woodrat

Some updates: 
Making a stand for the ship out of walnut wood.




I'm also re-making the stand for my Winchelsea nef - I've never been happy with the old one. The supports are made but need smoothing off. The joining beam is re-used from the old stand. Once finished I'll post it on the nef build log.
And here are the yards for the three masts.

Steven
 
 

Here’s how the whole operation transpired:

Step 1 – Insert the hull assembly.  I made some red Sharpie markings on the bottle to help me figure out where to dab the epoxy on the water.  Then I slid the hull assembly inside, straightened it out, and lined it up on top of the epoxy.  The main concern was getting the 2 hulls squarely aligned.  No real difficulty encountered with this step.


 
Step 2 – Add the deck.  After the step 1 epoxy was set and the hull assembly securely in place, I put a touch of epoxy on the hull assembly’s connecting ribs and dropped the deck on top.  Very easy.

 
Step 3 – Insert the 2 mast/sail assemblies and drop them in their respective mast steps.  This is where things got a bit tricky because of a small blunder.  Since my original plan was to insert the deck and masts as 1 piece, I had put a hinge near the bottom of each mast.  And that became problematic.  I got the aft mast/sail inside the bottle ok.  But when I tried to insert the base of the mast into its mast step hole, the hinge kept folding on me.  Once folded, the angle made it dang near impossible to get enough leverage to push it down firmly into the hole.  At one point, I even considered trying to pull the mast/sail back out of the bottle, but fortunately I came to my senses and abandoned that dodo idea.  After maybe 45 minutes of frustration, I finally got that dang thing in place.  

 

Now it was a matter of orienting the mast/sail properly and securing it in place.  I angled the sail forward at maybe 50 degrees (similar to some of the paintings), made sure the mast was vertical, then worked up a brass wire jig to hold the mast/sail in place while the epoxy dried.   

 
 
The last step was tying off the rigging.  My standing rigging consisted of 2 shrouds on each side of each mast.  The running rigging was simply a line on the starboard side attached to a loop of thread tied to the curved spar. All lines were tied off to the small spindles or studs protruding along the gunwale.  This was a tedious process, but not very difficult.  The pic below shows the aft mast/sail with all the rigging tied off and threads cut.  

 
Here’s the completed wa’a kualua fully assembled inside its new home.


 
And with that, the easy part of this project is over.  Now it’s time to figure out how to build a Hawaiian waterfall.  YIKES!!
 

It was a cold, dreary, rainy day here in central Texas yesterday which was a good excuse to get a lot of work done.  Although I have no doubt the Canadians like @Knocklouder and @Ian_Grant and probably even @Keith Black would laugh at what I consider cold.
 
Time to pull the leaves out of their bath and make the pe'a's (sails).  I laid them all out on a paper towel to let them dry and then cut them into shape.  The fore pe'a is the larger of the two.  As I was cutting them, it became obvious that the plumeria leaves were too too fragile (the 4 darker leaves on the left in the pic below).  The pineapple leaves have harder fibers running vertically which you can kinda see.  It gives them more strength to withstand the thread loops I'll use to attach them.  Plus, I like the lighter color.

 
I ran a thin coat of fabric glue along the edges where I planned to punch thru with the needle and thread.  You can see the narrow shiny strip along the 2 vertical edges.  I'm hoping this ensures I don't rip the thread out of the leaves when they get folded, spindled and mutilated during the insertion process.

 
Here's what the kia (mast) assembly looks like dry-fitted into the pola (deck).

 
And now, the whole wa'a kualua put together (dry-fit again) with the exception of the rigging.

And now the rigging.  The paintings of wa'a kaulua's show minimal rigging, thankfully.  The stays are called kaula iha's and I'm going with 2 on each side.  There is 1 piece of what I guess you would call running rigging, the kaula o'pe'a.  It ties to a loop attached at 2 points to the o'pe'a (upwardly curved spar).  I've got all the rigging with long threads that will extend out of the bottle.  Once the boat is inside the bottle, I will manipulate the masts and sails into their proper places, tie the threads off to the little protrusions pointing outward from the hulls, and them cut them off.  In theory anyway!!  😳
    
 
 
 
  
 
 

I agree with Baker. That black could be toned down with a light buffing, Here are some bangladeshi boats to show effects of wear on pitch,

Dick

I agree with Baker. That black could be toned down with a light buffing, Here are some bangladeshi boats to show effects of wear on pitch,

