract the 1.5" planking Slocum used.  The frames will be 3" X 5" so again I offset another line .062 inside the planking for the frames.  This gave me the section lines for the plug I will carve to shape the frames.
 
I am going to plank only half the deck and deck houses so I can show the insides, taken from the sketches in Slocum's book. (See below)
 
Bob
 

Here is another one.  I bought the Harbor Freight equivalent of Micro-Mark’s small grinder with flex shaft.  The shaft hand piece became brittle and fell apart and the grinder was under powered; trying to grind anything would stop the motor.  
 
But I found that I had a 3/8” keyless chuck that fit the thread on the right end shaft, and that, plus a support at the far end made a great mast lathe.  So maybe it wasn’t such a waste after all.
 
Bob

Well that certainly was a bit of a shock.
 
I will not try to rebuild everything back to the begining but here is a brief overview of from there to here.
 
This pilot cutter is based on some plans that were published by MAP
(Model and Allied Press) back in the early 70's and those plans were actually
based on the fishing smack CK482. Those of you who have seen the build in the past
will already be familiar with what I have done so far.
 
The model is

LOD 63 inches

LOA 84 inches

Beam 18 inches

Draft 10 1/2 inches

My intention is to sail this model here are a few pics of the build





The frames are Jellutong, and the planking on the hull is Cedar.





 
The roller reefing is custom built around a worm gear on hand.

The mast is Clear Fir and the boom is Spruce.


 


The deck is double planked the lower planks are white pine glued and treenailed
into place the top planks are clear Fir the caulking is coloured Carpenters
glue the top planks will also be treenailed in place.
 
The cockpit surround is Honduras Mahogany as is the forward hatch and the cabin
sides.
 

 
The underside of the
cockpit coaming the walls will drop into the opening 2 1/14 inches and there
will be a gasket around the edge of the deck under the coaming. The cockpit
will be fixed into the hull with a couple of brass machine screws then a teak
floor grate will cover those. this way I can access the rudder controls and
keep the water
 

 
I have learned form this experience to back up everything and am now building my log in MSword and posting to the site.
 
It is great to have the site back.
 
Michael
 

Thanks Frankie, I have Harland's book, and I will look that up. I keep meaning to read that cover to cover, to learn more about how they really used all of the equipment we build, in all sailing situations.
 
My personal knowledge of sailing is limited to small dinghies in the lakes at the base of the Rocky Mountains a number of years ago. It takes a lot of imagination to scale that up to a 74 gun ship...;-) 
 
Mark

Brion Toss has an excellent book on rigging for actual sail vessels and devotes several pages to ratlines and how to install them. He claims a spacing of 16" is "standard". His book is called The Complete Riggers Apprentice and covers modern and traditional rigging. I checked Darcy Lever but he doesn't appear to give a spacing. William Brady says "15" is a good distance between the ratlines" on page 70 of The Kedge-Anchor(1847). Nares Seamanship (1862)  asks "haw far are the ratlines apart? Fifteen or Sixteen inches" on page 55. Harold Underhill, in Masting and Rigging of the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier(1946) gives "About 15" apart" on page 83. Finally Lees, in Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War (1979) says ratlines "were spaced 13" to 15" apart. Its funny. Before I went back and checked my references I would have said it was 16" to 18". Its also funny that none of the experts I sited were exactly specific, except Brion Toss who's book is more about present day real world rigging and is certainly not intended for the model builder. Its still a great well written book with something of interest for anyone who is at all nautical.