JacquesCousteau

Thanks! I like what you did with the dried grass for the wa'a kaulua, once this cold snap ends I might go looking around for some. I've added a pair of extra supports on the rancho. I might add two more pairs, for accuracy, although the interior of the rancho really won't be visible so I might not. As can be seen, I also managed to stain the rancho framework, so it won't stand out so much. Finally, I cut out a bit from the frames at the peak, as I'll be installing a larger beam running down the centerline. Way back in September, I posted about having bought a material called "excelsior"--a sort of bird-nest looking material, apparently also called "wood wool"--to try to make the thatching. I'm not sure if it will work. It's pretty wavy, although also flexible enough that gluing it down should hold it straighter. But, I don't really want to use a material where I'll need to work one fiber at a time, at the speed the glue dries. So I decided to try gluing a few strands together into a bundle, to be glued all at once on to the rancho. In the photos below, it's not glued in place yet, and it still would need to be trimmed to the right size. I'm not sure how much I like this idea, though--the material is still more twisted than I would really like. It's also very fragile, more so than dried grass would be, I think. I've seen a few examples of other techniques, especially from rail modelers making thatched roofs, but I'm still weighing my options. If anyone has any suggestions about 1:32-scale thatching, or if they think the bundles of excelsior are the way to go, I'm all ears.

Further progress on the Juana y José. First, I needed to make the carenotes or escuas. These are boards along the bottom running parallel to the keel that make it easier to haul the boat onto the beach. It took a bit of care to shape them to follow the hull's curve. With them in place, the half-hull sits nicely upright. Unfortunately, my plans to paint the bottom ran into a snag. I accidentally bought the wrong type of tamiya masking tape, and the type I bought can't follow the curve. So I have a new order of that coming in over the week. Next, the mast step. This I shaped from the 3/16x1/16‐inch cherry strip. I lightly beveled the edges with sandpaper, drilled out a hole in the center, and used the tip of a file to square the hole. I tested a few positions. I should note that, while the plans have the mast stepped ahead of the thwart, I haven't seen this on many actual vessels. The area between the thwarts will also be pretty busy with the windlass. So I decided to step the mast aft of the thwart. If I were building the full vessel this could look very unbalanced, but on a half-hull I don't think it will look noticeably wrong. The angle is only an approximation, and I'm still not sure whether I'll even be installing a mast--it would add visual interest, but would make the model a lot larger and harder to transport. Finally, after gluing the mast step, I made the thwart supports, also from the cherry. I tried to bevel the edges in the middle of the supports, although it was tricky to get this even, given their small size. As can be seen, one had to be connected to the mast step rather than the keelson. Next up: the windlass and painting the bottom. I also still need to figure out how to deal with the exposed edges of the cross-section. It's a bit late to go with natural wood there on the hull. I'm debating between a sort of dull red to highlight the cross-sectional nature of the build, or a black or gray to avoid calling attention to it.

Although I'm still working on my scratch-builds, I got started on this recently. I received the NRG Half-Hull Planking Kit as a Christmas gift. I'm looking forward to building it and learning a lot about planking a curved hull in the process. I'm also glad that the result should be relatively easy to store, display, and transport, as I don't have a ton of room. Given work, I will probably be building this pretty slowly. As can be seen, the kit is pretty straightforward in terms of components. Overall it looks like a nice kit, and the instructions are quite thorough, which I appreciate. I'm still waiting on getting a foam building board, so nothing is glued yet, but I've sanded off the laser char and removed the basswood parts of the model's backbone (keel, stem, etc). In general, the parts fit together well with minimal sanding, although I'll have to do a little more shaping where the keel rises slightly near the stem. The keelson slots fit the frames well. However, there is a slight issue with the fore keelson, and I thought I'd ask for advice before proceeding. The slots in the fore keelson don't line up with the markings for the frames on the plans. I see two main ways I could deal with this. One would be to trim the end of the fore keelson so it aligns better with the frame markings--more or less like below, although there the fore keelson is propped up above the other parts. That said, if I do this I'll be throwing off the fit of the stemson and of the fore keelson against the stem and keel, which will require a good bit of shaping to correct. The other option would be to simply leave the fore keelson as it is, and cut new frame slots into it. The frame slots will need to be extended anyway. And while this might leave some frames with less sturdy of a connection, I don't know if that would be a serious problem given that everything will be attached to the building board. Comments and suggestions are welcome! I'm looking forward to learning a lot with this kit.

