FlyingFish

Few extra pics of the engine and rudder controls before I cover them up...

Rudder and prop I have this reference of Orca' prop and rudder thanks to jlt13th... Three bladed left-handed prop, and a welded rudder on a shaft, where the bottom bearing is through a plate bolted to the keel and extending beyond the rear of the keel itself. It looks a bit fragile to me. The figure gives a sense of scale, and proportion. I was going to make the prop, but I don’t have a lathe or mill, and making it out of plastic would probably be hard to get right. So until I can face shelling out £20 for the right one, I have a four blade prop in place for the moment. The rudder was probably made in house like this one.. ...and fitted like this: I am a very poor metalworker, but managed to cobble one together: Rudder needs a sacrificial anode; the keel needs shortening, the keelson shaped, and things tidied up a little yet, but the proportions are getting there.

Lots of good fiddly bits there! It's looking very authentic. You look as if you are almost done - love the lager cans! Fighting chair?

Me too - an interesting project!

Thanks DCN - not sure of you've seen the accompanying thread here see post #2 where I refer to the photo of Warlock v Orca.

Looking again, I think they removed the overhang of the roof back to the cabin wall, so the pipe had to be moved.

No sign of the original exhaust here (ladder not yet moved in this pic) - they must have rebuilt the pilot house roof or blanked it off.

Well spotted hawkeye! Yes I see it now in this pic too. So the blank on the transom is a mystery.

Floors; Stringers; Sheer clamps; short beams and carlins…. If you are interested in the design detail read on, or if not, skip to the build pictures! The next step is to complete all the below-decks structures, before the side and main deck planking and superstructure. Working up from the keel, the floors below the pilot house form the bearing for the engine; and further aft the fuel tank; exhaust pipes (more of which later); rudder control and hydraulics. These details will be added where they show through open hatches in the deck, otherwise omitted. It’s likely that some bronze floor strengthened the hull as well. A stringer supports the deck beams. The beams are visible when the engine & stuffing box hatches are open. The floor height is not easy to measure, with confusing images from the film. As there is no pilot house step the engine sits entirely below decks, so there must be room enough to get the engine between the keel and the beams. The movie still shown suggests Quint and hooper have room to stand – hardly likely as it must have been a tight squeeze. The image of the rudder hatch open shows no space below the deck, the hook/keel and rudder shaft being just below the deck… hmmm. Direct measuring of stills suggests the decking is 28 -30” below the sheer line at the transom, with the coaming adding another 4”. The coaming rises forward. This gives just enough room for a very small engine below the pilot house deck. It was at this point that I realised I had made two errors by overestimating the space below decks when making the engine, compounded by over scaling the engine which has now been replaced with a smaller one. Less haste; more speed! Below decks were painted a dirty duck egg blue, darker for the deck beams. This is the rudder control as modelled. As an aside, the original ‘Warlock’ had a wet exhaust system exiting just above the transom waterline. However, ‘Orca’ was changed for filming to a dry exhaust and stack on the port side of the aft deck. Maybe because the cloud of steam/fumes at the transom would get in the way of filming, and it looks more in keeping with Quint’s character. I assume this was functional, although it may have been a prop connected to a smoke generator; who knows? The old wet exhaust has a plate screwed over it, as shown on the left. Therefore, the old gooseneck inside the transom trunking, muffler, and pipes back to the engine are not modelled. The lower trunk cabin is the least known part of the boat – the few stills that exist are confusing. There are some pencil sketches online, but these may well be best guesses at the layout. It serves as a place for Hooper to stow his various bits of kit, radio tags, scuba kit and shark lance and poison. We see Quint retrieving the machete and harpoon gun, and later lifejackets. Rather than get bogged down with this, I’ll build what is known, and the rest will be as you might expect to find in a lobster boat of this size. I’m sure if I make mistakes someone will eventually correct me. In any event if can only be glimpsed through the access hatch and the portholes. Once this is all in place, then the main outside decking and pilot house decking can go ahead. The construction of the short beams looks like this example: This requires a sheer clamp shelf, and short beams to a carlin, all planked below and above. Side decks are probably ply, or ply over planking at the transom. This will be faithfully copied. Enough of the talking, the shipyard hooter just sounded. I'm off to joint the chippies in the bar.

Yes, as I thought. The carpenters have been in and made a right old mess. Left wood all over the place then gone off for a beer. Typical chippies. Must mean a bit more planking shortly.

Seems like a fresh batch of timber is on it's way...

Suggest you start a build log DCN - we can help each other then!

Bloody good!

Thank you DCN - I appreciate your help very much - Jaws has a rich presence on the internet, with many very informed fans! Over the last few months I have collected several hundred images, many from the film, and also production shots, out-takes and pictures of the boat after the movie was filmed. There are a number of sites where people are converting real boats into a replica of Orca, and their research has been helpful. I am currently looking for shots of the interior - especially anything of the trunk cabin, and also of the stem/pulpit construction. Sometimes the shots showing the boat falling apart are helpful (if sad) as they reveal construction methods. for example...

Planning out the next steps.. spring tasks (and the start of the fly fishing season) prevent much more getting done... some guesswork here, little is shown in the film of the interior. If you know differently, I'd be pleased to be corrected.

You have been busy! Great progress - Quint would feel right at home!

That must be a very big match...!

Another build log I'm blown away by! Your skills with metalwork are just amazing Valeriy; this level of dedication to detail must take hours.

What else does a man need?

I'm very impressed with the neat lines of the planking. The turn of the bilge looks quite sharp - will you be reducing the plank width?

It's no wonder Quint blew the engine, look at the state of it. Anyway the rudder control is fitted - let's hope he doesn't break that.

Like the one that they brought the rudder control on you mean?

'I'm not talkin' about pleasure boatin' or day sailin'. I'm talkin' about workin' for a livin'. I'm talkin' about sharkin'. So the engine is ready for the installing on the boat. Quint no doubt would be pleased that we have got him a second hand somewhat beaten up power plant. It's down on the dock on a pallet...

'Hooper – full throttle!' Orca needs an engine. It will only be seen through the hatch, but it is an important part of the plot – if the engine hadn’t died, Quint would still be in one piece… However there is no shot of the engine in the movie. The only reference I can find out there for the engine suggests it was (surprisingly) a 4 cylinder petrol (gas) engine. No idea what make, so let’s go with a Volvo Penta 130 which would be about right, I think. A little research and scaling later…

Bit more sandin'... Time to clean up the transum.. and take out the frames.... Test fit only of the first floors - Adding last few ribs where frames obstructed then earlier... Most of this happened because the grass cutter broke. Must break something else tomorrow...