vaddoc

Keith, simply wonderful. Indeed every piece you make is a model on its own. Lovely!

We really need you fingers Michael, not your files! This is looking proper Moab. Congratulations! The wood jig is a good method.

Indeed Roger. This actually was what the Mediterranean shipwrights were also doing. I have no expertise or knowledge in this matter but what I meant was that, after the frames were produced, whether perpendicular to the keel or waterline or other, these angles still had to be maintained building the boat so the shipwrights would have to know beforehand how the boat would lay for building and how it would go in the water. I assume that those very heavy frames would make sense to keep vertical and not at an angle where they would need pretty substantial support.

I would think: The construction should follow the plans. If a frame is meant to be perpendicular to the keel. it must be placed as such. Even a few degrees off in a long frame will lead to problems. The shipwrights would need to think of a way to get the ship to water but keeping the frames as per plans-perpendicular to the keel. EDIT: or perpendicular to the waterline like my current boat that has a sloping keel or whatever the plans show

Brian, wonderful work! Certainly inspiring and is great fun following your log. I ve never used or even touched styrene but seems a very versatile material. Really, your boat looks seriously good.

GL, I tried to find some info on silk sails but couldn't. Do they make such a difference in performance?

Not too late I hope GL, this is a nice boat! Your sanding bow and method is a great idea, I should have seen this earlier before I make such mess of my frames. I am curious to see how you will laminate the frames. I would think that it would be easier to laminate and then sand the bevels. Also, are you going to use PVA or epoxy? My attempts laminating with PVA faired poorly, the laminate was just not stiff enough.

Valeriy I am late to the party but I just read all 17 pages of your log, to catch up. Truly exceptional work. Too much to take in! The precision of your work is mind blowing.

Moab, I share your problem. Essentially, how to work metal without proper metal working tools, that is a lathe and all the needed accessories and skills. I honestly think it cant be done. I tried also using the Dremel, files and sand paper to shape brass and copper. Failed miserably and burned my fingers. Maybe use another material and use metal paints?

Now Michael, how about that Skipjack and its lovely engine and gearbox, this is certainly on hiatus. The boats will not build themselves you know. The barbarians at the gates...😁

Thanks Flying Fish! Yes, the width of the planks over the most curved parts will be (hopefully) 8 mm which I think should be fine. The planks will need to be heavily bevelled though.

I thought I d just post a few more pictures. Half way through the outer planking!

You are progressing very well Hakan, the boat looks fantastic. Gold is quite dense if you are straggling for space, It would make an excellent choice for ballast.

You seem to be progressing very well Mark! I have no experience with bread and butter construction but I think this way of building a model is certainly challenging, with plank on frame the planks can show which frame is too high or low but with a solid hull I guess you just need to eyeball things. A lot of wood to be removed!

Just noticed you started a new project Michael, excellent! I ll be following from the back of the room.

Elijah you are building a fantastic model, looking forward to the rest of the journey. Love your work bench!

So I think I should provide an update! Despite my efforts, the sheets never became really flat. Now these sheets can be easily replaced but I thought I d try and rescue them/ The last efford was wetting them thoroughly and leaving them compressed between flat surfaces. 3 days later, they had become mouldy! Bottom line: Wood in this state cannot be salvaged. Actually, water does dissolve some bonds and allow some wood movement. From then on it is indeed heat that softens the lignin but moisture dramatically decreases the temperature threshold for the wood to become soft.

