JacquesCousteau

I'm considering how far to go with it, especially given my very rudimentary metalworking skills (and the rather limited space and budget I have for this). Some of the simpler wire hooks seem pretty doable, at least. On the camber issue, after some searching I've seen some posts suggesting 1/4-inch of height for every 1 foot across the deck as a rule of thumb. So, for a 12.67-foot wide vessel, the camber should be just over 3 inches. What I have now represents a camber of 7 inches. If I add 1/16‐inch shims to the sides of the bulkhead tops and can sand down 1/32‐inch from the centerline, I'll have a camber of about 4 inches, which I think would be close enough without totally throwing off the hull shape. I'll have to think about it.

Thanks, glad to hear I'm not the only one in this boat (so to speak). There's such a variety across small boats. The plans didn't look like too much camber on the page, but now seem a bit excessive. At the widest point in the hull, the model has a beam of about 12 ft 8 inches (4.75 inches at scale, and not counting hull planking), and a camber of about 7 inches (7/32 inch at scale). I'm considering whether I can just add a 1/16-inch shim at the edges of the bulkheads and not throw off the sheer line too much. Thanks, definitely! There's clearly quite a bit of making do with what they had. For example, this photo shows some of the details on the shrouds, which the plans show as just attached with turnbuckles. Source: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas Instead, the first two shrouds have turnbuckles down low, followed by, in one case, a length of wire that hooks onto what looks like a thicker wire for the shroud, and in the second case, what looks like a shorter loop of wire attached to the thicker wire. The last shroud doesn't seem to have a turnbuckle, just several lengths of wire hooked and looped together. It's also notable that the running rigging appears to be white and green. Photos from earlier, like the one below from 1956, also show complex rigging arrangements. Source: https://ceph-puerto-montt.blogspot.com/2009/02/album-del-recuerdo-imagenes-de-nuestra_22.html?m=1 From what I can tell, the foremost shroud has a turnbuckle low down, a big knot or something connecting it to what looks like length of multistrand twisted wire, then a big knot connecting that to what looks like a single deadeye or something similar (a heart?) that connects to either a wire or rope shroud. The second shroud, in contrast, has what looks like a big metal hook low down, with a shroud looped on to that. Photos like these really highlight that these vessels were made and used by people with limited access to resources in remote areas. Rigging, and repairs to it, had to be made with whatever was available that could be made to work. When it comes time to rigging, I'll have to consider to what degree I want to follow this. Also worth noting, Paul, that I'm seeing internally-stropped blocks in the 1980s Vairo photos, but possibly externally stropped ones in earlier photos. If I go with internally stopped blocks, I will definitely be following your recent example in your sharpie build.

Nice start!

Thanks for the likes and kind comments! I'm continuing research on the lancha, and wanted to share an interesting site I saw several months ago, then lost the link to, and then found again today. Carlos Pedro Vairo, an Argentine maritime ethnographer, documented the lancha chilota for a 1986 article in Navegar. (Available online at: https://issuu.com/museomaritimoushuaia/docs/chiloe ) Not only is the article a useful source, but his website also includes a large number of color photos documenting the final years of the lancha. These will definitely be useful images going forward, showing a lot of details otherwise little documented. For instance, one image below shows the cramped quarters crammed in the bow (leaving most of the hull for cargo space) and the brazier that was almost always kept burning while under way to keep warm against the chill. (One wonders how many lanchas were lost to fire). Other images, like the second and third below, show details of the rigging. And still others show details of lanchas beached for loading and unloading, as in the last photo. The photos are fascinating and worth taking a look at. Site Link: https://www.carlosvairo.com/galeria-puerto-montt-lanchas-chilotas Changing gears: fairing is slow going. I think I have the sides basically ready, so I'm going to set that aside for the moment while I focus on the top. I'm planning on adding a subdeck in 1/32‐inch thick basswood before planking the sides, so it's important to get the top right before I proceed. Fairing the top has been quite tricky. Part of the challenge is that the top of the bulkheads isn't quite lined up. To check the sheer line, I placed a strip of chart tape around the corners of the bulkheads, as seen below: Doing so reveals some discrepencies--some are too high, and others are too low, like the third bulkhead in the photo below: A batten down the centerline also shows some bulkheads are a little off. So, I've been sanding a lot along the top and building up low spots. Part of the challenge is that the plans provide for quite a bit of deck camber. I followed the plans for cutting out the bulkheads, but have now realized that I think the camber is excessive. Looking at the photos by Carlos Vairo from deck level, for instance, the camber is apparent but not as much as on the bulkheads. I can reduce the camber a little with judicious sanding, but going too far would force me to also trim the stem shorter and would throw off the overall shape of the hull. Building up the outer top edges of the bulkheads to reduce the camber in that way would in turn throw off the sheer line. In any case, I don't think it's the end of the world if the camber is a little excessive, but this is a good warning of the dangers of blindly following plans.

