Jond

Michael As a resident of Boothbay Harbor, I welcome to return any time. If you come in the summer, let's go for a sail in the harbor. I can show you several herresshoff. we have some pretty good eats here too. cheers

I wanted to share the results of taking Bittersweet Jr to a meeting of like minded modelers to see what they thought about sailing her. Downeast Shipmodelers Guild I got to take Bittersweet jr to our monthly meeting of the Downeast Shipmodeler's Guild at Maine Maritime Museum. It was fun until we got to the point that several guys agreed with the concern that just because she is at scale, the sailing rig and ballast could seriously impact the helm. Unlike a typical pond yacht I can not adjust anything above the deck. The consensus was to make a few different options and sail them before " finishing them. another concern is I may need to add a stiffener to the foot of the jib, perhaps plexiglass. Oh well more to think about. cheers

Bob thanks for your clarification on a need to consider both the water resistance and the area of the keel.[ plus added sailing keel and maybe the rudder] for this size boat. This should affect the weather / lee helm issues. I know this is quicksand...so On this boat I aligned the center of the keel bulb with the center of displacement to keep the boat flat. I am focusing the weight on the displacement. I know that the inch pounds of moment from the 5 pound lead keel at say 11 inches down is what will keep us upright. However the sailing keel that i have now will clearly move the CLP forward from the real hull design. I had hoped that in this size i could not worry about it. Your advise is well timed because I have not made these parts yet. I may need to make the sailing keel narrower or further back with just the bulb projected forward. I need to think more about this. thanks for the wake up call PS thuis may have contributed to the lee helm of the big Charles Notman schooner last summer too cheers jon cheers

Well it snowed again all day, so we had time to do a few things. Now that hull one is done cosmetically, I need to focus on sailing. Some of this effort I am comfortable with and some I am on new ground. working the real boat I finished the new spreaders and got them up to David. I gave up on the design of 1/16" by one inch rivets and put screws in to hold the strap at the shroud end. David laughed and said if the boat builders made models they all would used little screws. The shroud gets moused when set up and then all remains as is. I left the big clips without drilling the wood. That all gets set at 5 deg up and 10 deg back, which is easier to do with shroud supporting it during installation. I look forward to that as it also means spring will be here. working the keel and ballast I previously showed in the log a trial using the 5 pound [ per side] bulbs for the bigger Marblehead boats on Bittersweet. Now a need to decide how much weight and get ready for the casting. The boat calculates in CAD to displace about 8 pounds of water. That is half of a Marblehead, but the Marblehead is only 8 inches longer and 25% more sail area. I settled on roughly 2.5 + [ per side] calculated from cad and then added a little more wood to the mold in the photo. I figure I can file it down if I need. It also is smaller and a little better than the earlier mock up. ​ Unfortunately though the center of effort [COE] over the center of gravity [cg] of the bulb puts the whole sailing keel forward. I am not sure calculation of the area of the keel vs. the COE applies at this small size. The keel being forward is not surprising considering the position of the lead in the real keel is also forward . If I simply copied the lead keel it would be to little and too high [ 5 inches] to create much resistance to the wind. I feel much better getting the " moment arm" down to the 11.5 inches equal to the marbleheads. With an open cockpit we do not want to go too far over. too much info but just to share we are going into this aspect of design with an open mind. Now to the servos. they work but not very well in Bittersweet junior. My friend Tom the guru suggested changing the rudder to a see saw to make the pull more direct. So I am determined to get the second hull right before digging into the first boat to make revisions. I decided to put in the sole before the deck this time. I hope I don't drip on the teak with the epoxy glue or paint. this was the first attempted fix. I changed the elevation of the 2 servos, one low one high, so the rudder arm could swing and the drum lines go over. in really working the servos today I could not get it to work very well. I needed to extend the rudder arms to get more pull. That meant reversing and putting the rudder on top . after several tries I finally figured this out. Here I have put the sail drum low and back and the rudder arms extended and raised . it works yippee the sail loop works because I upgraded the bungee cord into a triple shock cord. I also got rid of the little pulleys that kept hanging up and the forward fair lead. I soldered two rings......it took four tries to get two rings and added a hook easy to access through the rudder hatch. here we see the sail loop over the complete sole/ nice and simple....I hope A little more history I found some more images of old Bittersweet here we see sail number 20 sailing by. the link does not clearly identify the name but the number is the number. here we see MADCAP One of Bittersweet's earlier names. I am excited because that may be a mahogany transom....