Looking forward to following along!

I decided that the simplest way to build the rancho framework would be to make the A-frames at the fore and aft end, then run horizontal supports between them, and then add some vertical supports in the middle. A number of photos show that the fore and A-frames were often at different angles due to hull widening amidships, but they also suggest that the sides and top of the rancho were straight lines rather than being built to closely follow the curved rail. By making the fore and aft A-frames first and connecting them with horizontal supports, I can properly define the Rancho's shape in a much simpler way than if I tried to make several A-frames that all lined up. I decided to make the A-frames from 1/8-inch thick basswood. To join them, I used a lap joint so that the joint would be fairly strong, but I didn't cut the laps deep enough to make a proper half-lap joint, as photos do show that the parts overlapped. I made the aft frame first, which forms a neat right angle, and then the fore frame, which is wider. I had to redo the fore frame as I initially made it the same height as the aft frame, which, due to the hull's curve, left the aft of the rancho too high--photos usually show the rancho as either even (which requires the fore frame to be a bit higher) or as having the fore frame noticeably higher. I used my new razor saw and miter box to cut the ends of the frames--I love it! I used a paper template to make sure the frames were even. (You can't see in the photo, but there are some dots on the bottom edge of the card to align the frame ends). Next, the notches for the horizontal support beams. Based on what I could see in photos, the beams look pretty thin so I decided to model them with 1/32‐inch square slats. The fore frame is longer than the aft frame, so I decided to space the notches by proportion. After cutting, I finished them with a file, which left them a bit more rounded than I would have liked. But I don't think it will be very noticeable once the beams are in. Adding the beams was pretty straightforward, although getting the frames vertical was a little tricky. I still need to add the remaining vertical supports, which should strengthen the structure, but this gives an idea of the size and shape of the rancho (not glued in place yet). Once I get the vertical supports on, I'll have to color the framework--in hindsight I should have stained it before gluing, but maybe I can just paint it--and then add the thatching.

After some thought, I've decided to continue with the build for now, and try to make the mast removable. So I've begun work on the next step, the thatched Rancho. But first, a note on the rigging. I was recently messaging about small craft in the Caribbean with Roman--I'm not sure how to tag people in posts, but there's the thread: He was kind enough to share some images from the Álbum de construcción naval del Marqués de la Victoria, a Spanish publication from the eighteenth century showing a number of details of shipbuilding techniques and related images. One image, in particular, caught my eye: a Barco Longo, a type of small craft. As can be seen, the Barco Longo is a fairly small vessel, similar in many ways to the Bateau de Lanveoc featured in an Ancre publication. Unlike the French Bateau, though, the Barco Longo doesn't quite have a square rig--you'll notice that one side of the yard is rather longer than the other--but rather a sort of lugsail. I was intrigued by this because it suggests one possibility for how the rig of Lake Chapala's Canoas developed. Like the Barco Longo, the Canoa often had what looked like a rather squared-off lugsail, with no braces on the yards, and controlled mainly by sheets. I wouldn't be surprised if the Spanish built similar vessels to the Barco Longo, and/or used similar rigs on small boats, in their American colonies. And it wouldn't take very much to simplify the above type of rig into something like a Canoa de Rancho's. All you'd really have to do, besides simplifying the stays, is to get rid of the bowlines, which it would make sense to do away with anyway--you'd mainly want those for sailing into the wind, and as I've discussed in earlier posts, the Canoa's hull design made it practically impossible to sail into the wind. In any case, it's hardly conclusive, but I think it does suggest one possible route by which the Canoa developed its distinctive rig. Something to think about. Anyway, I got to work planning the rancho. Interestingly, Ramón Rubín includes a discussion in La canoa perdida (p. 220-221) about how it was possible to tell where a canoa came from by the material used for its rancho. According to him, carrizo (common reed) was typically used to make the thatched ranchos of vessels from around La Palma on Chapala's marshy southeastern shore. Caña de agua (a different type of reed, or possibly bamboo--it's not clear to me from descriptions how this differs from carrizo) was more often used on boats from the marshes near the mouth of the Lerma river on the eastern shore. In contrast, boats from Tizapán (south-central shore) all the way west along the coast up to San Juan Cosalá (northwest shore) typically used wooden slats to make a rather more solid rancho, given the lack of abundant reeds. Finally, boats from Ocotlán, Jamay, San Pedro Itzicán, and other areas to the northeast often used mats of woven tule reed to make their rancho. Although I can't really tell the differences between the types of reeds in the photographs, I will be making a thatched reed rancho because I think it looks more interesting than the wooden slat ranchos--although I'll happily go with the latter option if the thatching doesn't work out. With that decided, I needed to figure out the framework for the rancho. A few photos provide useful details. First, this photo clearly shows the rancho's "skeleton": Source: https://www.museocjv.com/chapalapostaless.html Pretty straightforward. As for the details of how they made the A-frames, a few photos concur in showing that these pieces typically overlapped rather than coming together in, say, a mitered joint. They also suggest that the horizontal supports (barely visible in a couple photos) were rather smaller in diameter than the A-frames. Source: https://digitalcollections.smu.edu/digital/collection/mex/id/2308/rec/26 (See especially the leftmost vessel. Also, there is a highly unusual round rancho, which I have not seen in any other photos.) Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A140957 Source: http://chapala.mex.tl/frameset.php?url=/99531_Capitulo-X-Turismo-y-promotores.html Finally, I was also intrigued by this example, in which they appear to have raised the entire rancho up on poles, leaving a gap. I haven't seen this on any other vessel, so I decided not to follow this example: Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A140883 Next, the actual construction of the rancho.

