vaddoc

Well, it's official: I am Covid positive! I am actually quite well apart from some odd symptoms and fatigue and there is a good aspect to it: I ll be able to work on the boat for the next few days.

So today some more progress.

I first made a rough template for a deck to sit bellow the breast hook. I d like this deck to have grating but I do not have a mill so I must figure an easy way to do it with the tools I have.

Next, I started cutting the floor timbers and sanding them to height (16mm so that the floor to top of thwarts will be 45 cm in full scale). Unexpectedly tricky, I made two and wasted some expensive pear wood.

These are 16 mm high or 16 cm in the real boat. Kind of look a bit high and going a bit wide and high up the sides. I could lower to 11 cm but then as discussed above, the thwarts will sit 50 cm above the floors - a bit too much.

I ll cut a few more timbers and see how they look. 

Regards

Vaddoc

@iMustBeCrazy Thank you Craig! What you say makes total sense, actually I measured the height of my office chair and is indeed 45 cm. I could raise the floors timbers to such a height, this would make a very wide floor but I wonder if the bat will look a bit shallow compared to its length and whether in real life it would be a bit top heavy - but it is a very wide boat on the other side. also thanks for the high resolution pictures, very nice.

@Bedford Excellent, lots of good info, thanks Bedford!

Well, time for another update! I was unwell and stayed home, so got to work a bit more on the boat.

Now, there is some progress but also a lot of questions to be answered and decisions to be made. Any of your thoughts would be most welcome!

First issue is how high to place the thwarts and the floor boards. I tried to find relevant info in books and the internet but did not get anywhere. In the end I measured the original NMN plans and the actual dimensions of the model and tried to use common sense for a realistic and comfortable arrangement.

At midships, keel to sheer will be 83 mm or in real boat, 83 cm. I think the distance top of thwart to sheer should be 20 cm. The floor timbers should be something like 10 cm high to allow a reasonably wide floor and the top of the thwarts will be about 50 cm from the floor boards. I think this should be a realistic arrangement. Then again, those days people were probably shorter than we are today. Oh well...

Time for a few photos.

I first made the breasthook. It was a bit fiddly, sanding it curved and bevelled but actually I got it with the first attempt, which was good as pear wood sheets this thick are expensive.

However, it did look a bit huge and out of scale so I reduce it - I think it looks much better now.

I think I might add a small deck bellow the breasthook, I think this is what the plans show:

I then made template for the floor timbers. Again, it was actually a pretty straightforward job.

Now, these are my thoughts: I d like to seal the interior, prime it and paint it white but keeping the pear wood transom, keel and floors unpainted, these will be enhanced with Tung oil. The stringer that will support the thwarts will also be painted white but everything else added will be unpainted pear wood treated with Tung oil. The outer keel will be painted last.

Alternatively, I could leave the interion unpainted. Just apply Tung oil, seal with water based sealer, rub with 0000 steel wool and then add all the remaining pear wood trims etc and last paint the outer hull.

I do have a suspicion that if I paint the interior, since it is not well sanded and prepared, it might look horrible with all imperfections highlighted by the paint.

Any suggestions would be very welcome!

Regards

Vaddoc

I used the design of the fellow in the link bellow. Heavy and super solid bench, cheap to make too. The selves underneath are very practical.  I made a large one and then I made an even larger one. Go big, longer and wider than you plan. I think my benches are 90 cm high but I like to sit in tall stools.

Perhaps take two pieces of plywood half the thickness minus 1 mm and laminate them with thickened epoxy (hence the 1mm). Let it cure with lots of books on top. You ll get perfectly flat plywood and you can cut a new bulkhead.

Dear all

Thank you for your likes and for visiting. I certainly have missed MSW!

@Bedford I will seal the wood Bedford both inside and out. I doubt though this will stop the beech changing its dimensions and I am certain the paint will crack along the plank edges. But it's ok!

@Wintergreen I will paint the hull Hakan and I ll fill the few dimples at the bow. Not sure if it will look authentic though! I was actually thinking of using enamel paint for this boat not sure if the wood moving makes it a worse or better choice.

In the last two months the only thing I have been able to get done is sanding of the hull. But the amount of sanding needed has been epic: starting at 60 grit, then 80, 100, 120, 180 and finally 240. It is a big girl and both the filler and beech wood are hard so hard work.

The photos bellow show the hull as it is after the 240 grit sanding. I ll do a bit more filling, then sand to 320 grit, seal and re-sand to 320. The hull will be painted after the interior is complete so that it is rigid.