Oh dear Keith! I must admit I feel a bit guilty. I did not take this boat seriously in the beginning, hence the horrible plywood frames and the general casualness in the planning, fairing and overall arrangement. Indeed, I initially intended to paint the boat. But I do agree with you, if after the filler goes in, the wood sanded and sealed, it looks any good, I ll leave it unpainted. Michael, I think you have a point. Bluenose, J class boats and many other (I think mostly American) boats have similar shapes, with horn timbers and the widest part of the hull very close to the stern. I tried to find on the net photos with raw planking but could not find any. So I ve done a few more planks, things are moving on much faster for a number of reasons. The planks are easier to spill, I am getting better at it and there is no need to steam the planks, they take the curve well. Beech is a very nice wood for planking! My frame fairing is abysmal though! A couple of frames aft in particular are very wrong. Not sure what happened but I correct them as I go. So far, the initial plank planning is working. The planks just bellow the turn of the bilge are the ones that I think will need the most spilling and are quite curved. However, they are not impossible and in real life should be feasible to produce. Some photos for your daily dose of planking: The planks are now 65 cm long-6.5 meters in real boat. This is one of the most curved planks. However, this plank will only need 25 cm wide stock. This is the state of the boat now. This plank needs a bit more work before it can be installed. This is plank No 13, just 15 planks more left.

Welcome Halvor! Have fun building your first boat. Regards Vaddoc

I have a similar tool-very unsuitable for modelling. Very aggressive, very inaccurate, awkward to use. I have not find it useful not even for DIY My 2 c!

Indeed a nice book. I found especially useful the part describing top sail arrangements-could not find this info anywhere else. Leather's "Gaff rig" also combines well if someone wants to understand gaff rigging

Wefalck, this is a difficult boat to plank-the shape is odd. Because of the slopping keel, the widest part of the keel (or planking) is actually near the stern, not midships. The hull has a couple of very acute curves that need narrow planks. Also, any other run of the planks, especially with wider planks, would need after spilling such curved planks that would simply be impossible to produce from available stock or would need scarfing which I do not want to do. Another issue is that, in certain areas, quite wide planks could be used but would look very odd, very wide planks and very narrow side by side. Near the sheer and midships my planks indeed get wider but still maintain some symmetry. Planking is not easy. Now, are there different ways to plank a specific hull? I honestly do not know, I have never seen two shipwrights planking the same boat to compare their planking. This would be really very interesting. Or maybe in the future someone will build his own version of the boat and may have a different arrangement. The Yawl I expect will be a very different boat to plank and I suspect the priority there will be plank width symmetry. @Michael_A, maybe you have some thoughts on the planking?

Thanks Michael! I ll be using exclusively treenails, I ve already made a couple of thousand. For the Yawl though, I am thinking of using threaded 0.8 mm brass wire.

Fantastic work Bolin, unfortunately I missed much of the journey. Your lapstrake came out very nice! Very sturdy construction with all these frames and cross members/thwarts.

Many thanks to all! I ve been very busy but managed to add one more plank. Indeed, the planks get easier as I move away from the keel. This plank actually did not need steaming, it happily bent into place. They are still challenging though due to their length-it is very easy to make a mistake. So, again a template was made (3 times) and a very long plank was cut. I am now getting into rhythm and have not had any failures recently-no wasted wood. This and probably the next couple of planks will have the most curvature. Still, they would require stock about 30 cm wide which I think is feasible in real life. Plank in place And the template for the other side made. I then spend about an hour transferring the plank markings from one side to the other. There were a few things that did not make much sense but I ll let the wood make the corrections. Also, my frame fairing is horrible but then again, I have been trimming the frames as I go and on a couple of places added sims. With the plank screwed in place, it is very easy to see low or high spots on the frames just eyeballing the run of the plank. As the plank is not permanently in place, it is easy to make corrections. I will continue posting updates on the planking but I do not expect any excitement. It is a tedious and time consuming job, each pair of planks takes about a week so I expect planking to take about 3 more months-unless life gets in the way. As you might have suspected by now, I really like planking! I wonder however if it is time to go back to the Yawl and start planning that planking. It is a very different shape and it will be lapstrake so a bit of a different (more difficult) approach will be needed. If I have time this week I might bend a few batens and if you are not desperately fed up reading about planks, you are all most welcome! Regards Vaddoc