CharlieRK

Deck planking completed last week. Nothing special but followed the instructions. Could have done more, but figure it's best to get the basics first. Wasn't looking forward to adding the bulwarks, but took my time and quite happy. Masking tape a blessing at the moment! Thanks for looking.

...and it certainly looks like it! I started this quite some time ago, over the inbetween years I picked up some tools and equipment at car boot sales thinking I would get back to it sometime and after finding this forum a couple of weeks ago, decided that it was time. This is the first wooden ship I've tried. I followed the instructions but it is obvious there's more to the planning than I put in at the time. The benefit of a good few years and having the advice on sites like this would have helped, but you have to start somewhere. I've been looking at the other build logs and can see that it's not just me though, particular thanks to Rach10199 for her posts, which are doing a lot to boost my confidence and overcome my initial reluctance to have a go again. So here we go. Good news that I found everything and moved it inside from the garage. After doing a review, there are some things to fix, some I think can be worked around and some I need advice on. it would have been easier to sand the bulkheads prior to assembly in preparation for planking, but this is easily overcome. I also remembering struggling to glue the deck down in one session (probably the reason for putting it aside). Patience would have had its reward as it doesn't quite conform to the top profile of the bulkheads, particularly 9 as labelled in instructions. I doubt this will be noticed when finished, but you can see it now. Careful camera angles used throughout this entry! I'm also going to add some support on the edges of the deck hatch at 9, the curve of the deck in two directions has pushed the edges perpendicular to the bulkhead into a curve. I think a bit of extra support now will save issues later. And now for my request for help. Bulkhead 9 is obviously short (of the bearding line?). I know I have significant profiling of the edge of the bulkheads to do before planking, but should I do anything else? It is correctly positioned, and is really well attached. If I had known at the time... Thanks for the warm welcome, so far so good (in that it's on the table again!) and thanks for looking. Charlie

Evening everyone, First of all, the quality of work and advice on this forum is inspirational. I picked up Mantua Albatross some time ago, made a start, doubted myself and put it on pause and before you know it you're several years down the path. Over time, I've picked up a few useful tools at car boot sales that would be useful but not really thought about picking up where I left off. The final straw is that I picked up a Billings Mayflower (801) at a nearby charity shop with the box still sealed today. After trawling the internet and finding some great posts on here, I've decided to dig out the Albatross, get some confidence and make some time. Time to clear the bench and turn on the bright lights...looking forward to it.