Wintergreen

Thanks for the "likes" and to Carl and John.
 
Yes, "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again..." planking is a skill which I'm only in the beginning of acquiring. Of course I could have selected a softer wood than oak for a start, like birch. But I wanted the durability of oak since the item will be on public display in our church. 
Note to self - "don't be hasty" as Merry puts it in Lord of the Rings. Planking cant be rushed. Well, well, it can only be better next time.
The over sized planks will also take a lot of sanding and then it will look much better.
 
now what? ... humm, where did I put those notes...

Progress,
The stern is coming along nicely. It's pretty close to the stage from version 1. I've started cutting the sternpost and keel. I also cut the rabbit into the sternpost as detailed in the pictures. This was done using a Pfiel 3mm V-chisel. You can see the small cuts I made working the rabbit down to it's final dimension. I have not as of yet cut the rabbit in the keel itself, that will be done once I have all the pieces cut out and glue together.
 
Another word of note for those of us living in the U.S. Upon my return to this project I was pleased to find that ANCRE has redone their website, It is much friendlier as they now have shipping options for the U.S. listed directly in the order process. So, we don't have to email them and wait weeks to hear back. Also, You may or may not know the Ancre publishes a 4 volume set pertaining to the build of the 74 gun ship. This is kinda THEEE authority on French shipbuilding.As with most Ancre products it has been a little difficult to get here in the States. I think I've seen volume 2 priced between $150 and $300 on the used book market. Well, good news!!!!!! Because the dollar is strong against the Euro at the moment and with the new an improved website. I jumped at the opportunity to purchase Vol. 2 of the 74-gun ship series directly from Ancre. It is priced at 103 Euros or about $120 US, Shipping was another 5 Euros. I received my copy this morning 11 days after ordering it. I'm so jazzed right now because I've been wanting this book for 3 years now and beating myself up over the cost of buying it used. Now I have a new copy hot off the press. I will be adding the rest of the volumes shortly to round out the collection.

Thanks for the "likes" and to Carl and John.
 
Yes, "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again..." planking is a skill which I'm only in the beginning of acquiring. Of course I could have selected a softer wood than oak for a start, like birch. But I wanted the durability of oak since the item will be on public display in our church. 
Note to self - "don't be hasty" as Merry puts it in Lord of the Rings. Planking cant be rushed. Well, well, it can only be better next time.
The over sized planks will also take a lot of sanding and then it will look much better.
 
now what? ... humm, where did I put those notes...

Thanks for the "likes" and to Carl and John.
 
Yes, "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again..." planking is a skill which I'm only in the beginning of acquiring. Of course I could have selected a softer wood than oak for a start, like birch. But I wanted the durability of oak since the item will be on public display in our church. 
Note to self - "don't be hasty" as Merry puts it in Lord of the Rings. Planking cant be rushed. Well, well, it can only be better next time.
The over sized planks will also take a lot of sanding and then it will look much better.
 
now what? ... humm, where did I put those notes...

Some more progress.  The 'dunny' has now been completed along with the windlass.  I've been playing about with the windlass on and off for some time, but decided it was time to finish it off.  In the photos both pieces are in roughly their final position.  Going by the available photos, the 'dunny' seemed to have been moved from time to time, but this is the position it was in when the 'Pritt' went to the Roper River to land the missionaries, which is the period I want.  It must have been pretty inconvenient when sailing with the wind aft, as it stuck up higher than the level of the main boom.
 
John
 

 

 

 

 

So, guess this marks some kind of tollgate...fully planked.
Bring forth the elbow grease and some sparkling new 80 grit paper cuz I'm ready to go.
 

 

So, guess this marks some kind of tollgate...fully planked.
Bring forth the elbow grease and some sparkling new 80 grit paper cuz I'm ready to go.
 

 

So, guess this marks some kind of tollgate...fully planked.
Bring forth the elbow grease and some sparkling new 80 grit paper cuz I'm ready to go.
 

 

Thank you Sirs,
  now back to the front, doing some catting :-)   First mistreated some wood ...     ... rounding things up ...     ... and prepared for blackening.     And there it already hangs ...     ... depper darling, deeper ...     ... ohohoh hihihigher ...                 ... and all on top ...         I hope the next updates will get more exciting again :-)   XXXDAn

The assembly was even easier than expected ...             ... and once again had enough luck for the job :-)    
Cheers, DAniel

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 149 – Ship’s Boats 5
 
As longboat 1 was reaching completion, work progressed on #2.  In the first picture the port side is being planked.
 

 
The starboard side will be left unplanked, in frame.  At this size I am not able to layout the planking strakes or even use a planking gauge as described in earlier posts and in the posts on the POB model.  Instead, I install a full-width plank then trim its edges by eye so the planking lines will be fair and the last plank will just fit below the wale.  The next picture shows the first step in that trimming of an installed plank.
 

