iMustBeCrazy

Mark, I have no doubt that every shipwright had his own way of doing many things but these are Admiralty drawings presumably saying 'we want it built this way'. So the question might be 'did every draughtsman have his own way of doing things?' or was there actually a reason for the variations? I don't know. I think these eight are the only launch drawings that show any planking details and they basically fall into two groups, sheer strake and sheer wale (thicker sheer strake) with more or less detail/accuracy. As for the Bounty launch short of the wayback machine or discovering that the Tahitians had invented photography we can only make educated guesses about much of it. What we're aiming to do is get as close as we can without the commercial considerations of kit manufacturers. Ultimately it is extremely unlikely we'll get it anywhere near 100% right but hopefully we'll avoid obvious errors.

Canvas catches the wind, often in undesirable ways. I would guess the canvas screen was around a foot high with another foot below. And the rain catcher, a canvas sheet held by four men in the shape of a scoop. They probably had a low piece of canvas as a sun shield that they used to catch water when it rained.

No, it's pretty much this rig. I think the odd one out is the main thwart.

Allan, I don't think you're wrong. However there are a few strange things in the drawing. First off I think it should be titled Boys Painting a Jolly Boat given their height, second, there are two row locks missing and it probably should be single banked, third, do I see provision for three masts? But it was actually a very good fit when I overlaid my 16ft Cutter: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/33083-16ft-cutter-by-imustbecrazy-finished-small-116-bountys-small-cutter-jolly-boat/page/2/#comment-950515

I think mine will probably finish up something like this:

There are some options within Launches too. From left to right: 1/ ZAZ5298 (1795) 2/ ZAZ7344 (1779) 3/ ZAZ7450 (17??) 4/ ZAZ7452 (1798) 5/ ZAZ7453 (1798) 6/ ZAZ7459 (1798) 7/ ZAZ7462 (1799) 8/ ZAZ7467 (1814)

I guess I may as well post the rest of this: The thwarts of boats are loose, and fixed ; generally three are fixed, and are called the fore, main, and after thwarts ; those fixed are commonly kneed at each end; to carvel-built boats, in general, the main, with two iron knees, and the fore and after, with one, which have two nuts and screws or forelock bolts through the side, one of them through the gunwale, and two up-and-down bolts through the thwarts. When the knees are wood, which is most commonly the case in clincher-built boats, they are fastened with nails, which are in general rivetted on roves or washers. To strengthen the fore part, and unite the bow's, two hooks are in general placed across the bow, one on the gunwale, and one at the upper part of the wash strake; in large boats, when they are attached to the gunwale, they are generally fastened with two bolts on each side; and in others, commonly, with nails; if wood hooks are used, the nails are driven from the outside, and rivetted on roves. And abaft, to strengthen the quarters, knees are likewise brought against the transom, one on each side, commonly at the gunwale and wash strake. The internal fittings of boats are different according to their class and service. In launches, the footwaling generally extends from the keelson to the rising; to some boats, to about the height of the floor-head; while others have bottom boards, only to fix and unfix. The bow and the stern sheets are likewise not only fitted differently, according to the class of boats, but frequently according to the taste of the captain, officer, or person for whom they are intended; some times with regular platforms, and frequently with gratings only. The internal fittings of boats generally are of too trifling a nature to require description; and to explain their detail would be more extensive than important; since a very moderate attention paid to them would be sufficient to become acquainted with all the particulars relating to them, and would fully answer the requirements of the student. It's a pity he never guessed that future students would be unable study a genuine contemporary boat.

Ooh, I'm nowhere near planking yet but I had to think about it sometime and Fincham's words take some thinking about