Thanks guys Now I need to focus on making it sail.... cheers

Yesterday was eventful. after a busy day out we came home and Christened Bittersweet Jr. I actually got the rear admiral and friends to visit the sail loft. after much discussion with David and color design with the boss lady we settled on Internet ordered gold with red out lined for naming of Bittersweet. They sent us the full size for the real boat and scaled down to fit on the model. With a little ceremony and drum role she is named.... of course it's a great excuse to open some bubbly. one down....though more work on the sailing controls and ballast etc.. and one to go cheers jond

thanks guys well the Superbowl is over and more snow on the way. it is a good chance to focus on making the sailing parts work and get hull 2 moving along cheers

Hi all. I had hoped for a sunny day to take some sail and rigging pictures but it snowed. I went and found a screw on fish eye attachment and had some fun making some images. I am not very good at it and being inside is a bumbler. So here we go Here is bittersweet junior aching to get outside. She thinks the pond is near. Now lets look at the details and see how they came out If we were going for a sail we would find this view of the foredeck. The main and jib halyards are made to the cam cleats. the jib sheets are run through the slide blocks on the tracks and currently fed to the side winches. The center winch is available to allow forward looking crew to manage the jib from there. The jib sheets are hooked to the sail so they can be removed for RC sailing. If we look up to trim the sails this could be our view. We can enjoy our new numbers....oh for blue sky!!! Here is the new sail head. Rod really cut it down, so it fits nicely under the back stay. Here is the clew. You can see it rigged with an out-haul through the sheave to a small cleat on the boom. Also note the main sheet block is hooked to the bale, so we can display with all the right rigging. It then comes off for RC sailing. Here ithe main tack. Normally the tack grommet fits in the shackle attached to the goose neck. In making these RC racing sails the grommet is roughly 1/4 or so too far away. I added a shackle with a rind to simulate a swivel. Here is the upper jumper strut with connections for both forward sails. the Jib halyard is below and the spinnaker halyard rigged above the fore stay. the spinnaker halyard is made fast to the starboard mast cleat. To solve the previous problem of the jib riding above the turnbuckle, we have added a separate jack stay. Note there are two stays coming off the fitting. one is forward of the and the other rides inside the luff of the jib. Here we have the main spreader. The line forward of it is the spinnaker topping lift. it is lighter than other and the shackled is hooked under and line made fast to the port side mast cleat. This picture is fun. I look forward to this type view when we get outside. anyway here you see the fore stay separate from the jack stay. The jib properly rides down behind the turnbuckle. There are many variations on the connection of the tack. I chose to make what I also must make for the real boat, a double spliced line with shackle on one end and clip on the other. This was fun for a snowy day. I will up date my progress on hull 2 on the next posting cheers

thanks to all of you. I got the new sails today and completed the sheets and things. Let's hope to have a sunny day to get outside and take a few shots. cheers

What a nice lines as to a boat. I always loved the 14.your work is so clean...fun to watch so thansk for sharing cheers

Pete i find there are several sites with nice sitka spruce. they cut stock to many dimensions so the first work is done for you without waste. also it is straight and stays straight. I use if for all my spars. I think I do more because when you get to the wooden boat shows and around the beautiful yachts have it. So a few dollars extra for model side makes me feel better.. I can not image replacing a real mast..$$$$$ this build is really looking good. cheers

Michael I am happy top read this post. i think it means we need not carve our boats names. I found the old sign board for my real boat and both my rear admiral and i vetoed it. The font was cartoon like and all small letters.The were decals on mahogany. We spent a while thinking about carving a sign board since last year we got one for our catspaw dinghy and it was great. to my point...we have agreed to go with vinyl marine paste on from DIY on line lettering for BITTERSWEET. it will be about 24 inches long. They also allowed me to down size to model boat scale [ 1;6 so 4 inch name]and buy them to match. anyway keep going the crisp clean lines are a joy to watch as this wonderful large scale comes together cheers