 
A paring chisel is being used to taper the plank.  This is followed by final fairing of the plank with a barette file as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Both these pictures show the half frames installed on the deadwood on the opposite side.  All the frames on that side will be left exposed.  The last picture shows the last plank below the wale being glued to the frames on the port side.
 

 
The boat is now ready for removal from the plug for final internal work.  In the next picture that has been done and the keelson is being glued to the frame floors.
 

 
In the next picture one of the bilge ceiling members is being glued to the frames.
 

 
The next picture shows the panel of grating below the stern seats and the supporting clamp for the seats on the near side. 
 

 
This will be the view of the framing and internals of this boat when it is mounted on the skid beams.  The open pear framing has been given an initial cleanup but more work is needed to remove glue remnants and polish up the woodwork.  Still to be added are seats and the mast step.  At this stage the port side of the boat was ready for painting.
 
The next picture shows both longboats positioned on the skid beams.
 

 
Only some minor work remains to be done on these before they can be tied down.  In the meantime work has been progressing on the first of the two cutters.
 
Ed

Seems tolerably acceptable.

You shouldn't exaggerate ...

Thank you, everyone for the comments and likes.  I am running out of ways to express thanks.
 
Tom, I use a tripod and the 10 second timer on the camera.  This allows me to pose the picture, focus the camera and click the shutter, then return to work, stopping movement when the beeps accelerate before the shutter releases.  The tripod can be an annoyance since it is constantly present - and I have knocked it over once - at the cost of a new lens.  To support the books and the blog, I take between 150 and 300 photos per month.  I have taken 120 so far this month.   I also use them to critique the work and look for problems that the eye doesn't always see.  It is my constant companion - that and its battery charger.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 148 – Ship’s Boats 4
 
The last picture in Part 147 showed the top plank being glued on to longboat 1 with the channel wale inserted to provide a space for its later installation.  In the first picture the wale has been removed.
 

 
The frames may now be cut down to the top of the side and the boat removed from the plug.  The next picture shows the keelson being glued to the tops of the frame floors.
 

 
The longboats were pretty heavily constructed.  They were working boats that carried supplies or cargo and sometimes even an anchor. Ceiling stringers at the turn of the bilge can be seen in this picture as well as clamps to support the seats.  In the next picture a clamp at the wale height is being glued in after installation of the seats. 
 

 
I tried not to fuss too much with this interior work because the boats will be fixed to the skid beams inverted roughly in the position shown in the next picture.
 

 
The 25’ cutters were secured just outside of the longboats. I expect to tie down spare spars and lower studding sail booms between the longboats.  In this picture the outer planking of longboat 1 has been given a coat of white shellac as a sealer and that has been sanded smooth.  There will be a second shellac seal coat and sanding before the final white gloss acrylic finish.  The channel wales will be the same blue as the cabin roof.
 
All the pin rails visible in this picture have been fitted with their pins.  The blue masking tape was applied to stop the dropping of belaying pins into the hold.  In the next picture both the boat and the two wales have been painted and are ready for final assembly.
 

 
The last picture shows the boat placed on the skid beams.
 

 
Rudder hinges are still required.  Boats were also required to have the ship’s name lettered on the transom and bow.  This may be more than I can manage, but we’ll see.
 
Before mounting the boats I need to check for rigging clearance between the outer boats and the pin rail.  I believe all the lines that belay in the way of the boats go through shroud fairleads so there should be no problem, but it is worth a check.  It may be best to avoid securing these boats until rigging has been belayed below the boats.
 
Ed

I've spent most of the week finishing the deck planking on the second m0del and trying to catch up on it's machinery.  I was able to assemble the flywheel pair for the first.
 
Unfortunately, I had to cut off the bottom of the flywheels to fit in the waterline model. 
 
Fixture to hold wheel in place while the lower support is glued in place.

 
 
Wheel glued to support.  I used wood glue on the spokes and epoxy on the rim.

 
Lining up the two wheels.

 
Completed wheels in place.

 

 

A minor update, model wise.  A biggie for me.      The stern is more or less complete.  It still needs the carvings and the taffrail needs the finials but those are in-work and may be that way for some time as I move on to other things.   I carve while waiting for glue to dry, etc.
 
I was playing with the camera and some settings... here's the inboard side of the stern unplanked and then planked in silver maple.  I'm using the maple where things would have been white-washed.  The planked version also shows part of the taffrail installed.
 

 
From the outboard side with part taffrail installed.
 

 
This is the two other pieces of the taffrail on the scroll saw using the ScrollSander to clean off the laser char and finesse the fit.  The final finessing was using a file and sanding sticks.
 

