woodrat

This the backbone of the vessel at 1/16 scale. length about 57 cm. n note the holes in the keel for ropes that would presumably be used to kedge the vessel to a small grapnel. the keylock scarf joining the keel sections and the posts to the keel. an S-scarf joining the timbers of the posts.. Grey resin was used as a filler in the joins and was still present in the excavated wreck. Dick

Thanks Carl. Unfortunately she will have to go live in a glasshouse and graciously make way for her replacement. Thanks, Steven and Druxey for following along as I slowly go back through time. Yes, Mark, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Fall of Satan. Appropriate for the times. Cheers, all Dick

I have decided not to bend sails at this time, although I may reconsider this at a later date. I will have to make a display case for it. Dick

Having taken 5 1/2 years off from this build to complete 2 mediaeval vessels, I feel that I have neglected the Fat Belly too long. I have restarted the build. Cheers Dick Cheers Dick

I think it is possible at a larger scale and the bonus may be that it will be built with edge dowelling as was the original At 1:16 it would be 57 cm in length and 16.5cm in width. Already started on the Fat Belly. Cheers Dick

No point at the moment. I have hit a brick wall. Due to the scale selected and the small size of the vessel, it was not possible to join the planks sufficiently rigidly around the form. So, after completing the planking, I removed the shell from the form and, to my consternation, the shell sprang into a narrower configuration due to its elasticity. In the process of correcting this, I destroyed the shell. 😧 So it's literally back to the drawing board. The solution, as I see it, is to do the build at a larger scale which would allow me to use edge-dowelling as in the original. To do this I will need lines with greater accuracy in order to build at a scale 1/16 or even larger. In the meantime, perhaps I should do some more work on the Gros Ventre which has been languishing. 😩 Dick

Thanks Druxey. It's only a humble family coastal trader but it is right at the point where shell construction changed to skeleton, which makes it interesting. Anyway, my ambition to build the frames individually fell flat on its face👺. The frames were turning out inaccurate with many breakages. So, reluctantly I abandoned this approach and decidec to build it shell-first over a mould. I feel better already. Cheers Dick

This shows the building jig with keel and posts The frame supports and some early frames fitted loosely Cheers Dick

Having largely finished my build of the 13th century Round ship, I am going back in time to the 9th century. At this time a transition was in play in the Mediterranean away from the shell construction using edge joined planks with pegged mortices to what would become the skeleton type of construction using full active frames. The vessel I wish to construct was positioned in between these techniques in that it had a mixture of shell and skeleton construction used in its construction. In addition , instead of using mortice and tenon technique to edge join the planks, it used an edge dowelling technique. I will utilise the description and reconstruction published by the author: Işıl Özsait-Kocabaş Istanbul University, Department of Conservation of Marine Archaeological Objects, Ordu Cad. Laleli, Fatih, ˙Istanbul, Turkey The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2018) 47.2: 357–390 Copyright for images from this publication resides with Istanbul University Yenikapı Shipwrecks Project, I will withold these. I hope to be able to demonstrate the techniques used by the original builder. The dimensions of the vessel are length overall (LOA) 9.24m, beam of 2.64m, and depth of 1.10m. The length-to-beam ratio of the vessel is 3.5:1. The wreck was found in 2007 at the site of the byzantine Theodosian harbour, one of the greatest treasure-troves of nautical archaeology yet discovered. The wreck of YP12 has good preservation of keel, framing and planking sufficient to do a viable reconstruction. The keel is rockered, that is slightly curved, and made from three pieces joined by keyhole scarfs The stempost and sternpost did not survive and have been reconstructed. I have temporarily installed the spine of the vessels on posts as I believe the original builder would have done. This may end up becoming the stand of the model. Cheers Dick

I have fitted the rope Jacob's ladders for access to the "crow's nests". I have positioned them so that they would not foul the running rigging . This was before ratlines appeared on the shrouds, at least in the Mediterranean. Cheers Dick

Mark, there were no reef points in these vessels. It was either furled or unfurled I have thought a lot on this, the yard (peciae antennarum) consists of two parts the upper portion or penna and the lower or carra. From my reading, the carra is always shorter than the penna. This is, I believe, to facilitate tacking or wearing during which the end of the carra must pass in FRONT of the mast base and so, if the carra is too long (equal in length to the penna), this manoeuvre becomes impossible. Hence, it appears that the yard is slung off-centre. The extension to the penna that I have put on to enlarge the sail exaggerates this. The forward mainsail is signicantly larger than the aft mizzen sail. In regard to the sails, I think a quartering breeze would be OK. I dont know about the weight. It would vary according to the size of the vessel but mediaeval blocks tended to be large. Especially the upper halliard blocks. Double blocks were in-line and so look much heavier than they are. Cheers Dick

Thanks Steven and Carl and all others for the likes. I have largely completed the running rigging and all that now remains is to decide on the sails. Should I leave it with bare yards or bend sails which may obscure a lot of detail in the rigging or maybe not. I have a cunning plan to do the sails in Silkspan to reproduce the bellying of the sails ( see my carrack build for a similar technique). Cheers Dick

Folks, the standing rigging is complete and ,I hope, is close to what the original looked like. I wasn't sure how neatly mediaeval sailors coiled their ropes but I am sure they were ship-proud like most sailors. Cheers Dick

It was certainly the venetian practice in the mid 15th century to have a length of chain attached to the anchor as seen in the cocha of Zorzi Trombetta of 1445. So maybe it was also byzantine practice sometimes Dick

At the helpful suggestion of prof. Mauro Bondioli, I have changed the quarterdeck rail from neo-classical kitsch to something more in keeping with the era. Dick