OK today I finally decided to fix the winches. I made them in an early post just to have something and to experiment with different materials. I never really liked them; painted wood just doesn't get it for me. In the end everything else except the 10 blocks are brass. So here we go on the next effort to make them in brass. I was encouraged while scrounging at the local hardware store by finding architectural posts and next to them small brass note book binding pins. Round head with post and screw in end. Here we have the real fittings. Please note for the foreward deck we have a new Murray winch with a jam cleat top. This design option avoids adding two more jam cleats to the fore deck just forward of the combing where folks likely stand or sit. With two or three sailors in the boat the jib sheet is managed off this winch and cleat and the side winches enjoy the ride. Murray has effectively become the vendor for small boat bronze winches. FYI it cost $65 just to ship it here from New Zealand So first lets look at the regular side deck winch, here we see the wood proto type, the new binding pins, various washers, cut pipe for barrels and the glue up stage of the bottom brass washers creating the bottom handle slots and set screw for one of the new winches. here are the two new winches under big brother. They are not anywhere as nice as turned brass especially due to the straight barrels. I may get to that later in the spring. I hope these are good for now. . For the 2 side winches I turned the binding pin upside down so I could drill the round end and add the small top screw. Here I turned the pin screw right side up. I used a side grinder to cut a way the screw head to simulate the cleat. I added two barrels. I need to get another size 6 brass washer that is filling the hole. I just used AC to hold the washers etc. and by screwing the pin together it is very firm; sort of a sandwich. I could not wait to put them on the boat. There is nothing but glue holding them down. If I loose one, I can replace it easily enough. Then I will figure how to add a screw to screw it down. cheers

Pete and Bob Thanks for the encouragement and concern on the cover. I like you sticky or rather viscous approach of Vaseline. I was thinking to stretch a rubber band around the legs and push it down. I would rather not mechanically secure it. we'll see. I will likely be a chicken for a while regarding serious wind . We still have ice on the pond though so lots of time to think cheers

Patrick the current sails will go on the second hull. if and when there is opportunity to build more it will be simple to communicate with Rod Carr and get another set with a number. If the group decides on a number for hull 2 and a name we can add that or get a new sail leaving the proto type for future hull or spare. cheers

Time for another update. This time we reviewed the prototype sail, made a few changes and ordered bittersweet sail 20. the jib rides the fore stay and thus sits above the turnbuckle. this is wrong. the tack should be 1 inch above the deck. it attaches to the rear hole in the stem cap. we have two solutions. i will discuss when I decide. we confirmed the sizing and placement of numbers. We combined batten and seam [ the real sail has 5 seams and 4 battens on different lines but it would have been too much at this scale. Best performance Rod explained would have been 3 seams that form the shape. So we compromised with 4 and merged them with the battens. the battens are only for show Here I just had a problem. I had done everything in CAD and looking at the sail they were just not right. The boom was too horizontal....too flat. I took two sticks and made the lines based on the 1938 design. The foot of the jib rises and then the foot of the Main sail keeps the same line up about one inch. looking at this I decided to reduce the leech one inch and increase the foot one inch. One needs to remember we previously discussed cutting the foot, to bring it forward 4 inches to reduce area. Finally just to help out as a final tweak, I reduced the luff 1/4 inch Making the jib track. This was a fun project. The real Bittersweet had a stainless track and mismatched blocks, so we were able to start from scratch. It shall be 1 inch bronze sitting on a teak strip that gets painted with the deck. here is the combined slide and block fitting we chose that is really sweet when you compare it to all the other combinations. so let's try to make one of these. As I have said I can rivet. Soldering remains a mystery to me. so where I can I avoid it. Here are back to back channels being riveted together. here we are in place. the track is cut down from 1/4 to get to scale one inch. it is sitting on a strip painted like the deck, It nicely fits inside the the 1/4 channel slide. The bronze painted blocks still work out and are pinned to the top channel. The machine bolts go through the deck making this a stable fitting. Now its time to make the cover. I went ahead and made up my experimental cover. I am doing this just following a hunch. I hope it works. I went to big box and bought the lightest and thinnest plexi-glass. the first step was to make strips for the sides and fix them to the inside of the combing. I used construction paper to give a little gap and used CA to stitch the ends. Here I rough cut the top to fit and glued it down. after setting I took it and liberally made glue fillets on the seams. I then made the outside just larger than the combing. I took it to the kitchen and yes it holds water. Now does that mean it can keep it out? here we are with he cover on, halyards rigged and jib track done. cheers

