Venti

Thank you Jacques, I will check it out as well!

Interesting. Unfortunately, the libraries near me don't have it 😭 I wouldn't mind buying it but I'm afraid that the small picture wouldn't be of any real use...

Yeah! I've seen a few really nice modifications people have done in their logs! I was hoping to find plans for the smack but I haven't been able to find any yet. Would have been a huge help in the Pram and I assume will be for this as well.

Just finished the Pram which was a ton of fun but I am much more excited to start this one! This style of planking seems much more enjoyable to me and is what I've seen done the most on bigger ships. I think I'm going to order some black synthetic rope and some sheave blocks as a little upgrade from what the kit has. For a few days I'll probably be reading instructions and build logs again to be better prepared but I might not be able to help myself and get started 😅

Thank you all! I think I've decided on going with Syren as well. Mostly because I would also like to get some better sheave blocks and ropesofscale doesn't have those haha That makes perfect sense! Good! You're so close and it looks amazing!

Whelp, a big day today. Just finished everything up!! Started with getting the back stays. With the fore stay done I used a rubberband to hold the mast back and to help it from moving. I then used a knot that can be easily tightened and holds under tension (knot 1472 is closest I could find quickly. Instead of both ends doing the same knot, just doing one with the loose end of the back stay). Once this is done, it's incredibly simple to tighten both sides equally. This also made it easy to lash the loop under tension. After this was done, it was just a couple more things. Hoisting the sail and main sheet. This was pretty simple but tying them off on the small cleats was annoying. Not sure if it is because the quality of the cordage or bad technique haha. I was following Trevor's masterclass on belaying to a cleat here: I ended up just doing a loose coil of the sheet on the floorboards. I just imagine it is used often and wouldn't be in a fancy pinwheel. Not sure how it would actually be stored while in use. All in all, I had a ton of fun building this and have learned so much. I just couldn't stop working on it in all of my free time 🤣 I've got the smack instructions out and have started reading them and I've already ready many a build log on it. Look forward to starting a new log and thanks everyone for the comments and likes on this one!

I did not think about the material making that much of a difference, but that makes sense. Maybe I'll look at getting new cordage for the smack as it seems a good bit more complicated and I could use any help I can get. I'll look around, but if anyone has suggestions on which supplier has good quality stuff, let me know! I will look through the many MSW sponsors. Ah yes, this one looks much nicer than stacked overhand knots! Excellent explanation, thank you! I suppose it's like calling the mast the "wood" 🤣

Trevor, thanks again for some of your knowledge! I feel I will never stop learning new things with this new hobby haha. Got a little more done last night! I thought I was going to finish her up, but I got a headache and stopped for the night. I finally got the backstay plates on the mast (I was waiting to get a better idea of the angle they would be at before gluing them on). I would love to find a way to glue the extremely short nails in while still letting the plates swing freely. I got the Halyard and Downhaul attached. The travel done. Almost forgot to put the block on there before... but remembered last minute. And I got the forestay done... Saw lots of issues people were having with this part so it took me a very long time to make sure I got it right. I'm not really sure the intended way to make a loop for this is. (I should probably go read Trevor's log again because it likely says 😆) but I just went with the one loop knot I'm familiar with... Number 290 in Ashley's book of knots. I'm also having trouble with the other knots needed... the instructions call for half hitches (#48 in the book) and I end up doing two (#54). It doesn't seem to tighten up very well which isn't an issue for this since I'm gluing them in place anyways but would love some insight on what some better knots for this would be. With this, is there a good knot for stopping the rope from going through holes? Like for the Downhaul line or Traveler? I usually just do 1 or 2 overhand knots (#46)

Good morning, all! I have just recently started making lots of sawdust and I have started planning a long list of ships to do haha. I love the look of the Winchelsea and would love to build it, but I just wanted to ask about where she sits from a difficulty standpoint. I have only really read through one build log (Trussben's) and he made it look easy, but I suspect that speaks more to his skill than the build being easy 🤣 I am almost done building the Pram, then I plan to build the Lobster Smack and then plan to get the Vanguard Sherbourne. Not sure if that's enough experience to dive into building a Winnie or if I should do something a little bigger (been looking at either Vanguard HM Brig Harpy, HM Brig Sloop Flirt, or HMS Speedy). Thanks!

