JacquesCousteau

Welcome! The Elsie looks like a great build, you should post a log!

I've been focused on the canoas, but I recently finished the frames for the Juana y José. They were pretty straightforward to make, overall. The main problem is the wood choice. Basswood, as is well known, is pretty soft and doesn't hold an edge all that well. I had some issues with the joints as a result, and with the wood chipping. I think the frames turned out ok, overall, but if I eventually do a full build of this vessel, I may try a better wood. Also, at 1:32 scale, these parts are very small, which makes even minor issues stand out more. So it may make sense to go with 1:24 scale or thereabouts in the future. That said, these should be the most complex parts to cut for this build, so I think I should be ok to continue. A quick test fitting: Next I'll need to make a jig of sorts to hold up the frames, so I can make sure I get them vertical and positioned evenly side-to-side.

Great job on the hull!

I've started work on the Cargo Canoa's rudder hinge. My interest is less about allowing the rudder to swing from side to side than allowing it to be removed for easier transport, but making a hinge seems likea good way to do that. The issue is that I don't have the tools, materials, or experience to work with metal, so I've had to be creative. Attempt number one was to drill a hole down the center of a toothpick so I could then cut off small lengths to use as gudgeons and pintles (the latter with a small length of wire cut from a paperclip glued into the hole as the pin). This proved extremely slow, in part as my smallest drill bits are rather blunt, and the toothpick simply split when I went up a size. So I decided to try using small rolls of cardstock for the pintles and gudgeons, and to use a sanded-down bit of toothpick for the pin so it would glue better to the card. The result will undoubtedly be a bit fragile, but I'm not planning on moving the rudder beyond removing it if I need to for transport. I began rolling a thin strip of card around a thinned down toothpick to make the pintle. I did the same for the gudgeons, but around a paperclip, so that they could be easily slid off later. As I discovered, this method can also be used for making scale rolls of toilet paper, if for some weird reason you really want to do that. (Although in this case I'd need to use a strip of paper 1/32‐inch wider for it to truly be to scale). The resulting pintles and gudgeons are maybe a bit thick, as I was worried about them breaking. If they look like they'll be too out-of-scale on the canoa, it won't be too hard to make thinner ones. I then attached the straps to hold the pintles and gudgeons to the hull and rudder. Finally I cut the pintles off the toothpick and did a test fitting. As can be seen, the result needs to be painted and to have the straps and pins cut to size, but it does seem like it would work. Seeing it on the rudder, it does seem a bit oversize, so I'm going to try again to make them smaller, but I can keep these for now as backup.

Thanks! When I build it, I'll definitely be revisiting your build log for inspiration, even if they're different boat types.

It's coming along well, and nice job on the part repairs. And I'm glad to hear the boby pins worked!

I've heard a lot of good things about Nuestra vela latina, and in fact ordered a copy recently (I'm hoping to eventually build a Catalonian fishing boat). Out of curiosity, does the book contain any plans or hull lines, or is it just focused on the mast/sail/rigging?

A couple of updates for today. I'm once again working on both canoas simultaneously, so I'll try to be clear which is which. First, the Canoa de Rancho. I've sanded the support tops so the rail will fit evenly, and also gave the hull a coat of sealer-varnish. It's ready for painting. But before that, Paul's comments above (and his Nordland Boat, which looks really great) inspired me to reconsider the handholds in the flooring. Previously I had used a drill bit just about the size that I wanted, with the file for touch-up. I was curious if I could get a smoother hole if I drilled with a very small bit at the start to minimize push-out, and then used the file not just for touch-up but to widen the hole to the correct size. My experiments with scrap were successful. I learned that it worked best if, after widening the hole, I removed the file, pushed any stray fibers or ragged edges on the surface into the hole, and filed a little more. This left a fairly smooth hole--not as smooth as it would be with pear, but acceptable for basswood, I think. I made sure I could consistently make a hole without a ragged edge. I also realized that I could approximate the color of the black wash on the fresh wood in the hole with a pencil, which avoids making the wood blotchy with extra black wash layers. (Sorry for how dark the photo is). Once I had practiced enough, I drilled and filed on the Canoa's floorboards. I only added the handholds to a few planks--once you removed one, you could easily remove its neighbors without needing a handhold. I think the holes add a nice touch and help break up what's otherwise a fairly monotonous floor planking. Next, the Cargo Canoa. With a stand ready, I started on the rudder. There few clear images of an actual rudder below the waterline. Source: Photo by Daniel Vega from Google Maps page of Museo Regional de Guadalajara https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A140947 Source: https://www.mexicoenfotos.com/antiguas/jalisco/chapala/cargamento-de-entre-MX14652247742300/5 I like the look of the last rudder, with the prominent support beam, and will try that for the Canoa de Rancho, but it's fairly large and I wanted something simpler for the Cargo Canoa. I decided to draw inspiration from the more curved shapes shown in the following images, including of a votive model: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A431683 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TBxiBCYFlw&pp=ygUkaGlzdG9yaWEgZGVsIG1pbGFncm8gZGUgY2hhcGFsYSAxOTU1 I tried a very curved shape at first, but didn't much like it. (I also cut it oversized at first). Instead I ended up going for a more square-ended look. As you can see, I also attached the tiller, which I made months ago out of a bit of mango wood I collected myself. To fit it onto the end of the rudder, I trimmed down the end of the rudder piece, drilled two holes in the tiller, and connected them with the exacto blade. The tiller split a little at its end, but it will glue together smoothly when I permanently attach it to the rudder. Here's how the rudder will look, approximately, although it will be a little closer to the stern--I need to file a semicircular space in the stern rail for the rudder. Next up, painting and hinges.

