G. Delacroix

I wanted to share how I decided to make the davits. First of all, according to the monograph, the davits can be constructed in two different ways. One way is to make each davit out of a single piece of wood; the second is to make it out of three pieces - one central piece and two sides. The model presented in the monograph has davits built in three pieces; whereas I've seen the davits made in one piece presented in online build logs. I chose to make each davit out of one piece of wood. After I made this choice, I formulated several orders of operations in which to fabricate them. This is what I finally settled on. I don't know if it is the most efficient way to do the job, but it did seem to work well for me. The first attempt was a fail, but then I got the two I needed on the next tries.
 
I started by rubber cementing profiles of the davit to a length of wood 13.3 mm square in cross section. Note the center axis of the top/bottom profile is centered on the blank. 

I then milled the top profile. Having the top/bottom profile centered let me mill this portion perpendicular to the blank. Here I have started to smooth the curved region, but you can still see the horizontal lines left as steps from each pass of the milling process.

Next the bottom slot, where the davit locks on the superstructure was milled - note this is at an angle and there are specific left and right davits.

I then milled the two sides, the last milling operation. 

Using a scroll saw, the front space was opened up, after which the front length was shortened and then finished on a disk sander.

The back length was then adjusted so the davit fit correctly on the supperstucture.

Now it was time to remove some material in the middle to provide passage for the scoop chains. First I marked and sawed boundaries for the region to be removed.

The unnecessary material was mostly removed with a small chisel.
 
And the final shape of this inner region was developed using a sanding stick.
 

Standing rigging completed.

Today I made it to having the big wheel timbers installed. After doing so, I couldn't help but 'mock-up' the vessels configuration with the wheels!
 


You can see in the second picture that I have completed planking the small wheel. The small wheel will now get about 200 fasteners thru the planking and steps. Then the excess material on the steps will be trimmed and it shall be done. Repeat for big wheel coming as well,

Gradually I continue with the next level - top masts.

Futtock shrouds and crowfeets. This completes the lower masts standing rigging. I will continue with top masts standing rigging.

Some more progress on the wheels today. Here is the status of the small wheel. It now has 75% of its steps, the remaining 8 will probably be added tomorrow. They are the ones that need to be cut to exact length before attaching because they fit inside of the outermost timbers. The other steps currently extend beyond the rims and will be trimmed after the wheel is planked. The disk under the cup of steps is not a drink coaster (yet). It is a disk cut to the diameter of the wheel where the planks will be fitted and is being used to induce the proper curvature on the plank material. Here a strip of wetted plank material has been wrapped around the disk and is being held in place with a rubber band as it dries overnight. The 6mm wide planking is just 0.55mm thick and bends easily; however, I want to minimize any strain on the steps as they are fairly delicate.

As far as the big wheel, the rim segments are ready to have their scarf joints milled. I also have made a disk for forming the big wheel planks.

Your example shows a triangular shape that indeed existed. For the period concerned (end of the 18th century), the size of the sail surprisingly increased until arriving at that which is illustrated in the drawing just above.. Towards the first third of the 19th century, it will return to a more reasonable size.
Here is an extract of the sail plan of a corvette, we can see the large surface of this sail.

 
GD

This is the main topmast staysail, quite common at the end of the 18th century.
More visible here:

GD

Your example shows a triangular shape that indeed existed. For the period concerned (end of the 18th century), the size of the sail surprisingly increased until arriving at that which is illustrated in the drawing just above.. Towards the first third of the 19th century, it will return to a more reasonable size.
Here is an extract of the sail plan of a corvette, we can see the large surface of this sail.

 
GD

This is the main topmast staysail, quite common at the end of the 18th century.
More visible here:

GD

The the doublers and fasteners are in; I made the fasteners using 26 gauge copper wire in #77 drill holes. I'm glad to have had the practice with the stiffer 24 gauge copper before having done this work. The 26 gauge wire must be fed precisely into the drill holes or it will easily bend.

Step locations have been marked on the inside of each rim. It shouldn't be long before they are attached. I'm starting to go back and forth between the two wheels and started to form the rim components for the big wheel today.

Over the weekend I milled the scarf joints for the rims and assembled them. Next having the wheel timbers milled and connected, they were fastened to the rims - one on top the other so to have well matched pair. Here are a couple of pictures; the first picture taken when the timbers were being attached to the second rim, and the second picture after the timbers had been sanded to the rim's outer contour.
 

There are four timbers still needed for each of these sub-assemblies, they will be doubling the timbers that surround the region that the axel passes thru. After that is done, there is another opportunity to add copper fasteners before the two assemblies are connected via the steps. 

Hello,
 
I am pleased to announce you the publication of my twelfth monograph which is about a four-masted privateer ship: "L'Invention". Built in Bordeaux in 1799/1800, she is of an innovative design for the time with her pioneering hull design with very tapered lines and her unique four-masted rigging. These major innovations were far ahead of the clippers that would follow her a few decades later. It presents the characteristics of ships specifically built to be armed as privateers. Booklet 23x31cm, 130 pages and 34 large format plans. 
Available in English translated by Anthony Klouda, Editions ANCRE.
 