Turning my head to thoughts of planking. John Fincham has given a description of building a Launch in his various books (ca1820) and I've been trying to get my head around his description. The garboard strake is layed into the rabbet of the keel, and is fastened as other strakes, with two nails in each timber, except when it widens aft, when it has sometimes three. The binding strake is placed to be a parallel distance up from the lower edge of the landing strake, and has its upper edge reduced in thickness, for this strake to lay upon it. The landing strake is then brought on, and the sheer or upper strake, when the gunwale is on, the upper edge of Which corresponds with the upper part of the gunwale, to lap on the landing, according to the breadths, as in general shewn on the draught. The space between these strakes and the timbers, which is left by their lapping on each other, is in general filled up by small fillings; and the strakes are fastened with two nails in each timber; and the upper edge of the upper or sheer strake is nailed to the gunwale. The gunwale, which is the upper boundary of the permanent part of the boat, is in general composed of two or more pieces, scarphed together with a vertical scarph, from about 9 to 12 inches in length; and has its upper side well with the sheer or upper strake. The heads of the timbers are shaped on the inside, from the lower side of the gunwale to about one-eighth of an inch at the upper part, and the gunwale is scored over them. Above the gunwale is fixed wash strakes, sometimes permanently, and at other times to fix and unfix. When permanently, chocks are let through the gunwale, to extend down to the upper part of the landing strake, inside, and up to the upper part of the wash strake, for fastening them to the chock, and are spaced so as to form the rowlocks, with additional ones on the bow and quarter, according to the space. The wash strakes lap on the outside of the sheer or upper strake, and are fastened to it, in addition to the fastenings in the chocks. They have likewise to support them, sometimes, a narrow strip, called a feather band, nailed to their upper edge, inside; but most commonly they are lined quite through. On the outside, close under the wash strake, is fixed a piece, rounded to form a fender; and likewise a similar piece, only smaller, is fastened on the land strake, close to the lower edge of the sheer strake, called a land rail. Inside, to a proper height and for supporting the thwarts, is fixed a strake, called the risings; this strake is in general nailed to the timbers, and the thwarts are let in a small distance. I made the following drawing based on Finchams description and ZAZ7344 which I think is right except Fincham suggests the Landing strake laps over the Binding strake. I then attempted a drawing based on ZAZ7361 and found that the curvature requires that overlap (NOTE. I've left the washboard off). Given how much the planks would need to be hollowed out I think I'll redraw it with 8 x 5 7/8" planks. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Edit, it looks better:

Jolly boat is more a nickname than a description, the smallest boat on the ship and usually a cutter. But there will be exceptions

Only if you're doing inside curves like my futtocks. The contact area doesn't change much. Mine is about 40mm. Make sure you can grab the far end before you have to stop pushing and wet fingers helps prevent slipping. Go slow and take a little off at a time.

All sorts of things. The drum is two (more or less) bits of MDF cutout with a hole saw, drilled and tapped, epoxy applied to the bolt and mating surfaces, screwed on to the bold and lightly tightened together like lock nuts. The head of the bolt is cut off. Once cured it is fitted to the drill and sanded while spinning with a bit of sandpaper on a square block. Sandpaper is then glued to the drum with contact cement, you could do two different grits at different heights. No overlap and as small a gap as you can. The fence must be square, a bit of aluminium extrusion would be nice but wood will do if square. A vacuum to suck up the dust and clean the drum and you're done.

All floors and futtocks have been centre punched (alright, pricked) and are ready for drilling. Centre 'punch' in action: How I drill tiny holes:

Not a problem most days, yet. This week goes 25, 32, 30, 32, 38, 24, 31. Melbourne being on the south coast means northerly winds are warm to bloody hot and southerly winds are cool to almost British

It really doesn't look like much does it?

It was fiddly enough at 1:16, I had to nest several pieces together, sand the inside of the top one on a spindle sander, cut the top one off then proceed to the next. Then I had to sand the outside of each piece on a disk sander without sanding too much off my fingernails, I only had 3mm to hold on to. All done now but it's a tiny pile of matches for a lot of work.

Unfortunately yes, I didn't have any bent trees It's simply a bit big and as it turns through almost 90 degrees the cross grain would be just as obvious as the laminations, or that's my excuse. All the floors and futtocks have been shaped, next I have to drill and 'bolt' them. Keel has been scarphed:

Initially and for larger timbers they found trees that had partly fallen over and continued to grow. Later, for smaller timbers they tortured them in diabolical machines.

Michael, you might look at using this schooner as a template, she is roughly the same size and date. She has a room and space of 24 inches versus your 22. Scaling the timbers and spaces (sided) down to suit gives: Floor ..................... 5 5/8" 1st Futtock ............5 3/8" 2nd Futtock............5 1/8" 3rd Futtock.............4 7/8" 4th Futtock.............4 1/2" Top Timber.............4 7/8" Stanchions Heel.....4 7/8" ...................Head...4"

You should have started putting 'bends' in twigs twenty years ago.

They also used bent trees, modelling woods tend to come with straight grain so many of the futtocks will have short grain at some point.

Slow going Tim, welcome. Scarph, keel to stem, done. I'm happy with it. Stem still needs to be sanded to width.

A tiny update. The jig is complete and dry fitted but I'm not going to glue it until I'm sure I don't need to change it. Frame production is underway (strange, I could swear I'd made three times as many as I have).

If you do, just dampen the paper with a cotton bud (Q-tip) and it will peel straight off. It will leave a glue residue which will need to be washed off (again with a cotton bud). Practice on some discards.

No, but I'm going to. Ok, glue needs to dry. Tim, your extensions might be a little long. You need to be able to clamp in as well as down: And when you are doing it for real, sand the planks before fitting them, particularly the inside.