Looking forward to watching this build, sail-powered fishing vessels are particularly interesting to me.

(Sorry for so many posts in short succession!) As it turns out, I was able to fix the staining issue. Sanding hadn't worked well, so I tried scraping with the back of an exacto blade. This worked much better. After a few rounds of scraping, staining spots with a detail brush, and repeating the process wherever the stain still didn't take, the supports now look much more even. Not showroom-floor perfect, but good for a working boat. Now I'll need to just not get paint on them when I do the hull...

Thanks, Paul! Somehow I hadn't seen your Nordland Boat before, it turned out great and I love the coloration on the planks--the pencil lead method is very cool. (Also, good job on the planking--I have no idea why the kit was designed to be planked with so few bulkheads, that looks hard). Also, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get the fingerholes in the decking so cleanly-drilled? I'd love to do something similar on the canoa, but my test left a lot of stray fibers on the bottom of the plank.

In happier news: I've been so focused on the Canoa de Rancho that readers may be wondering what happened to the smaller Cargo Canoa I'm building alongside it. This whole time, the Cargo Canoa has been sitting at the corner of my desk. Living up to the original boat's function, it's been very useful for holding small parts and scrap. At the moment, it's carrying a shipment of frames and the keel for the Juana y José cross-section. It would probably make more sense to just use the largely empty boxes below it.... In any case, the next step for the Cargo Canoa is the rudder. What's kept me from working on it is that the rudder extends below the hull, so I need a stand to prop up the canoa during construction. For a long time, with my focus on the Canoa de Rancho, I was indecisive about the stand, but I finally decided to get a move on. After fiddling around with a few card templates that I didn't much like, I remembered that I still have a good bit of balsa from the Trajinera that I could use to make a simple stand--one that I wouldn't feel bad about getting rid of if I eventually decide to redo it with something nicer. So, I made an extremely simple stand, which I've painted with the first layer of black paint. I still want to add some pins or something to better secure the hull, but with the Cargo Canoa raised up a bit, I can finally start work on the rudder.

Thanks! This is good to keep in mind. I think I can probably live with the blotchiness overall--as you and wefalck point out, a working boat would be a little banged up. And, given that I did weather the floorboards, I can't really go for a perfect showroom look anyway--aiming for a vessel that's maybe had a couple voyages but is still relatively recently-build and isn't totally banged up might be a better look overall. I think the more serious issue is the bright strip alongside the hull on most of the supports, which does look very out of place (I'll try to add a better photo). I'm thinking I might try a little more sanding and scraping there. I'm also going to experiment on scrap with seeing how it would look to add a very light black or gray wash over the stained wood, which might help even things out a bit. Edit: here's a closer photo of the bright strip alongside the hull.

Thanks! The rest of the hull will be painted a flat black, unless my tests with producing a more mottled, tarred wood scheme go better than expected. From photos, the tarred wood look was the most common, but some do show a painted hull. Given that I haven't significantly weathered the interior all that much, I was thinking that a more evenly-painted hull would be more appropriate.

