woodrat

You may well be right but I will be able to test this . Certainly the Hjortspring vessel had hogging issues and the Nydam, being pre-viking also may have had them. But the later viking vessels may have overcome this problem. Dick

The after deck framing The central thicker deck planking in place The outer thinner deck planking in place. Gratings in place.The waterway will be added when the deck is finally attached The two upper decks are removable which allows completion of the main deck and facilitates finishing off the upper deck furniture etc Cheers Dick

This shows the attachment to my cross-sled for making the gratings. The slats are to be the thickness of the saw blade(1mm.). A 1mm. thick brass strip is glued to the slot to allow a spacing of 1mm. This allows slots to be cut in a block slightly deeper than the planned grating The grating is turned through 90 degrees and shallower cuts are made for the upper slats The 1mm. thick upper slats are glued in place . They are deeper than required and the excess will be sanded off later. double sided tape (wondeful stuff!) is glued to a block of wood and the grating stuck face down . The excess depth is sanded off. (But Use a thicker block of wood than I did to avoid burnt finger tips). This exposes the lower slats. T The grating is detached from the tape, turned over and the excess of the upper slats sanded off the grating just needs trimming to size now Cheers. I apologise for teaching you to suck eggs but I have seen some awful gratings in my time. Usually with way over size holes that a sailor's foot would fall through. Dick

Thanks Christian. I have not seen the vessel and may never do so but it is not only interesting, as you say, but an important precursor of the later viking clinker-built sailing vessels. The large scale will allow me to test the efficacy of the anti hogging mechanism. Tschüss Dick

The forecastle deck. The framing is planned to be visible on the starboard side but planked on the port side. the central planking is thicker than the outer decke planking. The forecastle deck remains removable until all work on the main deck is complete. central thicker planking outer planking awaiting waterways forecastle deck removed Cheers Dick

Sheer plank largely finished and some of the framing of the quarterdeck. Now I have to do some painting. Deck furniture will red ochre as may be the inside planking. Cheers Dick

I have roughed out the keel plank as well as the stem and stern posts out of lacy she-oak. The shaping of these members will be the most difficult part of the build because of the complex 3-D shape. I will endeavour to include some rocker to the keel plank. Cheers Dick

The beakhead bulkhead finished, as well as the shear plank for the forecastle. Note the cutout for the bowsprit Dick

You're entirely welcome, Bill. Here is the forepart of the ship prior to insertion of beakhead bulkhead The beakhead bulkhead is framed and the stanchions with holes for sheaves applied. The extra planking for the anchor lining extends to the stempost according to plans which brings it up to the thickness of the main wale. Cheers Dick

Thanks Siggi52 for the info and useful discussion by private message. He suggested that acquiring and using the most recent plans made by the National Museum in Copenhagen may produce a more upto date model. A recent replica was made from these plans. An excellent model would be made from these plans were they available from the museum. IHowever However, I have proceeded too far along a particular line namely the Akerlund plans to go back to scratch. In addition, Akerlund is the only reconstruction to show a practicable solution to the problem of hogging and twisting of the hull and hopefully I can test his concept in a model. The Nydam Tveir replica shows no evidence of a hogging solution. The next step, having started the building board, is to carve the keel plank , stem and stern post. At the end of the day , if I finish it, the model will be my modification of Akerlund's concept. I do not pretend it will be a "replica" of the original boat as I don't think that can be done. Cheers Dick

Never mind, Ahmose. We are a very inclusive mob here at MSW and are happy to talk even to non-modellers. With your breadth of knowledge you can keep us from egregious errors😁 Dick

Thanks, John. The Hjortspring vessel was reconstructed with and without a hogging truss and the crew said it handled much better with the truss. Also this Nydam replca seems to have some sort of anti-hogging device rigged. Cheers Dick

Ahmose, thanks for that. Have you done any models yourself? Dick

I have now received the monograph of Harald Akerlund 1963 It is in swedish but does have a useful english abstract and the plans are well printed. I have looked at the original reconstruction by the excavator Engelbrecht 1863 and by Shetelig and Johannesen 1929 and it is my opinion that Akerlund's reconstruction is the most likely to approximate the true shape of the hull. He also cogently argues that the present display of the hull is inaccurate as the stern has been displayed as the stem and vice versa. He concludes that the rudder was installed on the port side. The retrieved rudder seems to support this as well as some holes in the sternpost (as he calls it) which may well be supports for the rudder. I am not convinced of this as I think he may have put the aerofoil rudder back to front. Nonetheless, the rudder side need not be starboard as in the later viking vessels. Indeed, there evidence from stone carving from Gotland of both a quarter rudder at the rear and another one at the fore quarter. In any case, I will go with Akerlunds lines and orientation although I may put the rudder to starboard. He also justifies the presence of a sophisticated central strengtheing frame and hogging truss. Otherwise the extreme thinness of the hull planking would lead to failure of the hull, I think his reconstruction of this is good and explains the profusion of unexplained carved wood pieces found with the hull. I will include the hogging truss as I did with my mycenaean galley. Dick

Thanks, Ahmose. Apart from logboats with side extensions, the only survivong example of sewn construction remain the egyptian boats such as the Khufu barge , Dashur boats etc. Itw ould be interesting experimental archaeology to attempt a sewn bronze age levantine hull but I will leave this to someone like you. You may be interested in the model by Sceatha of an egyptian "Byblos" ship: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/23895-byblos-ship-by-sceatha-finished-25th-century-bc/ I have included some sewn elements in my mycenaean galley including a detachable stern piece a la Khufu barge. Cheers Dick