That looks incredible, congratulations on finishing!

Next, I began adding the deck planks, as well as some floor planking. The razor saw I received for Christmas is extremely useful for trimming all ends even. I'm probably going a little overboard on the mahogany, but I like the color contrast with the blue interior, and I'm learning as much as I can about building with hardwoods. On the flooring, I ultimately added one more plank on each side to fully cover the widest point in the hull. The floor planking was a little trickier than I anticipated, as the planks have to both curve and twist to follow the interior of the hull. I was able to get it done with some clamping. As for the deck, I used a card template to work out the shape of the final plank that runs up to the coaming. In hindsight, it would have made more sense to make these planks first, and then shape the coaming to fit them, rather than vice versa, but oh well, I'll keep it in mind next time. In any case, here's the build so far, with a quarter for scale.

After a bit of a break, I've been able to get back to the Canoa de Rancho and have finished the foredeck. As seen in my earlier post, I used card to make a template for the overall shape, although I went with different plank widths than I had on the card. I ultimately decided to go with the longer foredeck, as both long and short ones were feasible options based on photos, but a longer deck would provide a better platform for casting nets. I cut out and stained the planks, and had to redo a few to make them fit better. One challenge with this deck is that it sweeps upward following the curve of the bow. So, not only would I need to clamp carefully to hold planks down, but I needed to add support pieces to prop up the ends and keep them in line. Not every plank needed a support, though, as some ended on a crossbeam or the top of a frame. Bobby pins were extremely useful for clamping the deck planks. As can be seen, the aft edge of the deck didn't quite line up. I'm not sure why, as it did in test fittings and there are no gaps. It wasn't an issue, though, as I was able to sand it flat--after carefully protecting the rail with tape--and restain the parts of the crossbeam that got sanded. With that, the foredeck is finished. The boat looks a bit unbalanced at the moment, but adding the thatched rancho over the stem will balance out the foredeck. That said, I'm having a bit of a dilemma. Although I just got to Chicago after being away for a while, I'll be moving again this summer. I was able to transport the Canoa de Rancho and the Dory with me by wrapping them in bubble wrap and placing them in the dory kit box, but a fully-rigged model would be much harder to pack. While I built the dory's mast and rigging to be easily removed, doing so on the Canoa would be harder. More pressingly, adding the rancho will make the Canoa too large to pack back into the dory kit box, although I suppose I could look for a more suitable box. So I'll have to think about whether it makes sense for me to continue with this build right now, or if I should set it aside to do the NRG Half-Hull and some unrigged models.