Pete thanks for comment... the sails I made are on Charles Notman and other schooners. these sails though I worked on the design were made by Rod Carr. Rod is a popular supplier to the AMYA sailing folks....and yes he is good.. They are 2 oz Dacron and shaped etc. for true pond yacht racing performance. It is hard for casual builder to get into performance Dacron sails. He is now making the sails for Bittersweet junior. They should include the number. I will cut and fix what I showed and move them to hull two. Once we name here she too will get a number. I feel good in simple metal work for cutting, bending and bolting, screwing and riveting. I still am true amateur when it comes to soldering. I got a whole bunch of different shapes to experiment with and have a mini drill press. That small stable drill makes all the difference and remains my numbner obne recommendation. I was on your site yesterday and I really like your form [ mold] work. I plan to work on that for my next build cheers

Pete and Michael I applaud you guys who do it all. I have a friend who says i should also learn to cast lead. I probably could but we have a true artist who runs a foundry 30 miles up the coast. I will go there in April and he will cast the keels. I love visiting his shop and will share the experience. cheers

NIls It was 44 degrees today much of the ice is gone from the pond. we are waiting for the wood chuck on feb 1 to give us a hint of when spring will come cheers

Pete Absolutely you will see the attempt to sail. this log will stay active through the sailing season and into what get's fixed next fall. There are still big guesses like the ballast. The local foundry just shut down for a winter break so there is still some time to get ready. There should also be fanfare and fun at the yacht club with other BHOD owners. cheers

Jim great and scary question I bought sheets of 1/16 clear plexiglass. I plan to make covers sitting on with their sides sliding inside of the combing. While in place i hope one can still see inside. I plan to make it up for hull two as soon as I get the deck on. then if it works make it for hull one. the hatch covers will be screwed down after trimming the sail gear. my RC guru is visiting later this week to work on that aspect cheers and thanks for the concern