Very nice job on a tricky repair! You mention being unhappy with it, but I think it looks much better and is work to be proud of.

Glad to see you picking this build up again! Good idea to use filler on the hull interior, I thought the planks were too uneven on the interior of my peapod build.

Very nicely done on what looks ike a surprisingly tricky kit! The natural wood color looks great.

A bit more on the build, plus more context on the history of the lancha chilota. I'm making progress on the hull fairing. One lesson that I learned from the Half Hull model was the importance of fairing well, so I've been taking my time with it, fairing a bit here and there and checking regularly with a batten. I've shimmed the second and sixth bulkhead, which seems to have mostly fixed the alignment issues I was having, and think I'm nearly there. A major challenge has been the lower portion of the bow, where the planking needed to take a sharp turn around the foremost bulkhead while also twisting sharply. I ended up sanding the bulkhead down beyond what the plans call for, because I couldn't find any other way to get a smooth curve there. A batten still doesn't quite form a smooth curve there, but a piece of curved, spiled wood (a bow plank I ended up discarding from the Half Hull) does seem to fit pretty well. Given the broad hull form, I think this model will be a bit tricky to plank well. With the hull nearly faired, I finally added the transom. I didn't have any way to really square this up, so I basically eyeballed it while holding it in place. After it mostly dried, I checked the distance between the transom and the bulkhead ahead of it on each side. The port side was about 1/3mm closer than the starboard, so I propped it to the correct shape with the extra support beam I added. Once this is dry, I can finish the hull fairing and add the stempost. Not a particularly exciting build log entry so far, I have to admit, which brings me to... The Lancha Chilota's Development: Design Characteristics In post #10, I wrote a bit about how the Lancha Chilota developed because of a combination of factors in the late nineteenth century: the growing availability of milled lumber and iron/steel tools and furnishings, the growing demand for trade, and some degree of foreign influence. All that's well and good, but it leaves out the question of how the lancha chilota itself changed over time and space. To start to answer this question, José A. Garnham's website says, on the basis on information from locals, that the lancha did change over time, if only subtly, in hull form and rig. These differences were subtle enough that some informants stated that there was no variation, but I feel that photos do demonstrate some changes. (Source: https://lanchaschilotas.com/diferencias-entre-la-lancha-chilota-antigua-y-la-calbucana/ ) Early lanchas, according to Garnham's informants, were rigged with a relatively short gaff and long boom well overhanging the stern. Their bowsprits were angled upward following the curve of the sheer, and their prows were relatively angled projecting forward. Over time, though, he writes, lanchas changed over to a new design called the Calbucana, as it first developed in the port of Calbuco. The lancha calbucana used a longer gaff that was more sharply angled upward and a shorter boom. The bowsprit was more horizontal, and the prow was more vertical. These changes made the calbucana a more weatherly craft than earlier lanchas. The higher-aspect-ratio gaff sail was more efficient to windward, while the deeper bow and lower bowsprit helped the vessel point upwind. Based on photos, the earlier type was practically superseded by the calbucana--although I have to note that I personally can only distinguish the difference in mainsail shape and don't really see the difference in the prow or bowsprit in the photos. Below: Early-style lanchas with their sails hung to dry at Angelmó, Puerto Montt, in the 1920s. The short gaff and long boom are noticeable. The same source link also includes other photos of 1920s lanchas that show similar rigs. Source: http://ceph-puerto-montt.blogspot.com/2009/02/album-del-recuerdo-imagenes-de-nuestra_22.html Below: A lancha calbucana in 1964. The changes in the mainsail's shape are apparent, if the purported differences in the prow and bowsprit are less so. Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-124898.html All of which is to say, the lancha chilota developed over time into a more weatherly, efficient vessel. As with most working vessels, describing them as "traditional" can paper over a rich history of changes over time. Beyond that, lanchas were highly variable in a number of respects. While some had nearly vertical sides, others had more dish-like hull forms. The depth/prominence of the keel also varied, as did the degree of sheer, the sharpness of the bow, and the breadth of the transom. Some degree of variation in form can be seen in the photos below. It's unclear to me whether these differences in hull form reflected regional differences, differences between builders' techniques, different design purposes, or a combination of these factors. Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-86076.html Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-86073.html Moreover, while nearly all lanchas had flat transom sterns, at least some had overhanging and/or rounded sterns. In this respect, these vessels resembled the larger two-masted schooners (also usually referred to as lanchas) that operated in the region and which I'll be writing a bit about in a future post. Below: a large single-masted lancha in 1950 with a notably rounded stern, quite distinct from typical lanchas. Source: http://ceph-puerto-montt.blogspot.com/2009/02/album-del-recuerdo-imagenes-de-nuestra_22.html Related to design, I've been trying to work out the location for the wale, and have concluded that there were a wide range of possibilities. Some vessels seem to have had a wale or rubbing strip at about the level of the deck, just under the scuppers at the bottom of the bulwark, like the vessel on the right in the photo below, or a bit lower (as given in the plans). Others, like the lancha on the left in the photo below, don't seem to have had visually distinct wales at all. Source: https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/629/w3-article-613545.html Still others, like this vessel here, seem to have had a thick wale at deck level with a bulwark of equal thickness above, and a thin wale (or a rubbing strip?) below. Source: https://www.memoriasdelsigloxx.cl/601/w3-article-86081.html So, I think I have a lot of flexibility in plotting out the wales. More broadly, all of these variations in hull design, and the fact that there's very little we know about the "why" behind them, suggests why local history is important in part to preserve local traditions of knowledge that are threatened by the homogenizing effects of development. At the same time, the lancha chilota itself owes its existence to a similar process by which it replaced the dalca.

