JacquesCousteau

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!

Thanks, this is incredibly interesting! The changes you made give the rig a much more elegant look--and what seems to be a much more accurate one.

Not to derail my own build log, but the Christmas presents are coming along. I've finished the hull and deck furnishings (windlass, hatch, deckhouse with some sort of ventilation pipe, bitts) on the Ems Punt and gave it some seasonally appropriate stripes. I also made the rudder assembly, which uses bits of a staple inserted as pins to betyer secure the tiller and to attach the rudder to the hull. The rudder (and mast) will be left off for now for ease of transport, and will be attached once back in the US. Work on the lobster trap is also proceeding. This time I'm sewing rather than gluing the net funnels. Sewing them is still a bit tricky, but works better than the glue. I now just have the final funnel to make.

Congratulations! The lobster smack turned out great, and the whole collection together looks fantastic. Looking forward to following your Albatross build, and good luck with the dissertation draft!

Very cool to see research informing your build! That said, I was under the impression that the corners of the frames were already removed to represent this detail. They're slightly angled where the garboard would meet the bottom, which forms a small space in the corners. But maybe there's a difference in what The Dory Book shows?

Wow, that looks great! You really did a fantastic job, the care put into the worksmanship is evident. It's also very interesting how different the rig looks compared with the monograph's rig--I'd love to hear a more systematic comparison, if you're up to write it. Really beautiful build, it makes me want to get the monograph myself (although it seems unlikely that I'll have the time or skills to build it for quite a while, and in any case, my main goal is a Catalonian vessel--I wish Ancre had a monograph for one of those, there are good plans available but the thought of working out the details of every piece from a plan sheet alone is daunting).

Looks like you're making great progress!

Thank you! I'm looking forward to getting back to the Canoa de Rancho either later this month or in January.