Well a big day arrived, a small milestone. Bittersweet junior has left the shop and made it to the sail loft. here are a few updates of how it went. the final task in the shop was to install the teak sole. here we can see that pursuing the cutting of the real thing worked out. the color is so real it just looks right to me. I look forward to David getting the new sole in Bittersweet so i can show the comparison. here the center three planks are joined to cleats and they are opened. This is a first task entering the real boat as they are moored fully open. One always needs to bale the bilge before sailing.....FYI even pond yachts may need to be inspected if not baled after sailing. A lessen was I needed to notch the finished keelson for the cleats so late in the process. oops So let's get the standing rigging up and the sails bent. First of all let's discuss the process of the sail design for this model. First of all we have the original design of 1938 So here it is. i have hinted and here will show that we need to make changes in this design to make a reasonable RC sail boat. the first thing to understand if we reduce the size of the boat to 1/6 and do the same for the sails, we will be over powered. I have read, I wish I could quote, that a 10-15% reduction in size of sail area makes for better sailing on a scale model..... the second item is the wrap around jib is extremely unfriendly to RC sail racing. We need to keep the jib forward of the mast so the line is controlled with the same action as the main sail. I will show that later my conclusion was to eventually make a sail exactly like this drawing, and the photo early in this log for display only. for sailing i will work with a real RC class and use 2 oz Dacron .made by a pro. step one was to request panel drawings of the current class design for the boat. Sailing Partners of Vermont now have the rights and host the design of our sails. They kindly sent me images and were supportive of my effort and agreed with me that it is best to reduce the area for a scale model to sail better. The new class Dacron sails have revised panel layouts for both the main and the jib. Sailing partners shared their panel design sketches so i could use them to update the model. I am not showing them here as I have no rights to them. ​ Now came my work and decisions. i took the new panel layouts and embedded them into TurboCAD. I scaled both up to full and then down to model size. here is the design of the jib. this one came first. I maintained the height and cropped the sail to be parallel with the mast. It is similar to a "self tacking" jib. the results were almost 20% reduction in area here is the resulting sketch that I made for the mainsail. I chose to keep the reduction less, a compromise of 15%. I did that by bringing the clew forward 2 feet or 4 inches in scale. Note I added the reef points and supports and after much discussion we have 4 joints concurrent with the battens.....not 5 joints and 4 battens as the on real sails. I spent time and discussed with Rod Carr. He is on the web and a real pro. He made my Marblehead sails a few years ago and his work is top notch. He explained the critical nature of using and locating joints to create and maintain sail shape. My request to replicate the class design he said would reduce the sailing a bit, but he understood we were going to make this a fun replication. Rod also confirmed with me that self tacking jib is the way to go. He has seen many, and me a few, boats that manage Genoas and they are very tricky. One adds a third servo that has different timing. I want to get the sailing youth to use these to learn sailing; not fight servo controls. That means one stick is throttle...with sails in and out and the other is rudder. two thumbs only. drum roll please here you go. this is what we are after. I used the copper rigging wire and swedges by Proctor enterprises. They are easy to use and nice to look at. The small boat in the back ground has similar cable I used as a kid in 1960 rigging my first boat. This jib head came out well. hopefully the next sail can raise the grommet a bit so the shackle is vertical. The sail is bent on the forestay acting as its jack. This process gives a crisp look and the best sailing performance The main sail head looks great though a little work . the horizontal dimension should have been 1/2 inch and then the leech line comes in just under the back stay. The halyard works well up through the sheave and i think Rod did a great job replicating the aluminum sail head. Note the stainless jack stay terminates at the peak of the brass simulated track. There is a dress hook [ visible in upper photo} that attaches sail to the jack stay every 4 inches. It is combined with the the brass eye as we are simulating hanking the sail. Here the main halyard comes down , goes through the stand up block and is made fast to the cam cleat. I coiled enough spare to lower the sail. On real boat that coiled line is tossed under the deck while sailing. fortunately there is no need for teeth on a cam cleat this small. It actually holds up the sail on its own. here I spread it out with a temporary out haul. Hopefully you can see the reinforced reef points. this reinforcement is a requirement for loose footed sails. I think the reduced sails are fine for sailing but if you look back to the graceful look of the 1838 design drawing above in the post, or the image in the first post you can see why I probably will make a full size set of sails to display. I would use muslin to replicate the 1938 Egyptian cotton and stitch the one foot [ 2 inch] seems. cheers

I remain awed with some of the beautiful planking I find. I love you lessons on using more heat too. Congrats she looks great. Be sure if you use Wes system to opt for the clear hardener. My can says 207 for natural wood. I have not been using it where I use filler and plan to paint. Cheers

Pete When I was a kid I sailed in Buzzard's Bay, Ma. Herreshoff 12.5 's were there along with 14's, 15's and many others. I always thought that the 12.5 was the boat for me whenever I retired here in Maine. . Now that I am here and had experience in the harbor however, the 21 feet of the BHOD is a really nice add to the 16 foot 12.5. We point higher and are also faster. We were designed to race. We have a few Herreshoffs in the harbor and they remain gorgeous. The newest are the reissued Pisces 21 built up north in Brooklin maine. They are incredible and I recommend you check them out. We have two in the harbor and they beat everyone. cheers

mark thanks for the comment. I knew I read somewhere on one of these strings that preheating brass can make it easier to use. I need to get more brass stock to replace the damaged ones I started and then I will try the annealing approach to 1/16 brass rod before attempting to make it a rivet. I will eventually need the same thing as I attach the lead half bulbs to the sailing keel cheers