hamilton

Thanks all for this feedback! Ron - these pictures are very clarifying in terms of the lug rig set-up - especially for the downhaul. Spyglass - that link is also extremely useful - I guess I didn't dig deeply enough during my own searches!! Thanks again all for the info! hamilton

Is this the post that will push this log onto page 2? I'm always curious....(edit - it wasn't!) In any case I've now finished the bottom planking, done some preliminary cleaning up of the hull and taken her off the molds. The next step will be to fashion three rubbing strakes for the hull bottom and then finish the interior and exterior. Initially I wanted to leave the interior natural, but I'm skeptical about whether I can get a nice wood finish with the materials I'm using. So I'll likely finish both inboard and outboard but keep a natural finish for the frames, stringers, rails, thwarts and forward covering board. This will also help hide some of the defects in the hull - you'll see (if you haven't already) that there is a bit of filling to do here and there.... The last bit of work I did today was to add some shape to the transom and file out a sculling slot along the centreline. It's occurred to me that if I'm going to add a rig to this skiff I'll need to add a stern post and rudder....but this can wait a bit until after the previously described steps are complete.... in any case, enjoy the pics and bye for now hamilton

Thanks Alan and Spyglass! Very helpful descriptions/photos. I'll see what I can do once the time comes to consider a sail arrangement. Thanks again! hamilton

Hi there: I'm wondering if anyone has any resources on how to set up a lug rig for a small vessel - this is in relation to a current small build I've got going of a 14' rowing skiff. I saw an image of it adapted for sail with a lug rig, but as hard as I've tried to examine images of this rig, I haven't been able to find many details on the set-up...any assistance or resources on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance hamilton

Thanks John - if the full sized build is as straightforward as the scale one, then it may indeed be a future prospect... hamilton

The topsides of the OC Skiff are now planked - three strakes plus garboard port and starboard - not difficult, though I had to reposition (and re-glue) a couple of the planks a couple of times. And of course you'll see that hull looks a bit scarred up from misplace or slipped clamps and other little knicks and dings sustained in the work process. A bit of filler and a lot of sanding and shaving will soon follow to neaten this up. And the exterior hull will be painted, so much of these marks, gaps, etc. will eventually blend in. I've now started laying out the bottom planking. Working with leftover materials from previous build has meant that I'm using planks of a consistent thickness (3/32") but of varying widths (3/16-1/4"). I could have taken a bit more time to achieve consistency here, but I figured that this will not be too noticeable when the model is displayed. We're heading out of town this coming weekend for our annual cabin getaway, but I'm hoping to be close to finished this model by the time we head out - unless, of course, I decide to add a rig. I saw some images of this boat carrying a lug rig, but I've not been abler to find any images of how this rig works, whether I would need to add shrouds or stays, or how some of the running rigging (specifically the downhaul) would be set up....Any resources any of you might have on such a rig would be very helpful and much appreciated! In the meantime, enjoy the photos. hamilton

Hi Ron - can you teach me how to be as careful and precise as you are? As with your Oneida log I really appreciate the explanations and descriptions you provide of your process. I always learn a lot reading through your logs. Very impressive work here hamilton

Thanks Mark - it feels good to be back! hamilton

And here she is with the first side plank fit, bristling like a porcupine......another plank tomorrow and (if I can get an hour) the last one on Saturday. Then on to doing some refining work on the garboard and planking the bottom. I'll add some rubbing strakes in line with the ribbands on the building molds and then she'll be ready to be flipped over and attention paid inboard - this will no doubt be the fastest model I have ever made! Though I may see if I can whip up a sailing rig for her despite lack of plans, details or any particular knowledge of how this might work practically on a boat such as this! Enjoy! hamilton

