jdbondy

Fortunately for us, the COVID infection itself was relatively mild! But an especially scary prospect given that every day I look at chest X-rays of people whose lungs are filled with infiltrates from COVID pneumonia.

It has been since August that I posted on any model work. I have indeed been distracted by projects related to the new sailboat, but other things were going on, like COVID 19 working its way through our household in December! But work on the model has been occurring, relating to planking prep and construction of the transom. The transom work is particularly interesting and challenging. I hope to do a couple of posts in relatively rapid succession to bring things up to speed. This is an example of how lucky I am when it comes to the documentation of my subject. Cap’n Barry gave me a shell diagram to the Mary Day that lays out the planking on each side of the hull. He explained that each plank’s age is tracked because at any time the Coast Guard can ask for a sample of a particular plank. I suppose that means they take a core sample, then fill the hole with the equivalent of a treenail. Their shell diagram keeps track of when particular planks have been replaced and where samples have been taken in the past. For our purposes, the width of each plank is documented with respect to where the plank crosses a particular frame. I bring this up at this stage of the build because I need to be able to visualize how the planking bands lie, particularly as the bands approach the transom, so I can properly fair the frames (and stern filler blocks, if I end up using them). Also included, but not shown here, is a planking diagram of the transom. The first step of the process was to take each of the 3 sheets depicting the shell diagram and merge them into one image. At each major station location, the width of all the planks was totaled and used for the denominator, then the widths of the planks within a band were totaled. The length of the tick strips was determined by the length on the model from the rabbet to the level of the bottom of the covering board, which is effectively where the hull planking meets the level of the deck planking. The tick strips were then divided according to the relative widths of the planking bands. Marks from the tick strip are transferred to each frame so that despite fairing the frames, the placement of the bands will still be evident. The lovely wife serving as my hand model for this picture. I have marked the edges of the planking bands with red or green marks. These will of course get obliterated as I do more fairing, but they can be restored after that is finished. I started with four planking bands, marked in green, but realized that as you approach the stern, I needed to add a band to cover all the additional territory that opens up. That is marked in red. So the tape gives me a sense of how the planks approach the transom. Portions of the transom filler block have been carved away on each side. I was told there would be no math. But I needed to know more about where the planks land on the transom, and how much I would have to rebate the filler block for the hull planking and the transom planking to meet at the right point. Using that information, I drew a new curve on the transom that was set back the appropriate distance (3/16” maximum) and carved to that curve. This was carried out on the other side. In order to try to keep the shape symmetric, I tried using some creative “feeler gauges” to make sure I was rebating to the same depth on each side. But I ended up just doing it by eye. Back to the rabbet. Here I am checking the depth and angle of the rabbet at a certain frame location with a small piece of wood that is the same thickness as the hull planking, 3/64”. The rabbet was extended in the same way as it would be done at full scale, creating reference points of appropriate angle and depth, which are then connected up. The rabbet has been extended to the start of the deadwood. The rabbet carved into the port side deadwood. And the same for the starboard side. The blue tape prevents scuffing of the keel timber. Before forgetting to do so, I worked on shaping the contour of the stem, which narrows from the full width of 5/32” to a minimum of 1/16”. The narrowing of the keel hasn’t been finished on this picture, but you get the idea. One nice thing I was able to do with the microscope was to achieve a really smooth finish after sanding to 320 and 400 grit by scraping with a razor. I will eventually do that with the rest of the keel, but I have to make sure that fairing is finished first so I don’t accidentally mar the finish. At this point, I feel confident enough about the frame shapes that I wanted to try to preserve them for the future. So I traced out the shape of each frame (larger side of each frame, of course) onto card stock, and scanned them into PDF files. Maybe this will come in handy in the future. So the next post, which will hopefully follow soon, will focus on transom construction. It’s nice to be back at it!

You could make a little bucking iron to hold on the outboard surface of the rivet, then use a tiny hammer to peen over the inboard end of the rivet...

My wife often refers to our ship-building hobby as a beautiful madness. Speaking of madness, Toni, I hope you aren't going to go to the trouble of installing roves on the inboard (invisible) surface of the hull!

I need to look up Wes Marden's booklet. The case that was made for my Pride of Baltimore 2 took altogether too long for the parts to be manufactured by an outside party. Then the glazier I hired to assemble it did a horrible job. My neighbor and I imagine that we could have done a far better and faster job.