Dick

I agree with Baker. That black could be toned down with a light buffing, Here are some bangladeshi boats to show effects of wear on pitch,

Dick

I agree with Baker. That black could be toned down with a light buffing, Here are some bangladeshi boats to show effects of wear on pitch,

Dick

I agree with Baker. That black could be toned down with a light buffing, Here are some bangladeshi boats to show effects of wear on pitch,

Dick

I agree with Baker. That black could be toned down with a light buffing, Here are some bangladeshi boats to show effects of wear on pitch,

Dick

Have you ever thought about a light "sanding" with some Scotch Brite?
(the little sponge you use to wash dishes)

The open area contained by the "brace" probably obviates the need for a hawse hole (not seen on the mosaic), do you think?
There is a bitt here which would serve. The mosaic also suggests that the "brace" and the curved stempost is rabbeted. Does this suggest that at times this area might be planked in as an anti splash cover?🤔
Dick

Who am I to argue with Pat.  A double tot of Bundy it is!!    
 
After my double tot (or was it a triple tot?), I made the mistake of scrutinizing my work and I did not like a couple of things.  First, the pola (deck) looked like it was sitting too high above the ka'ele's (hulls).  I know it's supposed to ride high enough to give plenty of clearance between it and the water, but it's a bit tall compared to the illustrations I've been using as a guide.   Second, I did not like the way I had squared off the Kūanuenue's (connecting ribs).  I thought they would look better with a smooth curve going from the edge of the pola to the ka'ele.    
 
So time to backtrack just a little.  In the pic below, the "before" Kūanuenue's are on the left and the "after" on the right.  We're only talking about 1mm of height shaved off, but I think it makes a difference and gives a better overall look to the boat (compare the 2nd pic below to the pic above Pat's post directly above).  I also went ahead and made a pair of mast steps.  Those are made out of macadamia nut wood. 


 
Next, I started thinking about the masts and sails, which also made me think about the rigging.  These boats did not have a lot of rigging, but the question I had looking at mine was where would the rigging be tied off (running rigging in particular)?  So I went back to my main illustration and found a small detail I had missed.  There are wooden protrusions which appear to be extensions of the wae's (the spreaders that look like seats).  The running rigging is attached to these.  
  
 
The next question was how to make and add these without messing anything else up.  The solution was toothpicks.  After staining, I cut slightly less than 1mm of the tip and then CA glued them on.  I think they ended up resembling an extension of the wae's poking thru the mo'o (gunwale).


 
This seemed like such a simple little boat when I started!!  😵😵😵
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I let the rails dry overnight in their makeshift mold.  For the stanchions, I used a straight razor and cut off pieces of bamboo that were a bit less than 1mm in length.  Then I CA glued them into place.
 
 

Thank you for the likes!
 
Mark: Thank you, and it will be very interesting when doing the crew and cargo and see how that effects the sense of scale.
 
My work place has a photo competition and my contribution is of me working on this ship. I work in a design department and many are into photographing and photoshopping, so only unedited mobile phone images was allowed to level the playing field.

I really dislike photos where people obviously are fake working, but I did it anyway here...

The open area contained by the "brace" probably obviates the need for a hawse hole (not seen on the mosaic), do you think?
There is a bitt here which would serve. The mosaic also suggests that the "brace" and the curved stempost is rabbeted. Does this suggest that at times this area might be planked in as an anti splash cover?🤔
Dick

The open area contained by the "brace" probably obviates the need for a hawse hole (not seen on the mosaic), do you think?
There is a bitt here which would serve. The mosaic also suggests that the "brace" and the curved stempost is rabbeted. Does this suggest that at times this area might be planked in as an anti splash cover?🤔
Dick

The open area contained by the "brace" probably obviates the need for a hawse hole (not seen on the mosaic), do you think?
There is a bitt here which would serve. The mosaic also suggests that the "brace" and the curved stempost is rabbeted. Does this suggest that at times this area might be planked in as an anti splash cover?🤔
Dick

Thank you for the likes!
 
Steven: Thank you very much!
 
The secondary hold got it's ceiling.

I wanted this area to be separated in style but still connected to the main hold. The separate areas are connected by lining up the planks, but differ by the ceiling being open or closed and how the edges adapts to the round hull - while the last planks in the main area are shaped, the last planks in the secondary area are simply cut off.
 
The connection between the planks is a hidden scarf joint that surely is not historical, but it looks good and helped lining up the planks.

