vaddoc

Very elegant John, and how nice for the museum visitors to actually see the model being created and get to interact with you. With all the frames in place this fragile curvy symmetry is certainly impressive.

Smaller gaff topsails may not use hoops or any lacing. It took a while to figure it out, the boat I am building uses one. Leather does not mention it but Tom Cunliffe in "Hand Reef and Steer" has a small chapter on flying top sails. There is also a You tube video hoisting such a top sail. I found somewhere on the net the following explanation which I saved: "It's true that the side the sail went up on will need to be the side it comes down, but it's nice to have a free choise as to which side it goes up. The halyard is essentially either-ended anyway, what's the hoist one time can be the haul the next. The sheet cannot be two ended but if the bitter end is at the end of the boom, you can bring it forward on either side. So you're free to set on starboard or port tack as is convenient, but at the end of the sail you must strike on the same tack you set on. Halyard goes to a shackle at top of mast. When sail down, there are two ends on deck on either side of running rigging /boom/gaff, so the sail can be tied to either end and hoisted on either side. There is a similar arrangement for mid sail to attach a second point to mast. The downhaul just goes straight down to deck. The tack goes to end of gaff, when not in use it is slack and tied to end of boom." http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?144433-How-To-Rig-Topsail Although this does not apply to your boat Tomculb, there is little info on gaff top sails and this seems a good thread to add this little bit of info.

Welcome Nikiforos! (or translated in English "bearer of victory")

Many thanks Keith! My parents have been visiting and this was the reason I was able to do some work, since they were keeping the little ones occupied. Today is their last day though, so I stole some time to do a few more little things, this time with the help of my dad. Precious moments... Today was actually a big day! First I installed the tabernacle. Then, I installed the two pieces of timber (don't know what they are called) that will support and spread the chainplates. They are not really necessary for this boat I think but they add complexity and look cool! I drilled 1 mm holes, then counter drilled for the head of the micro screws I used with 1.7 mm drill. The actual hole on the hole was 0.8 mm. I used many screws as I think they will take a lot of load to support the 80 cm mast. Then I installed the portholes. This was quite fiddly as I used 0.5 mm brass nails (6 per porthole) and I needed really a 0.4 mm drill. I only had a 0.5 mm drill and so I had to use CA glue to fix the nails in place. No matter what I did there is a lot of dust inside the cabin so the portholes kept on getting dirty. I can live with this though! Next filled the holes with some left over wooden plugs that happily had the exact diameter needed. This were trimmed and the timbers are waiting a final sanding and Tung oil. The boat is a bit massive and actually quite heavy now as there is a lot of timber on. I think it is starting to look nice... Next will be the rudder and chainplates and at some point the bowsprit but I expect from tomorrow progress will go back to snail pace! Regards EG

Many thanks to all, I did not actually have the time to work more on the spreaders but good to know I am on the right path. I have been slowly catching up with people's work and I was able to spend only a few moments on the boat as life got very busy again. I started work on the rudder and also did a few other bits and bobs. I laminated two pieces of plywood and made a very strong rudder, sanded to final shape and cut two thick pieces of cherry for the side panels. For the tiller I laminated some cherry off cuts. This is the rudder assembly, the tiller is not yet sanded to shape I also installed the ladder. it is only held in place by these 4 tree nails Another task that I had to deal with at some point was to install the hatches. The cabin roof one was easy with some thickened epoxy but the fore hatch simply had no attachment points. I made a card pattern, drilled 6 holes and then used the pattern to drill 6 identical holes on the deck. Well, only 3 were actually aligned but even with just three tree nails it seems very well secured. Then I sanded, sealed and primed the rudder and then the long process of applying dozens of coats of paint started. Acrylics are easy to use but coverage is abysmal compared to enamels. Still, being able to paint in the dining room table is a big plus. Time to put the little ones to sleep!

Welcome Stickyfinger! Do start a log for your boat and remember, you can never have enough clamps... Vaddoc

My understanding is that Tung oil polymerises in the presence of oxygen. So with time it will turn into a plastic like polymer. The 50% dilution is to allow it to penetrate deeper, thus giving better protection. I have a container of pure Tung oil that I have been using for years (its almost empty now), squeezing the metal as the oil gets used up so that there is as little air in contact with the oil as possible. If I do not open the bottle for 4-5 weeks, it is then very difficult as the oil in the cap polymerises and solidifies. Opening the bottle earlier is fine so really it takes many weeks for a full cure. Tung oil finish takes a very long time as many thin coats needs to be applied, waiting a few days in between for some degree of cure to happen. I remember reading that in ancient China it could take a year for a Tung oil finished table to be ready. There is also polymerised Tung oil I think that cures much faster, the equivalent of boiled linseed oil. My 2 cents!

Keith, Druxey and Michael, many thanks I continued working on the hoops but also made the last brass band that will accept two shrouds on each side, the spreaders, the forestay and staysail and the throat halyard. It took a few hours to make and while I was polishing it, it got picked up by the steel brush wheel and ruined. So I started again. This time it took much less time and actually I think it looks better The spreader is the correct length to sit at the proper angle, the top shroud will be at a 15 degrees angle to the mast. The shape looks a bit wrong though, not sure if I need to reduce the thickness or just to round the edges.

I have made many thousands of tree nails with the needle method in various sizes, my current 1:10 boat is held together almost exclusively by tree nails. I was using mostly cherry but recently the whole process start failing as the needle was burning the wood. Only by touching the needle with soap I could get it to work but this slowed down things. No problem with softwoods. What wood are you using? regards Vaddoc

Steer clear away of walnut. Maple is fantastic for planking, cherry and pear are far more stiff and do not respond as well to bending. Maple sands very well, holds nails, glues well and is soft enough to cut with a knife even at 2 mm thickness. Holds an edge well and can be very white with no/little grain Beech as another excellent wood if you don't mind the wood pattern. Never used castelo or holy. Vaddoc

Excellent topic choice Bob. I ve been wanting a set for some time now but as you say the proper ones seem to be made from Stardust and the cheap chinese or indian ones flooding the market are just too cheap. It would be excellent if someone had experience to share. I came across this that seems to be made in Germany and is still cheap but not the generic type. Quality unknown. https://www.reichelt.com/gb/en/screw-tap-set-m1-m2-5-30-pieces-donau-mgs1025-p214261.html?&trstct=pos_1

Welcome David!

I think they were 0.5 mm x 4 mm Keith. I actually passed the hoops through the disc sander to reduce the height to half. Birch, beech or maple would be better choices though.

Very nice Mark! Very elegant work.

Soak the wood and then compress between two flat surfaces with a significant weight on top as it will be distributed across a large area. It will flatten a bit but not all the way. I ve found that for such purposes, it is better to laminate the sheets that the frames will be cut from. Lamination gives very strong, very flat sheets that resist movement. It is impossible to find flat plywood in the thicknesses we use. If I need a 3.5 mm sheet, I laminate 2 sheets of 1.5 mm each using finishing epoxy resin. I have a whole box of 2 mm maple sheets that I received dead flat and a year later are horribly twisted. I suspect improperly seasoned/kiln dried wood. Regards Vaddoc