Congratulations! Now it's time for a cleaning of the shop, followed by opening up the next project... I hope the pandemic resurgence isn't too bad in your area!

Shameless plug for Rockler Woodworking, I see! I am lucky to have one about 3 miles from my house. What an impressive jig! Gonna spend some time looking at that one, because the more time spent, the more I think I can learn from it...

I think I see what you are pointing out, so I have taken another photo now that I have begun carving out the rabbet. I haven't extended the rabbet into the sternpost yet. In my previous picture, the keel timber on my model may have appeared deceptively small. The top of the keel timber is indicated on my model and on the plan by the red arrows. My photo doesn't show the details of the keel further forward on the plans or on the model, so I can see how it's easy to lose track of what is where. I got a response back from Skipper Barry King about the position of the rabbet and the sternpost. He said he couldn't remember, mumbling something about how I now seem to know more about the details of his schooner's construction than he does...

My colleagues, have a look at this photo and give me your opinion. The portion of the plan showing the sternpost, rudder, and deadwood are presented, and my keel assembly is lying on top of it. I am beginning to work out the rabbet (although this picture does not show the work I have done to this end). The question I have is where the rabbet ends on the sternpost. I think that the dotted line traveling nearly vertically along the sternpost represents the end of the rabbet and the end of the counter planking. Right? Is there any reason to suspect that the planking should instead end where the sterpost and the deadwood meet? Any reason to suspect that the planking would travel further aft than the dotted line? Certainly the end grain of the planking should not be exposed, as it would be if the planking extended to the aft surface of the sternpost. Thanks in advance for any input.

She is a Nat Herreshoff-designed "Coquina". Fans of Wooden Boat magazine may remember a recent issue that included an article about the DN Hylan boatshop on the coast of Maine, who offer a kit for the Coquina, or you can commission them to build one for you. JD

I have a confession to make. Last week I was back in Maine, taking more measurements from the Mary Day while she is cooped up in Camden, waiting out this tourist season that has been cancelled due to COVID-19. Down the road from Camden, in Rockland, is the Apprenticeshop, which is a school for apprenticing individuals into the traditional skills of boatbuilding. (apprenticeshop.org) They had this boat for sale...and I bought it! As if I needed a distraction from my model building efforts! She will make the journey from Maine to Texas next week, and hopefully will be here in time for the weekend of Sept 12-13. It really wasn't as spontaneous a buy as I make it sound. I have had my eyes on this boat since about this past January, when I learned about her design and then found an example for sale. This was just my first opportunity to make it back up to Maine since the pandemic started. Anyone who can tell me the name of this design will win...my undying respect!

Druxey, I will give your cure for pin marks a try!