I think mostly, I'm not sure what the entire process of attaching the sail to spars is called. If there is one haha. Oh duh... If I would just look at any of the pictures I would have seen that haha... Well that's good then, I think it will come out ok! I'm pretty unhappy about how dirty my sail is getting 😭I did use plastic wrap to separate it from my cutting mat as I've read people saying that will transfer colors. but once I cut everything out, it was downhill... I should have left the plastic wrap on.

Got a little done on the sail. Got the gaff and boom connected. Got some of the thread wrapped around stuff. Is this all called rigging? The step says lashing but maybe that's just rigging the top of the sail to the gaff? Idk. I used entirely too much CA to hold the knots where I wanted them. I think I have the boom too far out (? Away from the mast) so the sail won't be parallel to the mast. A little more to go and she'll be done.

Got the boom, gaff and mast done today! Boom and gaff went well, I think I beveled the ends too much so they're pretty small but should be fine. I also sanded the pad on the mast for the boom so it looks significantly better. I haven't glued it on yet because I'm not sure where it needs to be exactly. I got the mast 99% done. All that's left is to drill some holes and then I can start putting it all together... Easier said than done I think... I got too excited and didn't quite follow the instructions for the mast. Once the 8" x 12" and 3" x 12" sheets were dry I traced the parts needed to be cut and cut them all out. I then just glued them on one at a time until finished. I think the instructions way is harder to make mistakes but thankfully I had no issues.

Well the part I was dreading the most is done... I got the mast shaped. I decided to use the dowel and not the square pieces. I'm not sure why they couldn't have given us a smaller dowel sine we had to trim it down so much... I threw it in my drill and started trimming it with some 150 sandpaper. This was so painfully slow... So I got the bright idea to use the Dremel with a drum sander while spinning it in the drill 🤣🤣 I wish I thought of this first because it took off wood soooo fast. I had to be extremely careful though because it was so aggressive. I wish the instructions had more detailed drawings so I could at least have a diameter to aim for.... I keep regretting not spending the $30 for the drawings someone had linked in their log... Won't make that mistake again. I ended up making my own cleats for the mast because the laser cut ones were so small and looked ridiculous. I used some of the brass plate I got to make a pad for the boom but I'm not 100% happy with it. It ended up with small dents and scratches 😭 I might still use it though.

Lots of progress today! Steps 39, 40 and 48 done Step 39: Pintles Got some 0.010" thick brass from Hobby Lobby and cut a 2mm strip out. Cut two 15mm lengths of that and drilled some holes in the end and got started. You can see below the difference in length of these and the ones they supply... Went pretty well after I had those made. Just had to make sure the lower pin was slightly longer than the top one and then make sure to put them the in the right spot to line up with the Gudgeons. When gluing, I had to make sure it stuck to the right spot as well as keeping the pins parallel to the rudder edge. Next I did a test fit to make sure it worked and then I drilled a hole through the rudder to bolt the pintles on. Surprisingly I hit the hole on the other side very easily despite the angle I needed to drill at as you can see below. With the supplied nails, I cut them about .5mm longer than needed and tried my hand at riveting them since this seemed like an ideal piece for that. And it worked well!! It isn't neatly rounded but it definitely mushroomed out to hold it in! Success! 40: Display Stand Pretty straight forward. Biggest thing to note is the hole in the base is slightly too big for the supplied dowels. It's not so much bigger that it looks bad from one side so I used that as the top. Got it glued and square and then just filled in the gaps on the bottom with glue haha. I'm not super worried as I don't think this will be it's permanent display stand. 48: Oarlocks Another super short step but satisfying since it makes the boat look much different. I had to drill the PE parts out slightly for the nails but this was easy after glued to the pads. Pinned them with the nails and glued the oarlocks in. Another very satisfying day! I'm super excited to start the the sail and rigging but not really looking forward to shaping the mast... I will try using a plane on the square parts they give but it seems most other kits give dowels so I might try my hand with the dowel first... We'll see.

Well probably a very short session tonight... The pintle straps supplied seem to be WAY too short... I might have used the wrong piece for the bottom rudder gudgeon but even so the longest one only has about 1/16" engagement with the rudder... I think I'll get some thin brass sheet and cut my own out.