Unfortunately, I've now run into an entirely self-created problem. I decided not to make any more supports, as three seemed to be about the right number for a canoa of this size. As for coloration, it was hard to tell from photos. The supports generally seem to have been the same color as the rest of the hull, but in some they appear slightly lighter. I was curious how it would look if the supports were stained to be consistent with the crossbeams. (Painting the supports brown could work in theory but would be notably inconsistent with the rest of the build). Here's where I made a mistake. Upon staining the first support, it looked extremely blotchy, probably because of all the end grain as well as basswood's general unsuitability for staining. So, I decided to just paint the supports the same color as the hull and glued them on without staining any more of them. (None are stained in the below picture). However, I had been too hasty in judging the stain job. With a bit more time, it evened out considerably, looking much better. (In the photo below, the stained support is closest to the canera). But, now all the supports were glued to the hull. Rather than remove the supports, I decided to see if it was possible to stain them while on the hull. I applied sealer to the hull around them so that excess stain wouldn't soak into the hull. I also sanded the supports near the joint to remove any glue residue (although I had been very careful to remove excess with a damp brush as I went). Then, I carefully stained the pieces, including using a fine brush to apply stain to the nooks and crannies where it was hard to use the stain pen. Unfortunately, this didn't work very well. Unlike on the first support, the stain turned out very blotchy in general. What's worse, it didn't take near the joint. Either there was still glue residue left on the surface despite my efforts, or glue had soaked into the interior of the wood a bit. In any case, the supports look terrible. Above, the support I stained off the hull is on the right, and the two stained on the hull are to its left. Above, the view from a different angle makes it more clear how the stain didn't take near the joint with the hull. The other side is quite blotchy, as well. So, now I'm a bit stuck. As I see it, using alcohol now to remove the supports for restaining off the hull is unlikely to work well. I don't know what effect alcohol will have on the already applied stain, and I'm not sure if it would fully remove the glue residue that's keeping the stain from applying near the joint. I'd also still have to somehow deal with the blotchy staining elsewhere, which seems unrelated to the glue issues--that my first support turned out evenly-stained may have simply been a matter of luck. I could also try re-making the botchy pieces, but I'm not sure if I have enough wood in the right size. The dory kit only came with a very small piece in this thickness, and this thickness is not very available here for purchase. Finally, I could just go with my original plan and, as in the Rolling Stones song, paint it black. Any suggestions are welcome. This is really a lesson in having patience with painting/staining, and above all, in the importance of planning out my next steps ahead of time.

Wow, impressive progress in just over a week!

Next, I installed the crossbeams that run across the fore half of the hull, and carved the supports for the rail. Marking out the crossbeam locations took a bit of time. Photos like the one below suggest that the crossbeams weren't always perfectly spaced or parallel, but I wanted to get them at least close. Source: Martín Sánchez, “January 22, 2020” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbBKiYs3QU I also wanted to avoid cutting into any of the frames, which would make cutting out the slots harder. I used a mini saw blade to cut out the slots, after taping down some paper so the sawdust wouldn't get trapped in the floor planking. Although I used an exacto blade to mark the slot locations, as I'd seen this was more precise than a pencil, I didn't realize that the saw blade would widen the cut a bit, so the first crossbeams are a bit loose. Cutting the slots was also a bit tricky because, in theory, the sides should not be vertical, but rather perpendicular to the rail as it curves up. As a result, the slots didn't end up quite as neat as I would have liked. I originally left the ends of the crossbeams unstained, due partly to the issues I've had with staining end grain, but mostly because I was planning on painting the protruding ends black with the rest of the hull exterior. However, after gluing the crossbeams in place, I began to have second thoughts--the hull exterior is a big expanse to have all one color, and it might look better to have some different-colored crossbeams to add variety and visual interest. Of course, it would have been better to decide this before gluing them in place.... Also, the ends of the crossbeams ended up a little uneven due to some wood fibers being crushed in the cutting process, so if I go the stain route, I'll probably have to resand and restain. With the crossbeams in place, I turned my attention to the supports that prop up the rail in the aft half. As I mentioned when making these for the Cargo Canoa (post #41 in this thread), and as can be seen in the image below, the supports at times were carved into interesting shapes. Source: https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/islandora_74/islandora/object/fotografia%3A139636 As far as I can tell, these are the only decorations that these otherwise utilitarian vessels would have, so I wanted to make them look nice. As Ramón Rubín makes clear, owning a nice canoa would have been a point of pride for any fisherman or cargo hauler. I've also been very impressed with the beautiful shaping that people do in other builds for even simple parts like knees, and wanted to do a much better job than I did on the Cargo Canoa. Finally, I wanted to make them thicker than the 1/16‐inch-thick supports I used on the Cargo Canoa, which seemed flimsy, so I went with a bit of scrap 3/32‐thick wood leftover from the dory kit. I made a paper template that I traced onto the wood. After cutting out each piece, I lightly chamfered the edge with my exacto knife. Then I used a round and half round file to better shape the edges, smoothing and rounding them. I also used a drill bit to partially drill out a circular indentation on each side to add a bit of visual interest. Finally I cut the top to the correct angle. I've now made six of the supports. I'm very happy with how they turned out, and think they look much better than the supports on the Cargo Canoa. Before I attach the supports and paint the hull, I will be checking photos to see 1) if I should make one more support per side, and 2) if any vessels seem to have had the supports differently-colored than the hull, which, as with the crossbeams, would add visual interest to what will otherwise be a vast monochrome expanse.