In my last post, I showed how I had to cut frame #50 to accommodate the stern post. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last frame. Frame 51 also exists, but it doesn’t articulate with the keel, deadwood, or sternpost. Rather, it will articulate with the framing for the transom, presumably fitting into what might be called a horn timber although I don’t think that’s quite the right term for this case. Feel free to correct my terminology. In the picture above, you can see how the bulkhead that will become frame 51 is unable to sit on its line indicated on the baseboard. The support for the stern post I had previously created ends right on the station line for frame 51. So I will have to do some carving on frame 51 just as I did for number 50. Maybe this will do it… Well, that certainly gets the upper part of the frame to sit on its station, but the frame is clearly tilted because the remainder is bumping up against the stern post. I carved out additional wood in a ramp-like fashion. Now frame 51 can sit vertically, parallel to all the other frames. As with frame 50, the shape of frame 51 is pretty arbitrary. I have no reference points to make sure that it is sitting neither too high nor too low on its station. This frame sits well above the waterline, so that can’t be used as a reference point. I am still facing the same problem with fairing the stern as I was facing during a previous post: How do I create some kind of guide for the shape of the stern so that I can accurately fair the aft frames as the planking leads into the transom? I really need some kind of filler block that simulates the shape of the transom, not only as viewed from astern but also in a way that follows the curvature of the planking. If only I had some kind of model to help me reproduce the 3-dimensional shape of the transom… Duh! The resource I needed was hanging on the wall of my shop. “Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings!” (More like a few days…) I built this half model of the Mary Day while attending a class at the Wooden Boat School in 2004. It was built based on the lines drawings I had received from Barry and Jen a few years earlier, before the builders plans had been uncovered. It was the first of two I made; the other one went to them and is now at their office. I am certainly glad now to have made two models. It never occurred to me that I would use my own half model in the same way as boatbuilders have historically used half models: to reconstruct the hull at full scale. OK, I won’t be doing it at full scale, but still it’s a thrill to have this resource available so that I can directly transfer dimensions to a block of wood and fabricate the filler block I need. I put a strip of painters tape along the transom so I could mark up some reference points. And where two lifts of wood meet, a very convenient waterline is visible that can be cross-referenced on the lines drawing. Another good reference point turns out to be where the bottom of the transom meets the stern post. Here, the builders plan is placed just above the lines drawing and a weight secures them relative to each other. I did this to get a sense of how different the scales were between the two plans. The lines drawing shows the waterlines A1 and A2 and where they cross the transom. The old lines drawing has a spacing between stations of 1 inch plus 13/32”. The builder’s plan has spacing of 1 inch plus 14/32”. So, over about 1-1/2”, there is a difference of about 1/32”. This is a difference in scale of about 2%, with the builders plan slightly larger than the lines plan. But this is plenty accurate enough to generate a useful transom pattern and filler block. Here are the tools I used to transfer dimensions. They include a small carpenter’s square, a compass, a 1/32” Incra rule, and calipers. The dimensions taken off the model were transferred to a transom drawing on the blue paper. On the drawing, reference lines included the (horizontal) waterlines labeled A1 and A2. At the bottom is the junction of the transom with the stern post. Then of course the centerline. The distance from the transom-stern post junction to waterlines A1 and A2 were measured off the model, and slightly adjusted given the differences in scale. The width of the transom on the half model was measured using the Incra rule, which worked better than the carpenter’s square or the calipers. The tips of the calipers could not get into the point where the half model meets its mounting board, but the Incra rule could sit directly up against the transom. The distances were transferred to the drawing using the compass. Intermediate points between the waterlines A1 and A2 were used to fill out the shape of the curve. Then I created a new Rhino file and entered the coordinates, then used Rhino’s curve drawing capabilities to create a smooth curve that traveled through all the points. The mirror function duplicated the curve for each side, and gives us a nice transom pattern. Now I need a block of wood to serve as the transom filler block. I glued up some ¼” basswood, …and a notch was cut into it using the table saw, so the block could sit against the sternpost. Now I am planing it to shape. A strip of wood was screwed into the bottom surface so it could be held in the vise. One of the basswood pieces wasn’t big enough, leaving a defect in what will become the face of the transom. So a filler was glued in place. The edges were marked at an angle corresponding to the angle of the transom, and the blocks were planed down to the line. The pattern was then put in place with its bottom edge against the sternpost, and a pin was used to accurately place the centerline of the pattern on the centerline of the filler block. The transom pattern marks the outer surface of the hull, so the thickness of the planking needs to be accounted for. So purely as a starting point, the thickness of the planks (3/64”) was marked along the transom pattern. This of course is not structurally accurate, because the planking thickness actually changes depending on the angle with which the planks meet the transom. But I will leave that for the next post, as I am already up to 21 pictures.

I feel reassured by all the posts indicating people having trouble with their models' transoms/sterns...

I am looking ahead to planking and thinking about how to hold a freshly glued plank against the frames. Just in case I go ahead and turn these bulwarks into frames, I was envisioning some clamps along the lines of what Ed Tosti makes in his Naiad Frigate series. What follows is what I have ended up with, which will probably be modified further once I actually reach the point of planking. Not being able to consistently find brass screws of the size I wanted, nor being at all able to find knurled nuts, I went online and found this supplier of brass screws with round heads, and associated washers and knurled nuts. I pictured being able to use these with two pieces of wood to make an effective clamp for the 3/64” planking. The round heads of the screws were ground down so that they were flat-sided. These were then sunk into pieces of 3/16” thickness basswood drilled for the shaft of the screw, but also countersunk with a flat-sided hole that the head of the screw would sit within and not be able to rotate. I used a 3/16” thick piece of boxwood for the other wood piece, and created a notch along one edge that was just shy of 3/64” deep. This piece is retained by a washer and knurled nut. I made a variety of different shapes of basswood pieces. They typically measure 7/8” by ½”. I also made a variety of shapes and sizes for the boxwood clamps. The key feature is to make sure that notch in the boxwood piece is not too deep, as it has to be able to press the 3/64” thickness planking strips against the frames and keep them abutted against the next plank over. A fun little diversion that I hope will end up being useful!