The hull is very smooth and started to reflect light. A long way to go but it is getting there.

Regards

Vaddoc

The small proxon one is very good. Very precise, very robust, small foot print. Combined with cheap carbide drills is a wonderful tool.

Dear all

It's been almost two month since my last post. I have been working on the boat when life permitted - which was not too often.

But even so, there has been progress.

To start with, all the screws have been replaced with tree nails. Unscrew the screw, re-drill the hole by hand, dip the tree nail in glue and insert in the whole, wipe the excess glue and trim the nail - then repeat many hundreds of times. 

Then, I started filling the large gaps between the planks with filler, both from the outside and the inside. It is a shame really, these gaps are due to the shrinkage of the wood. When I cut the planks they were tight against each other. However, beech really has a tremendous movement in service and huge changes in dimension with changes in moisture. I will not be using beech again!

So here is how the hull looked like after the filler liberally applied. Not an elegant sight!

Then I started sanding inside. The little Proxon pen sander was very helpful.

Then I started sanding the outer hull. This is how one side looks, this is with 80 grit. Beech is very hard wood. There is a dimple in one of the planks at the bow. I think I ll paint this hull so it will be filled.

Now, just to show how much the beech moves, this is the hull of the Launch. There are cracks everywhere! I think I will not repair it, I ll just leave it as is.

Till next time

Vaddoc

A couple of things on epoxy Mark:

It can be very messy, uncured epoxy though can be cleaned with vinegar (Epoxy is alkaline)

Different epoxies can be very different, some flexible and some not, however they are generally all brittle. Epoxy thickened with something (I use gypsum) is far stronger. It also fills gaps very well.

In cold weather, if the 2 parts become very thick, a few secs in a microwave restores them.

Dear all

Thank you for your likes. 

Indeed Bedford, there are some tasks in model building that are certainly therapeutic!

So the first bunch of nails came out just about acceptable, still trying to standardise the process and solve issues.

However, from then on things went much better and lovely tree nails produced

This is about 2000 nails. I ll make another 1000, and since I am at it I ll process that slice of cherry for future use. Then I ll be ready to start replacing screws.

I had make a thread on making nails, I ll update that as well.

Regards

Vaddoc

Well, it has been so long since my last post, I had to look to find my log!

So a lot of things have come to pass: I lost some more weight, gained a belt in Tae Kwon Do, injured my hamstring and converted to an electric car to name a few. In the shipyard though, progress has been far more modest - I have been very busy lately.

I finished all ribs but the foremost one. This was left in place until the screws at the stem are replaced with tree nails. There were a few ribs that needed a lot of twisting and bending but steaming the ribs worked miracles. Most of the ribs are beech but I think I must have mixed my strips a bit and some birch and alder may have sneaked in.

Also, I think I should have had more cant ribs at the bow - it's ok though

So, each screw holding the plank to the temporary frame had to be removed, the rib installed, the hole re-drilled from the outside in, through the rib now, and a new screw inserted from the inside to push the rib against the planks. 13 planks x 2 sides x 2 screws each x 32 ribs( +stem) + a few here and there = 1700 screws.

So, 1700 screws to attach the planks to the temporary frames, then another 1700 to attach the ribs to the planks. But now, all these screws need to be removed and replaced with tree nails. So we need 1700 tree nails + wastage.

I have a fair few left from other projects but there is no consistency in colour, material and size. So I need to make them. The photo bellow shows my tree nail making station:

Now, I have made many thousands tree nails using the needle method but I really struggled. The needle burned the wood, the nails constantly broke off inside the needle, couldn't find the right size needle, in short mayhem. I spend a lot of time experimenting and finally got things to work. These are the tree nails I made today, ready to be released by aggressively sanding the underside. I think there are about 600 or so.

Every missing nail was a blockage in the needle that had to be cleared.

So, these were the changes I made that fixed the problem: I used a needle with thin wall. I slowed the speed of the drill press from high to medium (low speed led to breakages). I realised the wood was too dry so I soaked it in water overnight and allowed it to dry. Finally, I made sure the end of the needle was sharp.

Now, the best nails are made from hard wood with straight grain. This is the wood I am using (slices already soaked):

The right wood is cherry. Very nice wood, I ve already made thousands of nails from these wood but lately it has been playing up. The wood on the left is either Howthorn (most likely) or apricot (I had two logs but I could find only one in the garage, so it is either or). It is a hard wood though so it does not matter.