Thanks, that's very kind of you to say! I think I could have been neater at some of the slots around the frames, but I'm learning more and more with each part I make.

Despite running into a minor snag, the floor planking has been completed! When painting the fore planks with a light black wash, I realized that I had a problem. Earlier I had very lightly scored part of my basswood sheet to mark the dimensions for some parts, but the scoring ended up extending beyond what I needed. I had sanded it down to the point where it didn't seem noticeable, then continued using that sheet for the floor planks. Unfortunately, adding the black wash revealed that the scoring was still present, as can be seen on the center plank in the following image. Two planks had this issue. I tried to sand it down some more and repaint, but as can be seen, this just made the problem more noticeable and made the plank extremely blotchy. So, I remade the two planks. Fortunately I was just able to trace the existing planks, which made things easier. I mentioned above that I was considering adding handhold holes at the ends of the planks, and I used the faulty planks to test this out, holding them in place and using a small bit in my pin vise. Unfortunately, this didn't work. Drilling through a plank already in place left a very jagged hole in the bottom, which I wouldn't be able to access on the planks already in place, and inserting a small circular file didn't help much. Moreover, the hole itself stands out because it's the natural wood color, and attempting to add a black wash just made the plank blotchy. In hindsight, I wish I had planned this better, as the handholds would have had to be added early on, before painting. Oh well, that's a lesson for the future. Despite that, I got the floor planks in and I'm happy with how they turned out. Next up, I need to add the remaining crossbeams.

Once again, travel kept me away from the build for a little while, but I'm back at it working on the floor planking. These have been a bit fiddly to get right, especially around the edges. I started with the aft third. Then the middle section, ignoring the sides at first. Then the middle sides, which I think turned out quite well, and the fore planking. The latter was especially tricky as every plank runs up against the sides, so I needed to cut curves as well as cutting around the frames. As can be seen, I still need to paint and attach these planks, which are just roughly fit for now. (In the last picture, I'm holding down the back because I didn't leave enough space below the bow cleats, so the ends of the two planks that bracket the central plank want to come up unless held in place). I got better at getting more consistent spacing as I went, so I'm not totally happy with how the aft flooring turned out. But, I'm going to leave it, particularly as Rubín's La canoa perdida mentions that the floor planks were left loose and not attached. (In the novel, one sign that the protagonist's disappeared canoa is in fact stolen, and hasn't simply drifted out and sunk due to shoddy mooring, is that there are no floor planks adrift or washed ashore--being loose, they would have floated away if the boat sank). I suspect the planks wouldn't have been perfectly spaced in real life. (Or at least it's very convenient for me to hope so!) Finally, I am considering drilling a small hole in the ends of each plank to provide a handhold so they could be easily removed. In this, I am inspired by the Le Rochefort build log by Tobias, which recently added this detail to its own planking (and which is a fantastic build, I have to say).

Nice job!

Looks great!

Cool! It seems like a good way to fill the space without having to cut supports to just the right size (or risk them pushing the bulkheads out of alignment).

Thanks, that's really interesting! I've never seen that before but it makes sense.

Looks good! Out of curiosity, why are there wood shavings in the hull?