druxey

There's more on using SilkSpan for sails  in a new booklet by SeaWatchBooks, or as a new chapter in a new edition of Swan IV.

There's a booklet on realistic looking sailmaking now available from SeWatchBooks, or as a chapter in the new edition of Swan IV.

And remember to let the wood dry out completely before permanently attaching the plank. If you don't, the wood will shrink and you'll end up with gaps between the planks.

Somehow, I missed your January 3 posting and am a bit bothered about that fifth deadeye and chain. Usually if modifications are made, these are drawn out in detail neatly, using either a different color ink or with dashed lines. This rough pencil addition looks like a proposal that was not, in fact, carried out. Just my opinion. 

The plug is not wrong: the upper edge is the top of the removable wash boards, not the top of the sheer strake. Marking the plug out first will take care of this.

Is that a fusee movement that the chain goes on? Very neatly done, Siggi.

The foremost fore and main shrouds would have been served all over. The others would be served along the middle ¼ of the pair's overall length.

Sounds like a rarity, Alan. Perhaps a major collection, such as the British Library, holds a copy? Certainly nothing showed up on abebooks.com

Beautifully executed, Nils! I would have been tempted to fake the bolts.

I don't know whether this helps the discussion or not, but hinge knuckles on sweep port lids are on the forward side in contemporary models.

My sympathy and condolences to you, Toni. It's not an easy decision to make: been there, done that.

It's mildly acidic, Frankie. Conservator's wax is pH neutral.

The door, Dan, the door! Please close it so both Pud and you may live out your natural life spans. Your riggers did a good running repair, though.

The issue is not so much how tall a tree was available to yield long lengths, but the practical issue of handling the planks. Certainly long straight pieces were used for keels and similar items, but handling a length of plank, manoeuvring it in and out of a steam chest, bending and hanging it by manpower alone.... My reading suggests that these planks would be between 24' 0" and 28' 0" and no longer than about 30' 0".

No, Mark. The project I recall was one by a British university and consisted of a short half-section amidships. The Greek Olympias (long before their current austerity measures!) may have been based on the results of that experiment.

Wasn't there a trireme project about 20 years ago in England? A section of what they thought was the layout and construction was built, full size, and manned to see if the oars could work without fouling each other.

AAARGH! My sympathy on your loss. That is upsetting indeed. Good luck with reconstructing your work. I don't envy you. 

Good questions. Perhaps you could ask the Classics Department at a local University. One of the professors might know the answers. I certainly don't!

Large diameter bamboo at garden centres is far superior to bamboo skewers. Use the layer just below the outer glassy one, but not so far inside as the pulpy stuff.

If you can afford it, there are electrically operated tables that you can alter height on to suit whatever you are working on at that moment. Great when rigging!

Boxwood is much harder to draw than bamboo. I can split bamboo and draw it down to Jim's smallest diameter hole fairly rapidly. I estimate that I could do enough material for a whole hull in a hour! The length of 'draw' is only limited by the distance between the nodes of the bamboo, less a little that frays by being held in pliers.

Thoughts? Good stuff!

Jim: Admiralty Models is in the process of developing a list of materials in conjunction with Jason's Crown Timberyard. Stay tuned!

Congratulations on a successful conclusion, Dan. I hope your client is very happy.

I note that today is the anniversary of Terror and Erebus sailing in 1845 for what proved to be their last voyages.