(The little piece of wood at the bottom of the photo is indeed apricot. I tried a slice but it is too dry and did not work.)

So, next few sessions in the shipyard will be devoted to tree nails. 

Best wished

Vaddoc

It will still stretch. I found Mara threads very good alternative as suggested by Chuck. A lot of discussion in relevant threads.

The good quality cotton threads will produce excellent rope. The only problem is that if there is any tension, the rope will stretch. 

Have a look at this. I actually made two of these benches. Made a large one and then an even larger. Very heavy, very solid.

I hope all will settle soon Hakan! If they did as good a job as you do with your boat, you ll be back to normal in no time at all. 

I like very much your generous rabet at the horn timbers, very nice. I cannot follow it further down the hull though.

I think this is why Highfield levers were invented

Hi @USNCHief013107

These are the clips, they come in various sizes.

You can never have enough clamps!

Rapesco 1492 19 mm Foldback Clips, Assorted Bright Colours, Pack of 80 : Amazon.co.uk: Stationery & Office Supplies

Very interesting boat GL and very nicely done so far! It was a pleasure to catch up. Looking forward to the rest of the journey, it will be interesting to see how the rigging will be laid out

Vaddoc

These are indeed good news Hakan! Hopefully you ll be on the mend in no time at all. Your boat also seems to be progressing  very well. I am very impressed that you can create a three dimensional fair hull from just 2D plans, I am really looking forward to see how all will come together.

I presume you will use birch for the planks? What wood did you chose for the frames?

Vaddoc

I do not use glue for the planks Allan, I initially screw the planks on the frames with 1 mm screws and then replace the screws with treenails (dipped in PVA). These clamps will not dent the wood, this is 2 mm beech which is very hard but even with the softer maple, denting has never been an issue. 

I have been continuously spilling and planking for the last 12 months, maybe the following thread might be of help.

Another quick update

I started steaming and installing the ribs. As expected, beech responded wonderfully to wet heat becoming as pliable as boiled spaghetti. My steam box is working great and in no time I had bent half of the ribs.

I made a simple spacer to make sure the rib is placed at equal distances from the frames

Then I started screwing the ribs to the planks. 

Regards

Vaddoc

Hi @Gregory

I do not come across any specific information, but these are my thoughts:

Probably transoms were made from a few pieces, edge to edge like the planking but thicker. It is much easier to find very wide short segments so maybe it would only take 3 pieces to make a Transom. Most of the transom is well above the water line so no caulking would be needed. I do not think any particular framing would be needed as usually there would be a sternpost or at least a knee, and also the planking, to keep the transom securely in place. In the boat I am building, each transom piece would be nailed to three planks on each side.

In more modern larger vessels, on top of the sternpost there are extra pieces of timber as the photo bellow shows. This would be easy enough to use also for boats and would result to a very strong transom. However in "The boats of men-of-war" by May, for a 22 ft long boat it states:

Transom: Broad or moulded at the upper part 3ft 9 in, thick or sided 3 inch, knees sided 2 3/4 in. 

No mention of framing.

Dear friends

Planking is finished! But what a difficult boat to plank!

With great difficulty I managed to scrape a few moments here and there to work on the boat. My 3D plans I am pretty sure are correct, but I think they did not transfer that well to wood as some of the lines looked a bit wrong. In any case, with a lot of eyeballing and using the 80 - 20 rule, it all came together. But it was not easy!

It is not only that the planks need to bend and more importantly twist a lot, it is also that the largest distance keel to sheer is near the bow and not midships. On top of this, batens cannot really be used due to the very curved bow. The scarfs also made a fair plank curve difficult. That was a mountain to climb. 

My planking I think is more or less correct but if I was to build this boat again, I would change the run of the planks a bit at the bow.  A few photos:

Perhaps the planks could end a bit lower at the bow but I do not think this is too significant, there is plenty of room.

Another issue is that gaps have appeared between the planks. The wood database mentions that beech has large movement in service and indeed, the planks have shrunk considerably after they reached their moisture balance.

I will use filler but I cannot sand the hull just yet, the screws need to go which means all the ribs need to be installed, the temporary frames to be removed and all the screws exchanged for tree nails.

So we now move on to the next stage: steam bending ribs! And also making a few thousand tree nails...

I started cutting parts of the frames to open up the space

This is as far as I was able to get, at least I managed to not go into hibernation.  But I am really sorry I have not been able to keep up with your logs and updates. 

Till next time

My very best wishes to all

Vaddoc