 
I mentioned that the wood supply is running low. Some time ago I laid aside two pieces reserving them for the bulkheads, but now I see that I need larger pieces. Let us see if the remaining piece of timber is long enough:

Yup, it's long enough. Sometimes you really need to be lucky when you don't plan your work in advance.
 

Planking:
 
Only the top row of planks still to do:




Adding a stealer to the bow, which curves up rather dramatically. Treenails made of whatever scrap wood that came to hand.

And filling the gap on the starboard side.

But I discovered the sheer on the larboard gunwale was not correct, so I had to undo the glue and cut the treenails to move it down into a curve that worked better with the top planking:

Ah, that's more like it . . .

Planking complete on port side (old Goon show joke: Ned Seagoon, on board P & O steamer: "Purser, where's the rest room?" Purser: "Port Side". Neddy: "Port Said??? I can't wait that long!"

Antepenultimate plank:

Penultimate plank:

AAAAAND - Planking complete!

Aftercastle and masts dry fitted: (sorry about the picture quality) 

Steven

A closeup of the keel section, showing the two keel rabbets. The outer rabbet is for the thinner sacrificial outer planking, The inner is for the thicker inner strakes.

 
Dick
 

Bit unfair to non Aussies. We are referencing an obscure but iconic australian comedy movie called "The Castle". It's mostly about the Vibe.
The next step is to carve the rabbet for the garboard strake. But the garboard is not a simple plank, it's a carved polygonal plank and is vital for producing the "wine-glass shape of the hellenistic merchantmen.
image from sketchfab
Dick

To drill out the mortices you have to have a decent width of plank or you cant do it. Hence the large scale. This next is from my mycenaean build and I used a jig to do the mortices. But now I do them freehand. I can see why slaves were so prized in the ancient world. This type of repetitive, boring job would be given to them. Also the making of pegs.🥱

Cheers
Dick

From what I've read, domestic chickens were introduced to the islands by the sugarcane plantations in the 1700s.  When the plantations died away in the late 1800s/early 1900s the chickens were simply let loose and became feral.  There have been numerous efforts to control the chickens, but people feeding them exacerbates the problem.
 
OK, enough about chickens for now cuz it's making me hungry.  On to the next step of construction, which is the "wae's" or spreaders.  Wae's are pieces of wood that are fitted into the ka'ele between the mo'o's at spaced intervals.  At first, I thought they were seats for paddlers but they actually are a structural component that adds strength to the sides of the ka'ele and spreads out the stress of waves hitting the sides in rough seas.
 
  

The next step in the construction process is the "kūanueneu's" which are arched blocks of wood that connect both ka'ele's.  In addition to connecting the ka'ele's, the kūanueneu's support the "pola" which is the deck/platform that sits between the ka'ele's and houses the masts and sometimes a small structure.
 
Up to this point I had not really thought much about how I was going to fit everything into the bottle.  But now it was time to figure that out before I got too far down the construction path and built myself into a corner I couldn't get out of.  I quickly found out that, based on the length of my ka'ele's, a proportional width would be too wide for my bottle opening.  Once again, my up front planning and design is a big fail.
 
My first thought was to just try and assemble all the pieces inside the bottle.  But this particular bottle has a pretty small opening (3/4"), so I didn't like the idea of trying to line everything up perfectly parallel and then try and drop a bunch of small pieces into place.  The solution I finally came up with was to connect the kūanueneu's to the ka'ele's with pieces of thin music wire.  The wire would act as a spindle, running thru the kūanueneu and thru a small block glued to the bottom of the Ka'ele.  That would allow me to slide one ka'ele forward, bringing it adjacent to the other ka'ele while still connected.   Then, once inside the bottle, it would  be easy to slide them back apart and maintain perfect symmetry.  Pictures probably explain it better:      

 



I will clip the wire down to size so it does not protrude above the kūanueneu as it does in the last few pics.  I will also add the pola (deck) inside the bottle.  That should not be too difficult.
  
 
 
 
 

To drill out the mortices you have to have a decent width of plank or you cant do it. Hence the large scale. This next is from my mycenaean build and I used a jig to do the mortices. But now I do them freehand. I can see why slaves were so prized in the ancient world. This type of repetitive, boring job would be given to them. Also the making of pegs.🥱

Cheers
Dick

To drill out the mortices you have to have a decent width of plank or you cant do it. Hence the large scale. This next is from my mycenaean build and I used a jig to do the mortices. But now I do them freehand. I can see why slaves were so prized in the ancient world. This type of repetitive, boring job would be given to them. Also the making of pegs.🥱

Cheers
Dick