Yeah Ron it was very hard to tolerate for a while, but I thought that if I could work out how to do it once I could do it again with this minor impediment. And now for a small update on the OC Skiff. I've fit the garboard strakes now and am ready to move on to the remainder of the side planking after a bit more prep work is complete. I've already milled and tapered all the side planking (3/64" lime cut to 5" and tapered to 4" in a straight taper) but a few things need to be done to prep. The first strake above the garboard needs a slight chamfer along the back edge to make a tight joint with the garboard plank. Also - and this is contrary to all planking I've done on other models, the planks are wider at the stem than at the transom - the taper running back from fore to aft. It took me a while to figure this out as my instinct was to imagine that planks usually at the bows. In any case, like the garboard, the planks will be installed over-long and trimmed/sanded down to fit. In the end, the fitting of the garboard strake was very touchy, mostly because it is only fastened at the stem and transom. On one side I inserted brass nails to hold the plank in place (as you'll see in some of the photos - but this process soon appeared unnecessary, and I reverted to clamping the planks to the molds to hold the position. I'll have to retain these clamps until the side planking is complete - removing them probably as I proceed through the bottom planking. This is to prevent the "drift" of the planking in the vertical dimension - though maybe this isn't necessary? Couldn't hurt I suppose... Anyways, here are some photos of the garboard plank attached - side planking will proceed (slowly) over the coming days - probably going to do one strake each side every day - but since there are only three strakes it's not much bother! Enjoy! hamilton

Thanks for the comments and votes of confidence Ron and John. Ron - yes the injury was a real bummer, but I've learned to adapt around it. The hardest thing is that I have not, until quite recently, been able to play the guitar - but in the last year I've knuckled down and brought myself close to where my abilities were prior to the accident - this is actually one of those achievements that has re-oriented me to modelling, as well. John - yes, the whole series is well worth the watching - it's a very good practical guide to the various stages of construction and it is amazing to see these kids hard at work fitting planks, planing, and caulking the hull! I only wish I had grown up in an environment like that. hamilton

With the fitting of the transom, the model is now ready for the side planking. The planking of the full-sized skiff consists of a thicker (7/8") garboard strake and three strakes of topside planking (9/16"). Fudging the numbers a little bit, I'm using 3/32" basswood for the garboard and 3/64" basswood for the topside planking. The width of the garboard planking tapers through its length from 3-1/4" to 2-5/8" (full) in a straight taper - no spiling!! The topside planks also have a straight taper from 5" to 4" (full). I milled some 3-1/4" (and a bit) strips from the 3/32" basswood sheet and some 5" strips (and a bit) from the 3/64" sheet. Tapering these was pretty easy, using a 24" straightedge and going in repeated light moves on the tapering line. I'm not quite sure about the use of basswood for the planking - it seems that there is certainly an opportunity to use nicer hardwoods and to produce a nice natural finished model. I do have a supply of boxwood and some scraps of other exotic hardwoods from previous builds, but I'm saving the boxwood for a special project and I don't have the other woods in dimensions I need....so I will likely be painting the exterior, staining and varnishing the interior and using hardwoods for the frames, rails, thwarts and so forth.... In any case, after cutting and tapering the planks I had to start wrestling with the question of how to fit them. In full-sized construction, the strakes are screwed temporarily into the molds, with these holes being re-used later to attach an interior frame. This isn't really an option for me at this scale, at least not in the same way. I'm still considering the best way to fit the strakes, but I have thought of two options - would be very happy to hear any thoughts on either or both of these.... 1. Do the same thing as I did with the transom - that is, temporarily pin the strakes to the molds, and then carefully edge-glue the strakes as well as fixing them to the transom and inner stem. Theoretically, the planking should hold together and then I can simply remove the pins and lift the hull off the molds....."theoretically".... 2. Glue the strakes to the molds, as well as edge-gluing them. Then, when it's time to turn her over, I will cut the molds off at the base of the verticals and then gently pry and detach the molds. This seems likely to result in some damage to the interior planking of the boat - but this may not matter much, since frames will be added to cover where the molds were previously attached.. Anyway, again - thoughts on these (or other) possibilities are most welcome I did soak the garboards and the first strake of topside planks and they are now clamped and drying on the molds - and this is where I've come to in the process so far, so will be considering the planking over the next day or so....Photos follow. Enjoy! hamilton