As mentioned above, I'm building the cross section in line with the plans, which imaginatively add a mast, deck, and windlass to the vessel. At this point, I ran into an issue. The plans do not include scuppers, although these definitely were present on similar decked vessels. I decided to add them, which proved a much more challenging task than anticipated. Overall, it would have been much easier to add these earlier by cutting out notches in the lower bulwark plank before fitting it. Lesson learned! The first challenge was alignment. The scuppers need to open from the topside of the deck out to the hull. So, I had to get started on the deck. The deck is heavily cambered at the sides, so the first step was adding a triangular support to prop it to the correct angle. This proved a little difficult as the plan drawing that shows this piece is to a different scale than other drawings, but I was able to work out an approximation. (Also, I glued on the cap rails). The edge of the deck (the waterways?) needed to follow the curve of the hull and fit around the frames. I started with a card template. I then cut them out of mahogony, which I'll be using for the deck. It was slow going cutting out the frame notches. There are still more gaps than I would like, but with every build, I'm slightly improving. I also took the time to curve the coaming that runs around the deck opening. With the deck height set, I was able to work out the scupper locations. Unfortunately, there was very little space between the gunwales and the deck, partly a result of building this in 1/32 but also perhaps a sign that I either installed the riser a little high or made the gunwale too wide. In any case, I used my pin vise to drill out the scuppers from the inside out, to make sure they were aligned with the deck. As can be seen, this worked poorly, and the holes were pretty uneven when viewed from the outside. There was also some pushout. So, I began expanding and evening out the scuppers, using a combination of further drilling (this time outside-in) and thin files. The results look much better than the original holes, but are too wide to really be in scale. However, my files wouldn't fit in anything thinner. They also aren't quite evenly spaced. Making even, scale scuppers would really have to be done before adding the bulwark planks, as I mentioned above. In any case, I was then able to add the rub rails. I was originally going to shape some basswood, but I found a tiny half-round piece in the scrap section of a hobby shop and decided to use that instead. Next steps to finish the build: adding the boards that run parallel to the keel on the bottom, painting the bottom red, making the deck and floor planking, building the mast step, and adding the furnishings (windlass and thole pins).

Congratulations, looks great!

Nice job! It looks great, and seems like it was a fun build.

Congratulations, your sharpie looks amazing!

In my limited experience, yes, especially if you're interested in trying plank-on-frame construction. They're also excellent if you have limited space.

Thanks! I think it would work a lot better if it was made of basswood instead of paper. It also would have been worthwhile to make it smaller so that clamps could be placed more easily.

Brief update. I've been able to progress a bit on the cross-section. With the hull planked, the next step was to remove the scaffolding: I then trimmed and sanded the ends of the planks. Next I added the gunwales: At this point, I decided to experiment a bit with other woods for some of the internal parts--thwarts, risers, decking, etc. I was able to find a 1/16-inch thick cherry strip at a local hobby shop, and began to make the cap rails. This was my first time working with cherry, and while it's much harder to cut than basswood, it sands and holds an edge very nicely. I can see why people like working with it, and I definitely want to find more for the future! Unfortunately, the cherry was too thick for most of the other parts, so it was back to the hobby shop. While they didn't have any 1/32‐inch cherry, they did have sheets of mahogany in that size. I've read that mahogony's grain is out of scale and it's hard to work with for modeling, but I thought I'd give it a try as it is quite a nice color. I picked out a sheet with relatively subdued grain and began working on the thwarts and risers. Unfortunately, I forgot to take many photos during the next steps. Before installing the new parts, I painted the hull interior (except the gunwales) a light blue color, which seems relatively common on fishing boats. I modified the external colors a great deal more, deciding for a white hull with red bottom (the latter as yet unpainted), and green bulwarks, leaving the cap rail in natural cherry. The rub rail, which will be installed later, may be painted or left natural. I then began to fit parts together. First, the risers and the fore thwart--the aft thwart would have blocked the clamps on the riser, and was bent into place afterward. I then attached the aft thwart. The cap rails will be glued in place tomorrow after touching up some of the green paint. The ragged edge on the bottom of the green stripe will be covered when I add the rub rail. As can be seen, one thing I'll need to figure out is what to do with the exposed edges. I'd prefer to leave them natural, but paint has of course gotten on them. I'm wondering if I can sand it off.

Thanks! I've been considering trying a ship in a bottle at some point, but I'm a bit intimidated by figuring out a collapsible mast assembly, not to mention the blocks and rigging at that scale. I don't know how you do it! Although your detailed build logs will be really helpful if I go that route.