Gérard Delacroix
 
 


 
 

@Wintergreen
@wefalck
Thank you very much for your interest and appreciation.
 
Completion: Main yard - Studding sail boom iron - Cercle de bout-dehors de vergue
With the production of the studding sail boom irons for the main yard, this chapter can be brought to a close.
The first picture shows the already mounted studding sail boom irons of the main yard.
In the next pictures I have gathered all the yards that have been equipped with studding sail boom irons.


For the further equipment of the yards with blocks, footropes and jackstays, various details still have to be clarified.
More about that soon ...

After shaping the starboard knees, today I went on to create the opening in the deck for the big wheel. I am pleased to say that the surgery was a success!
 

I have material milled for the edging and plan to fit those pieces next. There are a number of fasteners that will then need to be added to the edging. When I do that, I will also put in the missing fasteners along the other edge of the deck.
 
There is now little that needs to be done to the hull before attaching the bitts, the superstructure pillars, and their associated knees. I think just the final shaping of the bollards needs to be done first.
 
Getting close to being able to oil the deck and the hull exterior.

Since the knees went pretty well for the bitts, I decided that I would stick with making more of them. On each side are 5 knees that join superstructure pillars to the deck. The 5 for the port side are now done, and blanks have been made for the starboard knees. These all require more delicate fitting than the ones for the bitts as there is additional deck curvature near the pillars to accommodate for. 

Thanks .
Installation of stay tackles and tops.

I have nearly all of the fasteners for the doubling planks in place and smoothed. There are a lot of them, especially below the waterline where they are spaced just 5mm apart as you go down the length of a strake. In all there must be nearly 1000 in this operation. Here's what it's looking like now - I'll do a bit more fine smoothing before applying the oil finish.
 

Once I got temporarily tired of sanding little copper nobs, I decided to start working on the bitts. One set of uprights have been fitted so far. The two bitts stand vertically and square with one another when clamped to the rectangular spacer. The spacer also marks the bottom of the cross-bar that will be fitted to the uprights.
 

 

Hello and many, many thanks,
here a little update. The gammon lashings are ready.

Lower mast futtock staves and ratlines.

Doing my best, but a great deal of credit needs to go to Gerard Delacroix for the amazing accuracy across the plans he drew for the dredger.  

@wefalck
Hello Eberhard,
thanks for the nice comment.
 
Continuation: For topsail yard - studding sail boom iron
In the meantime I also made the outer studding sail boom irons for the fore topsail yard. Like the inner irons, they were made of brass strips with a width of 1.3 mm and a thickness of 0.25 mm. For brazing with a silver brazing paste I fix the pre-prepared parts on a ceramic plate, as already shown several times.
With the following picture I show how the assembly of the inner studding sail boom irons is done. The brass wire ø 0.4 mm, which still has to be shortened, takes over the function of a safety pin.


The next picture shows the outer iron of the fore topsail yard. The end of the yardarm is square with dimensions 2.2 / 2.2 mm.


In order to be able to carry out the assembly and rigging work on the yards comfortably, I made myself this holding device.


And finally, an overview of the construction status of the fore topsail yard, with the studding sail booms, which in the meantime has each received a hole at the octagonal end. At the outer end, a notch has been added for fastening the blocks.

The next step is the studding sail boom irons for the main topsail yard, the dimensions of which are somewhat larger.
To be continued ...
 

It has taken quite a few days of careful filing, but now the superstructure pillars pass thru the deck planking and have their exterior portion perpendicular to the vessel. It also looks like the pillars line up where they should with respect to the the superstructure carlings.  Very glad to have this done - it was a bit nerve racking for me!

All of the pillars need to be shortened to their correct heights and provided with mortices for connection to the carling system. Once this is done, I will be setting these pieces aside for a while. I don't plan on actually attaching these prior to adding the doubling planks to the hull. 

@druxey
Thanks for your nice comment.
Thanks also to all for the many LIKES.
 
Continuation: Equipping the yards - studding sail boom irons
After initial problems and a failed attempt, I set out with new courage to make another one. Probably to avoid the mistakes of the first attempt, such as brazing the fine parts of the hinges too much heat, so that they then ultimately become brittle and break off (see picture). In principle, it would also have been possible to make these joints with soft solder. However, for reasons of strength, I chose brazing.


On the next picture I show a photo collage, where single steps for making the studding sail boom iron are shown.

On the next picture you can see the studding sail boom iron still in uncleaned condition after brazing. The outer ring is still missing the hint of a hinge, which I will fix with soft solder.


Here a picture with spar:


And finally the result for the two inner studding sail boom irons of the fore topsail yard.


Making the outer studding sail boom irons should be much easier.
To be continued ...
 

Lower stays.