 
And with the full taffrail installed.  It needs a bit of cleanup and some wipe-on poly, but I'll that when get the carvings ready.  The quarter galleries need to be built also before finishing.  It's a  bit off (about 1mm on the port side) but I'll live with it.  
 

 
All in all, I'm pretty chuffed about this as it was a big learning curve.  I wanted the joinery perfect.. not quite there yet but to my eye, it looks good.  Next up is the rudder while I sort out the quarter galleries.  These have a bit of unusual shape in that they curve out past the stern and then back to the hull, like a half circle only not...  Hard to explain but I'm researching and sorting it out.
 
 

I have had the pleasure of holding and examining this little jewel of a model today and it is even more impressive in person. It is surprisingly small, light and translucent. It's quite perfect! I believe Druxey is building it on spec so perhaps some lucky MSW member will end up with it.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 147 – Ship’s Boats 3
 
In the last part the frames were installed on the port side of the plug.  The first picture shows the starboard side framing in progress.
 

 
 
The frame strips were left to soak in water overnight, making them very flexible.  They were then brushed with glue where they would mate with the opposite frame and the keel and then pushed under the keel.  Each frame was then pinned down at both ends and sometimes in other places as shown in the picture.
 
The next picture shows the topside plank on the starboard side being installed against the nailed guide strip.
 

 
I intend to leave this side unplanked to show the framing, so only the wale below the top plank will be installed on this side.  On the other (port) side, the nailed guide strip and this top plank were also installed.  The next picture shows the keel rabbet being pared out on the port side to prepare for the garboard strake.
 

 
The rabbet at the deadwood and on the stem were pared out first with a V-gouge as shown in the picture.  These areas were then cleaned up and the remainder of the keel rabbet formed using the barette file shown in the next picture.
 

 
The garboard strake was then installed as shown below.
 

 
Back on the starboard side the channel wale was installed just below the top plank while glue was drying on the port side planking.
 

 
I mentioned earlier that all the work shown above was done on longboat two, the second to be made.  At the same time, work was proceeding on the first boat.  The next picture shows that boat fully planked below the channel wale on both sides.  The wale has been temporarily inserted so the top plank can be glued on.
 

 
As on the ship’s hull, boats will be painted, and the channel wales shown in a contrasting color, so they will be glued in after painting of both the hull and the wale to ensure a clean line.  In the next part I will pick up on work to finish longboat 1.
 
Ed
 

This will be the last update for a few days: the frames have now all been bent in. I'll be back in a week or so. Thank you all for following and liking this log.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 146 – Ship’s Boats 2
 
In the last part I had just begun bending frames over the longboat plug for the first of the two longboats, so I will continue from that point, but picking up with longboat 2 from that same point.  Longboat 1 is proceeding merrily along its way and I will catch up with that work later.  In the first picture all the square frames on the port side have been soaked in water, bent over the plug and clamped down with the pin clamps.
 

 
I found that soaking the .03” strips in water overnight was more than sufficient to make them flexible enough for this work.  They were just left soaking until needed.  Although pinned roughly in position these will be more accurately spaced at both the keel and the gunwale in later steps.  This is the same plug used on Longboat 1, as evidenced by the pinholes.
 
In the next picture the inside stem shape is being fitted to the bow of the plug.
 

 
This was a case of matching up and sanding until a good fit was obtained.  You may recall that the plug is shaped to the inside of the frames.  In the next picture the outer curve of the stem has been cut after fitting the inner edge and the stem is being glued to the keel.
 

 
This assembly was then glued to the frames as shown in the next picture.
 

 
As this was clamped down with pins through drilled holes, the frames were spaced at the keel by eye.  The upper ends are still doing their own thing.  In the next picture a deadwood is being glued to the keel under the aft end of the plug.
 

 
The next step was to bring the upper ends of the frames into line.  This was done by nailing a strip over them at the gunwale as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The lower edge of this strip (upper in the photo) corresponds to the top of the side.  This strip put enough pressure on the frames allow them to be aligned and spaced at the top.  Once this was done the uppermost hull plank could be glued to the frames.  This is shown in the last picture.
 

 
I used holly to plank the side.  The planks are about 1” thick and 4 or five inches wide.  The two longboats are carvel planked and will be painted.  Note that none of the starboard frames have been installed at this stage.  These will be slipped between the plug and the keel and glued to their partners along the frame floors.  Thus each frame will extend from the top of the side, over the keel and to the turn of the bilge on the opposite side.  This construction will be clearer in the next part.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 145 – Ship’s Boats 1
 
Well, it is time to take the plunge on Young America’s complement of boats.  I expect this to be a humbling experience in the presence of Druxey’s posts on his beautiful hospital barge and Michael Mott’s extraordinary boat work.  However, I see no way out.
 