The transom was pretty easy to make. In the full-sized skiff it is built up out of edge-glued lumber, but I had some 3/32" basswood sheeting lying around that was perfect for the purpose, so I simplified things for the model. Offsets were taken from the plans and transferred to the basswood sheet. I then rough cut it and sanded it to final shape. The mounting of the transom turned out to be a bit tricky, though I think it also introduced me to a technique that will be used for the side planking and garboard strakes. The transom needs to be stable in its mounting to the transom frame, but it can't be glued on, since the boat will need to be removed from the skeleton at some point. I marked a centreline on the transom piece and used this as reference for dry mounting the transom on its frame. Once clamped in place, I marked the outlines of the angled transom frames on the inside of the transom itself. I then pre-drilled holes in the marked out areas and into the transom frame supports. I then tacked the transom in place using the small brass nails that come with every model kit (and that I have only ever used very sparingly).... Here are some images showing how this went. Enjoy! hamilton

The next stage is to set up the molds on the strongback. This was, again, very finicky but not difficult, and was greatly assisted by the use of a 1/4" x 1/8" ribband along the centre notches between the transom frame and mold 1. The first stage here was to mark the centre line on all the molds using the strongback centre line as reference. For this, I made a small square jog out of a couple of flat 2 x 4 lego pieces angled together - sometimes I think that modellers use more lego than my kids ever have!! These jigs also ensure both squareness across the station lines and in the vertical plane. Anyway, once the centrelines were brought up, and the ribband notches widened around them, I used a 1/4" x 1/8" lime strip to set the molds square and in alignment. The lego brace allowed for a good fit against the station braces, while the ribband provided stability through the mold. I was very gratified to see the nice, sweet curve that the ribband made once the molds were all in place! The final step here was to cut and install the three ribbands in place. These serve a couple of purposes. There's the obvious one of providing structural stability and strength to the framework, but they also serve as reference points for the rubbing strakes that will be added to the bottom of the boat much later. As part of this process, I made a stem bracket to support the centre ribband at the bow, This is a temporary piece, cut to the height of the stem, but serving only to maintain the lines of the boat's bottom. In the photo below, you can also see the inner stem, which is rough tapered through its length from a roughly trapezoidal shape at the upper end to a triangular one at its base. I made the inner stem from a 1/4" x 1/4" strip of beech. The port and starboard ribbands also had to be trimmed back and faired to the run of the planking, as you'll see in one of the images below. Photos documenting these steps follow. Enjoy! hamilton

Hello again: Following the construction of the strongback it was time to make the molds. There are 5 molds plus the transom. These were made using the same 1/8" x 1/4" lime that was used for the transom bracket and the braces on the station lines. Taking off the measurements from the plans was finicky (especially where there were fractional measures in the /8 range) but not too difficult - keeping a very sharp pencil and using a magnifying lens helped considerably. I did have to make a few of the molds a couple of times as I made some calculation errors the first go around, but in the end, the results were good - symmetrical, solid and accurate to the offsets given on the plans. For each of the molds, I first drew a baseline and centre line on a small piece of 1/4" plywood. I then took the offsets from the drawing to make a basic outline of the mold (to the inside of the planking). I then fixed a 1/4" x 1/8" lime strip along the baseline to act as an anchor piece for the construction of the mold. Two more pieces were cut to act as braces for the verticals to insure that they retained a consistent 12" run from their outside edges. The bracing strip that you see in one of the images below is not fixed, but is used to ensure symmetry in the verticals and (later) to help brace the whole mold while it's being glued up. The verticals and the angled sides of the mold both lie on the control edge, so the side pieces were clamped down in position as a next step, with clamps being added at the base of the verticals for stability and accuracy in setting the horizontal pieces. All these pieces (with the exception of the verticals) were cut overlength and then shaved down on the disc sander - which I am increasingly finding to be one of the most useful and indispensable tools in the shop. The final step in mold construction was to cut three notches in the smaller crosspiece to allow for the ribbands which serve as structural reinforcements later in the process. A crossbar with similar notches was also made for the transom support frame. These also serve the purpose of ensuring the correct alignment of the molds once they are set up on the strongback. Here are some images documenting the process. Enjoy! hamilton