Mark, even though I have not bought a set of the Russian chisels, I would be interested in seeing his honing instructions. Can you PM me as well? Thanks.

Fairing of the bow and the midships frames has gone more smoothly (ha, get it?) than I anticipated. I would like to think that I could carry on through the stern and get through it all, but it has been pointed out to me that fairing frames 1-49 without frames 50 and 51 as well as some kind of transom filler could result in a distorted stern. So I need to do something to get those two last frames in place, or at least something that approximates them. At this time, I don’t plan on permanently installing a transom filler block. I want to try to emulate the actual structure of the boat. Well then, here is what that looks like! (An overhead view is also provided a little further on.) I am going to have to infer a lot of information from these construction plans if I really want to imitate the actual hull structure. This close-up image shows those last two frames (50 and 51) and their relation to the stern post and transom. Going straight south on the diagram from the penciled-in 50, you pass through the caprail and a clamp associated with it (is there a name for that?), then into the bulwark stanchion portion of frame 50. Then you cross the centerline planking, then there are two deck beams applied to one another that travel athwartships, with a camber that corresponds to the crown of the deck. Then it appears there is a gap, then two more transverse beams that are applied to the forward surface of the stern post. These rest upon the top member of the deadwood. I presume that they extend to the inner surfaces of frame 50. On the overhead view of the same area, the two deck beams applied to one another are shown above the centerline, and frame 50 is shown below the centerline. The articulation of the deck beams with frame 50 at the edge of the deck shows that the deck beams are notched to accommodate frame 50 as it comes up to deck level and becomes a bulwark stanchion, depicted by the small shaded rectangle. The location of frame 51 is along the forward edge of the round cutout for the rudder post. There is another deck beam just aft of frame 51. In this image we have the keel with deadwood and sternpost, and all frames up to number 49. So the next issue is how to fit frame 50 in place. We currently have this support block under the sternpost that is getting in the way. There is also a sacrificial piece of wood just aft of frame 49, similar to the other pieces that sit between the frames further forward, but thinner. Here is what we are up against in trying to put frame 50 in place. I am going to have to thicken the sacrificial piece so it is the same thickness as the others. So I glued pieces of 1/16” basswood sheet to it. The support block for the sternpost is currently not getting in the way of frame 50. In order to sit up against the sternpost, I had to carve out a ramp-like portion from the frame and test-fit it. Not there yet. This is how low the sternpost and deadwood should sit once I have carved enough wood out from frame 50. Next to the bulky support piece, I have a smaller piece of wood that will replace it with a lower profile. Something like this. Again, if I have cut a deep enough notch in frame 50, the deadwood and sternpost will end up like this. We are clearly not there yet, as the deadwood is sitting well higher than it should. The 1/8” chisel under the microscope was just the thing for carving out this portion of wood. This frame was built up with 3 layers of 1/16” boxwood, and the glue lines were a very nice guideline to making sure I was carving a level ramp. After much trial and error, here is where I ended up. It’s worth noting that I have no idea if the height of the frame is correct. I am totally guessing on this frame’s position, because there is no waterline on it to serve as a reference point. I used a piece of paper as a sort of feeler gauge to make sure the keel and sternpost were sitting low enough. Next post is going to be more working through the transom.