There will be four boats, two 28’ (~4 ½”) longboats and two 25’ (~4 1/8”) cutters.  The longboats are carvel built, as is one of the cutters.  The other cutter is clinkered.  Fortunately for me, three of the four will be stowed upside down on the skid beams, and the fourth, one of the cutters – work quality permitting - will be stowed on the quarter davits.  I decided to start with one of the longboats.
 
In the first picture, drawings of the framing plan and sheer elevation have been pasted to a block of soft pine. 
 

 
I expect to use the plug made from this block on both longboats.  The first step was to shape bow and stern profiles as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Then the sides by the same method.
 

 
Lines were then scribed for the three station patterns that I used and for the top of the sides.  The marked plug and the three pattern pieces are shown in the next picture.
 

 
Pattern 2 is at the stern.  I did not make a pattern for the line between midship and the stern.  The patterns were taken at the inside of the frames.  The plug was then given a fair shape using the three patterns as guides.  In the next picture the midship shape is being checked after some initial planning and rasping.
 

 
In the next picture the stern profile pattern has been given a coat of pencil lead so high points can be located.  The pencil in the next picture is pointing to a high spot identified by the rubbed-off pencil lead.
 

 
Work continued on the plug using rasps, files and sandpaper until the patterned shape and symmetric fair lines were obtained.
 
The last picture shows the finished plug with the first of the two part frames curved and pinned in place.
 

 
The plug was first given two coats of sanding sealer and then waxed. It was then marked with the frame lines on both sides to serve as rough guides for frame placement.  Frames will eventually be spaced by eye when the keel and bulwark planks are added.  The frames are held in position by the planking clamps I used on the decks of the POB model.  The frames at this stage are about 2” (~.03”) square.  Their molded breadth will be downsized a bit as they are faired during the planking process.  The frame pieces were cut from straight-grained pieces of Swiss pear.  For the bending of these I experimented with soaking the strips in isopropanol overnight, then bending and clamping down as shown.  This worked satisfactorily, but perhaps more flexibility and less breakage would occur with boiling.  Framing will continue in the next part.
 
 
Ed
 

Since Michael nicked my idea for a steam chest, I decided to come up with something new...(just kidding Michael, I keep you in the highest respect, seen your abilities to construct small engines...fantastic).
 
The apple tree I harvested, several years back now, warped during seasoning. It has bugged me all along. Today I put together a "slightly" larger steam chest to facilitate steaming of these billets/timbers.
 
It is ca 95x45 cm (3' by 1'6"). 
After an hour in the Turkish sauna I clamped the pieces to some sturdy timber for drying out. I will let them be there for 24 hrs.
 

 

 
Oh, another milestone passed this week as well...Gods wonder in a small child, my first of the "grand" type ;-)
 

Another update.
Not that I've been busy as a bee, but things are nevertheless progressing. (it can also be the fact that our pastor asked about it the other day...)
 
The first strakes I put in, without scarfs. Really tedious and hard to get proper alignment and nice joints to stem and stern. So, to ease my burden I changed the habit and cut the planks in two. The joint is a simple box joint, slightly angled. I will not put a covering piece on the inside, instead there are pins drilled through the topmost plank , into the underlying plank. This is also done at stem and stern.
The aftermost plank goes on first and the pin at the rear helps keeping the plank in place longitudinally. While the furthermost plank gets the pin in place prior to gluing to aid in proper fitting in the box joint.
 
A really sharp carpenters knife is useful to work away the waste. Apart from that, ordinary files are used and a little no 12 Stanley low angle block plane to work on the plank height (or width, whatever you want to call it).
 
Also notable in the pictures are my very untidy workplace. As can be seen in the pictures is the crude hull shape. Lots of dents and gaps and so. But since the plank thickness is 4 mm there is no real danger for me to be able to sand through the sides. As for the gaps, I will try wood filler of the sort that cabinet makers use.
 
Here is the sequence. 
Plank bent to shape... 

 
...and fitted to stem.

 
The open joint where the rear plank is glued and pinned in place.

 
at another angle and the tool.

 
Held and glued in place

 
And finally the clamps gone, Alas this is of course the other side. Clamps at the rear are holding next two planks in place so we are really picking up pace here...

 
About the sign on the wall in the first picture...did I mention that I bought a blue ocean sailing yacht, late august? Didn't I? But I DID! A long long dream come true and I am so so happy!
 
 
 

Hi Hakan
 
Congratulations on your first Grandchild. Wonderful news!
 
Your boat's hull is also looking great, so far.
 
Well done on both counts!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick