No Idea

The detail on those beams 😎 Just such inspiring work 👍

This looks absolutely great and don't worry about the time it takes. My last hull took me 9 months of spare time to complete the planking and it was worth the time. Yours will be too - looking forward to your updates.

Hi Dave - I really think that this comes down to budget. I have seen sanders similar to the Proxxon sander for less than £100. I have no doubt that in the right thoughtful hands it can do the same as the most expensive sander that money can buy. The difference for me has been ease of use, accuracy and repetition. Would I have know this 5 years ago probably not. This comes with experience and actually when I consider how much it costs to import Jim's tools over a 5 year period they are not that expensive for what you get. Also you would never need to replace it either.

I’ve had both of these machines. The Proxxon is a very capable sander and can do every job that we builders need it to do. I had mine for 5 years and then gave it to a friend who is still using it. I now have Jim’s sander which is simply much better in every way. It’s better built and more powerful too. The table does tilt and has the advantage of pin locked increments which you can go to time and time again for exacting angles. For me it was just an evolution in my building and I love Jim’s sander and wouldn’t change it now. However when I first started building the Proxxon was more than adequate and still is an excellent sander. I guess we grow as builders and change our gear accordingly.

😂Cheers bitao I’ll give it my best shot my friend 👍👍

Thanks very much Eric 😃 Now for a change of plan yet again. After having built up the starboard side I couldn't quite see how hawse frame 1 blended into hawse frame 2. I wasn't sure whether I had built them correctly so I decided to roughly fair these parts first. This was a bit harder than I thought that it would be due to the parts being quite flimsy added with a lot of material that needed removing. I removed 90% of the material from the hawse timbers off of the ship which meant that I had to try and imagine the finished shape. It's one of those jobs that just seem to make sense as you remove material. I'm glad to say that all looks ok. I've not taken it back to its final finish I'll do that when the outside of the entire hull is faired. Mind you what a mess I made of the square holes on the hawse timbers. They are all different sizes and I could have done better. I now need to replicate these odd holes on the other side Now that I know that I'm on the right track the port side will be next Cheers Mark

Thanks for the really nice comments 😀 I've now fitted the last two hawse timbers on the starboard side. Timber number 5 is a sliver of a timber (try saying that without putting on a pirate accent 😆). The spacers had to be tapered and I had to pretty much guess their location by eye but I think it looks ok. I've also taken out the brass rod and replaced it with treenails and its all glued together. When the time comes I've a lot of excess wood to remove before I even start shaping it but at least its straight. The tricky bit starts next weekend and that's trying to replicate it on the port side Cheers Mark

Hi Kevin - I photocopy the plans and then carefully cut out each piece with some very sharp scissors and glue them to the wood. It saves an awful lot of drawing.

Hi all Sorry for the lack of updates I've been busy doing other things so the build is taking a bit of a back seat just for the moment. I have to admit I really have had problems getting my head around the drawings for the hawse timbers. I've been looking at Adrian Sorolla's book and it seemed to me that his pictures really didn't quite match the plans by Gerard. So I've been going around in circles trying to get a working understanding. My conclusion is that Adrian very cleverly simplified the design slightly for ease of build. The first hawse timber is very slender and requires a very accurate taper of 16.9 degrees to set the rest of the timbers up. I think that Adrian left this first timber fairly flat and then sanded the shape both inside and out once built. So what with me being one for a bit of self punishment I decided to follow the plans to the letter. This obviously meant that I had to cut this taper into hawse timber one. At first I tried sanding this taper but failed as the timber becomes so thin that the end kept on breaking off. So I knew that it had to be machined and I eventually solved this problem. I purchased a cheap angle meter for £12 which has proven invaluable for this job. I also made a very simple jig for the mill vice which to my surprise actually worked with a bit of double sided tape. Anyway I now have 3 of the 5 hawse timbers lined up on the starboard side. I have held the timbers temporarily together with some 1mm brass rod which I will swap out for wood when it comes to gluing the whole assembly together. I want to glue it together but not to the hull so that I can sand it into shape off of the ship. Some pictures below which probably explain it all better than my words. I'm glad that I'm moving forward again and I'm much better now at interpreting drawings now - well until the next problem! Mark

That is beautiful work bitao 👍👍

Hi Kevin - you say that you are worried about being a ship builder. Mate you are building a ship so you are a ship builder 👍. keep going bud as it looks great and stop beating yourself up! This is a really good build.

Hi Mate I too use Panavise but prefer this vice https://www.amazon.co.uk/PANAVISE-8103-Standard-Head-Silver/dp/B0002BC1XQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?adgrpid=55927007751&dchild=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuoL54rvt8wIVFeDtCh0EswsCEAAYASAAEgJZ-_D_BwE&hvadid=259082504851&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1006500&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=7524682549615227343&hvtargid=kwd-296013458331&hydadcr=7433_1749334&keywords=panavise&qid=1635436527&sr=8-12 They make all different vice jaws too. I use the brass jaws for wood and it would just fit into your existing base.

I have to echo what’s already been said. I’m glad your back on this as I think your doing a great job. The ships really looking fantastic. Just remember - if it was easy everyone would be doing it. They’re not - but you are 😉

That is such nice work and in scale too........Your patience and skill is to be admired as thats a lot of treenails and it looks simply awesome!

Thanks druxey I had a feeling that would be the answer. I'll just have to take my time and try and get them right Thanks for the help Dziadeczek much appreciated.

Just to add to this thread I have now replaced my Bosch Gas 20 with a Festool CTM Midi extractor. There's not that much difference in overall size and the CTM fits nicely under my bench. The CTM is a class M extractor which is a step up from the Bosch which was L class. It seems very well made but most importantly for me it is a lot quieter. It also has a very long hose so I can put it further away too and I have found that low power on this machine is about the same as full power on my old machine. However it is a very expensive machine so only time will tell whether it was worth it or not. Also considering the price it came with no tools for cleaning up at all. This was an additional cost even though it was a small one I think the manufacturers could supply them with the machine. If you really want to go for it you can buy a bluetooth switch that turns it on and off at the tool end to save walking back to the machine. I also think that this should be supplied as standard. I'm just waiting for an adaptor to join the Festool hose to my tools now but having run it up the lower noise will be bliss in my workshop as I had my old machine on for most of the time.

Hi everyone - I need some help from you please as I'm a bit confused. As you know interpreting drawings is not my strongest point and I would appreciate your opinions on the attached drawing. I'm not sure about the filler pieces between the vertical hawse timbers. I think that the drawing says that as the filler pieces go down towards the keel they taper slightly so that they are thinner at the bottom than the top. It looks like its only a slight taper or is it an optical illusion?? I've reached the point where I'm confusing myself so all advice/comments will be very welcome. If they do taper I can take the measurements from the plan but I just wanted to check before I start. Sorry about the lack of updates but I bought a new dust extractor and I'm still waiting for an adaptor to make it fit my machines. It should be here next week and there's no way I'm using them with any kind of extraction. Thanks all - Mark

Hi stuglo I also thought about doing this but the M70 is too small for this vice. In the end I sold my M70 and bought a Sherline. Maybe it’s time to learn to cook 😂

Not a detailed update this weekend as I've still not had much time on my hands. I've made the infill piece between the first frame and the apron which completes the whole keelson assembly. I don't know how everyone else gets the shapes for pieces like this but I've found masking tape to be a winner. I just put it in place and then use a pencil to get the outside shape. Then simply cut it and sand it to the shape until it fits. I'm moving onto the hawse timbers next but I need to get my head around how they all fit together first. I'll take the plans to work so I can be ready for next weekend and hopefully make some serious sawdust Mark

Beautiful work and what a great idea for twisting planks - I'm stealing that one.

bitao that looks amazing 👍 Do you have any pictures of your frame making as they are just so clean and precise! Also you should manufacture your hull jig - I'd buy one from you.

Hi John that’s interesting as I am thinking about buying this tool too so thanks for the information. Just out of interest could you please let me know what the hose diameter is for the tool end.

Yep it sure is - my last build was a kit which I think I changed about 85% of it to try and make it better. A radio controlled live steam powered Italian tug.

Now I know what I said but this little gap has been doing my head in 🤣 So today my truck decided to breakdown so its a day off from work for me!! So I decided to make the thin little shims to fill the gaps and I'm glad that I have. I've not cleaned anything up yet so the pictures are just the shims glued in and trimmed to length with a chisel. I'm glad to say that I am "gapless" now and the average shim was 0.6mm thick. I only had to put one shim up at the stem. I think it will look better with a good sanding too. At some point I really need to have a good clean up of the entire hull but I'll wait until I've closed the bow and the stern. I can now sleep soundly at night; it can't just be me that dwells on these things - Back to the family now too! Cheers Mark

Hi both and thanks for your thoughts on this. The keelson is now glued in as this was as low as I could get it after many hours of fettling it to fit. I felt that I had reached the point where if I removed anymore material I would make the gap wider rather than smaller. Having slept on this and taking Greg’s point I think I’m going to leave this for the time being. I’ll see how I feel at a later date as after all there is no rush. I have to be honest it actually fitted better than I thought that it would 😎