Good luck on the repair! If nothing else, it will be good practice. I know I've seen a few build logs where people had to replace planks after accidentally wearing through them on the final sanding, so I know it can be done, but it certainly looks challenging.

Very nice job painting the hull. The minimalist approach really highlights the fine lines, and the green is a nice touch.

Nice job! I definitely had to deepen the bow rabbet on mine. Getting the curves right at the bow and stern is a challenge, but now you'll have a better idea of what to expect for future builds.

Welcome! I agree that it would be helpful to hear more about your specific interests. Basswood is very commonly used in kits and in scratchbuilding, as it's cheap, readily available, and easy to work with. There are a lot of techniques for smooth finishes, and you can find plenty of discussions about that topic if you search for them. Build logs are also useful resources. Finally, you mention waterproofing, but you don't have to worry about that unless you're making a remote control model. Best of luck!

I've been doing some fairing, something that takes a good bit of patient work and doesn't really produce interesting photos in the middle of the process (e.g., "here bulkhead 3 has been sanded by about 1/128 of an inch, I will check fairness with a batten a dozen times and continue sanding"). So far it's coming along well and is a good bit faster than the multiple months I spent fairing the Half-Hull, although it does look like bulkhead 6 and the lower half of bulkhead 2 will need to be slightly shimmed. While working on that, I turned my attention to something I should have figured out a while ago. As I mentioned above, the plan provides for a combined backbone/keel/stem piece, which I split into separate parts. The plans didn't show a visible sternpost, instead showing the planks simply running to the trailing edge of the hull (with the sternpost presumably inside covered on the sides by the planking. This seemed weird to me, so I looked at photos of the Quenita (the vessel the plans are based on). It was hard to tell what was going on at the stern, as the area was covered in a thick layer of tar or caulk or something. Source: https://lanchaschilotas.com/dscn7156/ In any case, I thought it looked like the planks might indeed run to the edge of the stern. I figured it might be an oddity of the type, so I decided against making a visible stempost and figured I would come back to the question later. As I'm getting closer to planking, I took a deeper look at other examples. Although there aren't many close-ups of this area, I found a few that do indeed show a visible sternpost. The Voladora, a yacht lancha that was built beginning in 2008, does show a sternpost from the sides. It's rabbeted at an angle, such that it's relatively wide where it joins the keel, but tapers (on the exterior) to where it meets the transom. Source: https://lavoladorachiloe.blogspot.com/2008_06_27_archive.html?m=0 The model lancha held by the Museo Regional de Ancud, which I linked to in an earlier post, shows something similar. Checking elsewhere on this site, I noticed that this is basically how the Syren Medway Longboat handles its sternpost, as well. So, before I add the transom (which I've unglued the plank from in the meantime), I'll need to add a sternpost to the aft end of the backbone. I don't think it should be too tricky to add.

Looks great!

I think your friend will be very happy!