We are at the point of fairing the shape of the hull. This picture shows the sanding block I am using, which has 100 grit adhesive backed sandpaper on its face-down surface. The general approach was to sand an area such as the starboard bow frames to knock off the hard corners of the frames, then see which frames really stood proud from the rest and bring them into alignment. Then find the frames that are sitting low to their neighbors and glue in shims. The shims I used were 1/64” thickness strips of basswood, which sanded down very easily once applied. The happy end result was that the fairing of the frames in general went faster than I expected. But I still needed to work the shape of the frames into the rabbet. This had mostly been done where the rabbet is straight, but in the bow the rabbet quickly changes in configuration. I needed a way to hold the keel against a given frame and carve out the rabbet in that immediate area. And so this jig was born. I am using two photo boxes next to one another to hold a particular frame in place, then the keel is put into place next to it. This enables me to use one of my micro-chisels to sight down the curve of the frame and cut out the correct angle of the rabbet. Here is the perspective along the edge of a frame. This is station 2, about frame number 7. In this way, I worked along the curve of the stem frame by frame, now up to frame number 4. There are pin marks in the wood of the keel that indicate the rabbet line. These are rather deep and may end up being visible when things get glued up. So they will have to be filled in with filler. The rabbet has been extended to frame number 2. This particular frame falls at the level of a joint between two of the pieces of the stem. The rabbet is now continuous through the course of the stem. I learned a lot working on the rabbet on the starboard side, which made working on the port side a lot quicker and cleaner. Here are a couple of strips of wood I am using for checking the fairness. One is of actual planking thickness, 3/64”. The other is a much thinner 1/64” piece. It has been useful in checking the fairness in areas where there is a lot of twist. I don’t have a “before” picture, but this one was taken after fairing at least the port side of the bow (on the left in this image). Some of the frames demonstrate basswood shims on their surface. So as I said, I was pleased with how relatively quickly the fairing has gone so far. The last time I faired a hull was in the late 1990s since my last model took so long, and I remember thinking it was a tedious process. Speaking of which, I am often surprised by people who look at projects such as this and say, “That must be really tedious!” I always respond by saying that “tedious” has such a negative connotation, and that most of what we do, while perhaps slow, is so enjoyable that we would never call it “tedious”. Except for fairing… Anyway, stopping here. The fairing of the bow and midships is very straightforward compared to what is to come: What do I do about the transom?

As of early July, this is about where things stood. All frames have been adjusted in height to bring the waterline into alignment. As a bonus, this photo shows four trial frames I didn’t use, but kept around. They have been cut to the molded dimensions suggested by Jaager in a previous post. And they sure look fragile. Fortunately they are sturdy for their size; some are made out of Baltic birch plywood, others are made of the laminates of boxwood I put a lot of effort into creating. At this time, I find myself very tempted to go ahead and cut all the frames to their true-to-life dimensions, but I have a few things to do first before we reach the point of making that decision. So with all the frames in place, I am almost ready to begin fairing the shape of the frames. But first I need to create a bow filler block, and at the same time as doing this and starting fairing, I need to finish carving a rabbet into the keel. The rabbet so far has been carved along the straight portions of the keel, but not extended into the stem nor into the deadwood. 3/16” thickness basswood sheets were cut into triangle shapes so that the edges corresponded to the shape of the first frame along the back edge, and along the forward edge the dimension was determined by the bearding line. I did not take the stack all the way to the apex of the first frame. These were then glued up. They were attached to a base block so they could be secured in the vise grip, then a chisel was used to smooth off the steps. In this step, the filler blocks are adhered to one another to make sure their shapes matched. The space adjacent to the first frame was prepared by installing a vertical piece in the centerline to support the first frame. It is narrow enough to accommodate the two filler blocks placed adjacent to it. Some basswood sheet was also attached to the baseboard to support the filler blocks from below. Filler block is in place, and now the shape of the stem rabbet is being worked out. I used a 1/8” chisel to work out the groove. The baseboard was starting to get in the way of my efforts to cut the rabbet. So I cut away a portion of the baseboard with a coping saw so I could get into the area more easily. This baseboard is a very dynamic structure, as it turns out. Also in preparation for carving the rabbet and for fairing, I had to secure the first frame a little better so it wouldn’t move around so much. There was a gap between the first frame and the margins of its slot, so this was filled in with a thin wood strip. Like so. Then the glue and excess wood was trimmed away. I am stopping here even though I could post more. But I am liking the idea of shorter posts. Trying to limit myself to no more than 15 images per post. Next up will be finishing the rabbet, then moving on to fairing.

Just so you know, your Mon Mothma paraphrase was not lost on this reader!

Druxey, exactly right. I am now looking at how to build the stern framing on my project. All I can do is look at one piece of wood in the plans and say "build that", then put it in place, and figure out where to go from there... Meddo, looks good!

Dave, glad to have you following along. Each of those passenger schooners is quite beautiful, and worthy of modeling. I always have liked modeling contemporary vessels since it makes the research easier. Jaager, I have a question about your figures from Meade, if you happen to be looking at this again. The "Moulded at cutting down", is that a vertically oriented dimension where the frame meets the keel? I may message you this question too.

Wow, planking at this scale using clinker planking is really impressive. It's enough of a challenge at full scale. What are you using for glue? I figure you are gluing each plank along both its rabbet joint side as well as where it touches each bulkhead?

Thanks Keith, ordered and on its way! JD

Yeah Keith, I may be in the market for something a little nicer.