Der Alte Rentner

I'm still leaning toward an unpainted Conny, but when I see how good yours looks, I start having second thoughts. She's gorgeous!

Zone 3 complete. 5 to go. First four, right side up. Last 4, work side up. Still struggling with the lighting. Note to self: Self, bring camera and tripod to shipyard. The camera picks up details the eyeballs don't. The symmetry is slightly off again. Oh well.. Not so obvious in this view.

Thanks for sharing. You just cinched the decision to build a display case for me!

It would be nice if somehow the proportional dividers had a similar locking mechanism. For what it's worth, the $25 Amazon offering did lock nicely. I do see the value of using the proportional dividers for the remaining 27 strakes I have to plank, and may yet risk using the pliers to torque it/them(?) into submission. Thanks Gregg By the way, I had breakfast at the Little Chef in McHenry this morning. Know it?

I'm only guessing here, but if I were a gambling man, I'd wager you built your own work bench. I've never seen a vise installed at the end of an arc like that. Cool!

Having strolled down memory lane (or relived the nightmare?) just now to review my adventures/misadventures in stern transom frame installation, I think I need to point out that the gap at the bottom of the outer frame piece is a smidge larger than the 1/16" that Bob suggests you'll have there. In Chapter 2.2.2, refer to photo P2.2.2-1. For comparison, I checked my own photo archive and saw that my filler piece was pretty close to that thickness. Also note in his photo the relatively smooth transitions between the outer frame, counter, transom and bulkhead R. You may be doing some fine tuning in this region. I bring it up because this will rear it's ugly little head when you start planking that area. Also take a look at the early part of chapter 6. P6.1.1-7 eg. I guess it doesn't matter when you do it, but you will be doing some tweaking. Having said all that, the planks themselves do hide quite a few imperfections.

After extensive research, I ended up with MicroMark (last image below) at well over $100. The cheaper ones available elsewhere seemed clunky or flimsy. Until just now, I completely forgot that I even tried this pair from Amazon first. They are useless for close work given the thickness of the points - especially on the small end of the tool. I suggest you pass on this one, unless you want to try machining the points to something less fat. These are cheap, but I was turned off by the fact they're plastic. Who knows, maybe a $10 investment may prove worthwhile. This is where I ended up. I think it was a clever stroke of marketing to show the dividers with the points looking straight. Notice the curved points on the replacement kit photo at the bottom of the ad. It took a little getting used to this, but they work. A caveat! I did not find these very useful for making tick marks on the bulkheads (5 marks per zone). If you press hard enough to get marks on the bulkhead, you're likely to nudge the dividers out of position. I do find them easier to use than my old drafting set of dividers to check spacing between marks I already made when marking out the zones. I didn't want to risk really torquing down that knob, but perhaps that's the way to use them to set the tick marks within a zone. Good luck

The proportional dividers are not perfect. You can't really tighten up the nut enough to keep the tool rigidly locked. I often accidentally move the tips merely by putting the tool down. I haven't wanted to use a pair of pliers on that locking nut for fear of stripping a thread. Also, you will need to do some experimenting to find the true index number to use to get the proportion you need. To get a 5 to 1 proportion, I needed to line the tool up to the number 6 on the index. Still, it's a lot better than any of the sketchy ones available at that mass online retailer.

I would guess that you're in the minority with that mindset. Several build logs have run into issues with the Stern Transom - mine included. But I love your optimism! P.S. Love that you're using Lego blocks...

glad you got that tenon into the bowsprit end. My guess is, you didn't make the mis-step in the Practicum.

Not at all, I've done the same thing with other build logs. I was hoping to be able to quote Mustafa when I did the same thing at his build log, but couldn't find the post. (I'm sure Jon will chime in with the particulars, however. I believe he and I were having an exchange of thoughts in Mustafa's build log). The gist of it was this, that's what these build logs and this website is for (IMHO). As to your earlier comment on the Hunt WTF moment. I can't find this either, but I posted pretty much the exact same comment about that reference to the 1/8" addition to the transom frames. Deja vous all over again.. I am finding a use for the proportional dividers after all. With every new strake, I double check the math on that spreadsheet. It's an easy tool to use to mark the distance between tick mark on the bulkhead and the last strake. I put the pointy ends on a metric ruler to get the measurement and divide that measurement by the number of remaining strakes in the zone. Turns out, there are quite a few on the fly changes. One other tool I use a LOT is a 3/8" chisel. I keep a very sharp edge on it and use it to trim the newly added strake. It really saves a lot of sanding time. You've got lots of fun stuff to look forward to. 😁

Tell me about it. I probably spend more time researching, thinking and prepping than actually working on Conny. Take your sweet time and enjoy the hobby. If you're getting stressed out, go swimming! The digital vernier caliper is a must have. I did by the proportional dividers but have found I don't really use them. But I'm a firm believer in, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. But I also have more cents than sense. 😉

My first jog 4 zones done. 12 to go. crud, I just noted the lack of symmetry! Gotta fix that with the next strake..