Thanks, that's very interesting! Most of my information came from photos, so there was quite a bit that was unclear to me. If I had known from the start that it wasn't going to be an ornament, I definitely would have liked to do the mast chair. Overall I found the scale (approximately 1:150) very tricky to work with, even with all the simplifications. Hats off to you for being able to do such fine work at such scales!

No further work on the Canoa at the moment, but I thought I'd do a quick post on the Christmas gifts, both of which I've finished in time. The lobster trap Christmas tree ornament turned out all right, and I added a stylized buoy suspended below. My parents recently took their first vacation in years and visited Nova Scotia, so I thought I would commemorate their trip: As for the Ems Punt, I greatly simplified the mast and rigging assembly and tried to make it sturdier so I could hang it on a tree as well. The mast, for instance, should actually be mounted on a sort of pivot so it can be lowered, but I did away with that in hopes of making a stronger connection. But, once I started to get the rigging on, I decided that there was no way this would work as an ornament--it's a bit too big at a little over 5 inches long, and I still think the mast would be too fragile to stick a hook on. So, it'll just be a tiny, rather simplified desk model. Which will work great as a gift, it's not like my brother has much spare space. With that, I'll stop derailing this build log and get back to the Canoa.

Looks like you're off to a great start!

Great job fixing the sheer plank!

Thanks, that's very good to know!

Although my focus has really been elsewhere these days--finishing the Cargo Canoa and working on some small models as Christmas ornaments to give as gifts, as detailed in the Canoa build log--I haven't forgotten about the Juana y José. In fact, I just finished planking the hull. This was very quick to do, but was also extremely informative and a great way to dip my toes into planking curved hulls. Although the section doesn't cover a very long portion of the boat, the hull still takes a complex curve--much simpler than a full build, of course, but still more complicated than the flat-bottomed hulls I've made up to now. After having attached the garboards and sheer planks, I used strips of tape to measure along each frame. Following the plans, I hoped to use nine strakes (besides those already on the boat). Dividing each length into nine, I found that each strake should be 3.3mm wide toward the bow, and 3.8mm wide at the widest frame (second from the stern end). This posed a bit of a challenge. Given my skills and tools, that level of precision is difficult to attain, and this is another part of the build that would have been easier in a larger scale. I decided to cut strips just under 4mm wide, and sand them to taper a bit at one end. Ultimately this worked out, although the final planks ended up slightly different sizes. The result was acceptable for me, but there's definitely room for improvement and greater precision, especially if I get a good set of dividers or digital calipers. The hull curves enough that bobby pins and clips were necessary, but I didn't have to soak planks. Instead I just moistened them on the outside. The clips became increasingly necessary to hold the planks against each other as I got into the curve of the bilge. After getting several planks on, working my way inward, I decided to leave a few strakes off the starboard side to better show off the frames. By the time I had three strakes left to add on the port side, I re-measured and realized that I was a little off. I especially should have been spiling a bit more. As it was hard to get the planks to lie flush around the curve of the bilge, I added a slightly thin strake there, and a more heavily spiled plank at the other end of the gap. Finally, I had just one plank to go. I used a bit of tape to roughly mark its shape. Cutting oversize, I then repeatedly sanded and checked for fit. After a while of this, I ended up with a plank I was happy with. As can be seen, it did require some spiling. Lesson learned for next time to spile earlier! Finally, I glued it in place and sanded the exterior and the hull a bit. There were a few minor gaps, only really visible by holding the model up to the light, so I added some watered-down glue and sanded once it partially dried. Overall, I'm happy with how the planking turned out. Now I just need to trim the planks consistently, remove the supports, and work on the interior.

I've been looking around for a good set of plans to scratch-build a Catalonian fishing boat, and I recently found that the AAMM sells Monographs for a large number of vessels, including a Catalan-type vessel: https://boutique.aamm.fr/monographies/plan-barque-catalane I wanted to ask if anyone has experience with using AAMM monographs, and what the contents are like. I'm familiar with Ancre monographs and the high level of detail that many have, and something like that--with drawings of every frame--would really be ideal for me, given that I don't have a ton of scratch-building experience. Would the AAMM monograph have the level of detail that I'm looking for, or does it provide more of a basic hull plan?

Thanks, I've been really enjoying your Hawaiian canoe build, as well, it's very intricate! I'm looking forward to making some fishing implements when I can get back to the Canoa de Rancho build. Although I'm going to have to make the nets a lot smaller--even at 1:32 scale, they would be 10-20 feet long!