There's a spar deck port there, and if memory serves, these ports are all 9/16" wide. For a spar deck opening, I too doubt that double decimal precision is necessary here. But then again, I'm someone who built a spreadsheet with plank width dimensions down to 1/100 of a mm. 😉

Being unfamiliar with the kit, I must ask, are those winch parts included with Lady Isabella? or did you build the winch from scratch?

Seeing as how I'm at that phase of my build, planking over the filler blocks, I can assure you that no matter how well you think you faired the blocks, and bulkheads A and R, you will be shaving and shaping with every plank that covers those areas. Ditto for the bulkheads themselves. Don't sweat in too much now. Getting close will save time later. If you are going to test fit planks now, prepare them as if you were going to affix them. Good luck. And again, I'm impressed with what you're doing with a small set of hand tools. Since I redid one set of filler blocks three times, I'm glad to have had a band saw and spindle drum sander. For what it's worth, once you get past the filler blocks, there won't be much need for fancy power tools.

Amen to that! (Yesterday could have been that motorcycle day. Almost got it down from the jack stand, where I keep it for the winter. What a difference a day makes! 72 yesterday, 22 this morning)

Hey, I'm getting the hang of this planking thing! It's time consuming getting everything set up before gluing a plank segment, but done right, the seams are really tight and there's very little trimming required afterwards. Nuff said.. (well, except for figuring out how the new phone camera works. I swear these photos looked a log lighter on the phone. Oh well.)

This quote ended up several pages from where you made the comment, so it may seem out of context given where you are in the build log now, but, I will adopt this as my motto going forward. (I was reviewing your work on hull planking today. I said it then, but will repeat it now, Excellent work!)

Your build log was my second stop this afternoon. I was considering doing as you did, start planking wale to keel for a few zones, then switching to keel up and meeting in the middle. You noted that Bob Hunt did the planking from wale to keel, but in the Practicum he applied his tick marks first - and that was done with a top to middle, bottom to middle methodology. Just having completed zone 1 on both sides, I'm already veering off course with the ever so meticulously applied and mathematically calculated tick marks (well, at least at the extreme ends). I am pouring over build logs to find the best way to deal with these tick marks - especially at the stem. Measure six or seven times, cut once... To the point about this taking a while? It doesn't help when one breaks a plank (or two or three) in a zone. Yeech! (methodology modified to hopefully prevent this going forward) 😉

I can't believe how long it's taking per strake on the remaining planking. Yesterday I was at the shop for 6 hours of uninterrupted work, and I only got two strakes on the port side done. With the one I did a few days earlier, I have 77 more to go. At 3 hours per strake, I've got 231 hours to go before the hull is finished. I had hoped to get into a groove, but found that there was more prep work involved before adding a strake, and more finishing work required after a strake was in. The prep work was mostly tweaking the bulkheads, which I thought I had faired so well (evidently NOT), and making adjustments to my math to keep the strake line clean - no more dips or fat spots. In retrospect, Bob Hunt's slight shortcut of using 1/8" planks for the central sections of the hull would have saved me some time. But, in for a penny, in for a pound. I'm losing a bit of time shaving a fraction of a mm off of each plank there. But the milling machine makes that fairly easy. Also, I found it easier to work with a revised spreadsheet. Since each zone has slightly different widths at the bow and stern, I didn't find the one I started with (above) that useful. See below for the work in progress. I've got a page for every zone - port and starboard. Strake 1 on port side: Strakes 2 and 3: I don't think I'll be back until I've completed all of the planking - assuming I alternate zones port to starboard, or after I complete the port side, assuming I don't alternate. See you in late March or early April?

Your instincts are spot on. Look at post 13 of my build log for a technique that worked well for me, I'm embarrassed to admit I couldn't figure out how to supply you a link. Post 13 is about half way down on the first page of my build log here.

Aha! That explains everything... Lesson learned. No more working on Conny on Manhattan Club nights. Impressive that you're accomplishing so much with a minimal set of tools. Keep up the good work.

It's a pleasure following along with your build. Excellent workmanship as usual.