Oostends schipje (Ostend shrimper) by G.L. - scale 1:20, building first POF Edition 2

[G.L.]

3.9

For the forward deadwood I glue four oversized planks on each other. On top of it I glue with rubber-cement a paper with the shape  of the deadwood. I saw the deadwood with the fretsaw.

[G.L.]

3.10

The last thing to do is gluing the whole assembly together and fixing the deadwood with the keel and the apron with the stem with treenails.

[G.L.]

3.11

The treenails are made with bamboo from our garden.

[G.L.]

3.12

I wait until the cut off stems become yellow (takes some months) and saw them between the knuckles into hollow pipes. The pipes can be split easily into sticks with a knife. A little tic on the knife with a hammer may help. Split the sticks further as close as possible to the needed diameter for the treenail.

[G.L.]

3.13

I soak the sticks for a while in water (± 30 min) and then pull them through the successive holes in the plate until the desired diameter is reached.

[G.L.]

3.14

The sternpost and the stern timbers and deadwood are made in the same way as the forward parts. Grooves have to be made in the deadwood to place the 8 half frames.

[G.L.]

3.15

The sternpost and the stem are  consolidated on the keel with steel straps. I do not know the term in English. I make them from a plate of brass. I am not used to work with metal. I sawed the pieces with the fret saw. The stem pieces are curved and the stern pieces in a hooked shape. To obtain identical couples of straps I solder them together before filing them. After being filed they can be loosed from each other by heating the soldering.

[G.L.]

3.16

Carving the slots for the irons.

[G.L.]

3.17

The irons are blackened with a brass oxidant and fastened on the model with brass nails.

[G.L.]

3.18

The assembly of keel, stem and stern can now be placed on the 'slipway'. A shrimper was down at the stern, therefore the slipway has a downward slope towards the after end. On the second picture the stem is not yet completely assembled and the irons are not yet in place.

[Mirabell61]

lovely handcraft work G.L.,

 

Many thanks for reissuing and sharing your build log with your fellow members....

 

Nils

Edited December 3, 2017 by Mirabell61

[G.L.]

23 hours ago, Mirabell61 said:

lovely handcraft work G.L.,

 

Many thanks for reissuing and sharing your build log with your fellow members....

 

Nils

Thank You Nils.

[G.L.]

Part 4: Making the frames

4.1

I can start to make frames. I must make thirty frames, that can take a while. The frames of a Flemish fishing vessel ware made in two layers with some eight to eleven different pieces of oak.
I will try to explain my method. Probably there will be other and better ways, but this method suits me.
I first lay a A4 format paper between two layers of carbon paper (typewriter era) in such a way that both sides of the paper touch a carbon side. Then I lay the frame drawing (also A4 format) on it and take care that the two papers are exactly on top of each other. When that is done I press trough the frame drawing with a fine embossing pen. The result is a copy of the frame drawing on both sides of the paper.

[G.L.]

4.2

I use the carbon copy to glue the first layer of the frame on with rubber cement. Between the joints of wood pieces I put wood glue. On that layer I lay once again a carbon paper and exactly on top the frame drawing and press trough the outline of the frame. This time the copy is made on the wooden layer.

[G.L.]

Now I know where to glue the pieces of the second layer and to make sure that I have an overlap along the whole frame.

[G.L.]

4.3

I have made a wooden box of which the inner dimensions are the sizes of an A4 paper. The paper with the glued frame parts fits in it. On top of the wooden frame parts I glue the original frame plan and cover the hole with a plank of A4 size and lay some lead weights on it. There is space for three frames in the box. Next day I have a strongly glued piece with the frame drawing on both sides which make it easy to saw the frame and to sand the sides and the bevels with the drum sander. After being sanded, I treenail the frame.

[G.L.]

Part 5: Placing the frames

5.1

The forward frames are cant frames. The angle with the keel is different for each of the four frames. To glue them in place I made two supports which have to be lined up with the frame plan.

[G.L.]

5.2

The four cant frames are in place. I make the ends of the frames a bit longer than needed, they can be sawn to measure later. I glue a small lath between the two frame ends to prevent deformation.

Edited December 4, 2017 by G.L.
change of report number

[G.L.]

5.3

Starting to place the square frames.

[G.L.]

5.4

During last weeks I have been a bit lazy with updating the forum, but the frame placing is continuing.

[G.L.]

5.5

The stern frames is planked and glued in the correct angle onto the stern.

[G.L.]

5.6

Finally, all the frames are into position.

[G.L.]

Part 6: Planking the hull

6.1

Next step will be the planking of the hull. I want to start with the wales to add strength to frames. Before doing that I need to have some a more detailed view of the inside structure of the ship. The base drawings of which I dispose are not meant for POF build, so they do not show any details of the inside of the vessel. My main documentation recourses are the books 'Van boom tot schip' (From tree to ship) written in the seventies, about a decade after the last wood shipyard on our coast closed. One of the last shipbuilders described the building of a wooden trawler in a booklet for cultural heritage. A second book is more recent: 'Nele', a description of the construction of a scale 1/1 replica of an Ostend two mast fishing sloop some years ago. The leading shipbuilder wrote the book after the completion of the sloop 'Nele'. Both books are filled with plenty of detailed drawings.

Ground on that information I redraw the plan of the main frame an add  as much as possible details.

[G.L.]

6.2

The frames of my shrimper are made of two layers of futtocks of which the one top timber is longer than the other. The longer top timber will later be a part of the railing. The waterway has to come on top of the lower top timber, therefore it has to end exactly two millimeters (deck plank thickness) below the top of the wale. On my model that is not yet the case.

[G.L.]

6.3

I determine the height of the topside of the wale with a square on the different station positions and draw them on the corresponding frames.

[G.L.]

6.4

I stick a 2 mm thin wooden lath, connecting the marks on the stations with clamps to the frames and mark the top side of the wale (upper side of the lath) and the top side of the lower top timber (under side of the lath). As can be seen on the third picture: the lower top timber of many frames is to high.

[G.L.]

6.5

To bring the lower top timbers to the correct height, I use the blade of a metal saw. For the horizontal cuts it just fits between the frames. On the second picture all futtocks are sawn.

Edited December 7, 2017 by G.L.
added number of report

[G.L.]

6.6

I will now start an attempt to plank my hull. Planking seems to me a complicated process. I read many tutorials about the subject but it remains a bit abstract to me. Probably it will clear out while doing it. I hope that my following actions will be correct. I intend to plank my sloop completely at the port side and to keep the starboard side open from one plank below the wale on to keep the ships structure visible.

The hull will be planked with 12 layers of planks (wale included). The width of each plank varies along the length of the hull. To determine the shape of the planks, I mark the plank widths on every fourth frame. I lay a strip of paper around the curve of the frame and mark with a pencil the top level of the wale and the bottom level of the keel rabbet. With the help of a proportion diagram I divide the curve length on my paper strip in 12 parts and mark them on the frame.

[G.L.]

6.7

The top of the wale follows the deck line. To obtain a smooth sheer I will use one plank over the full length of the model to form the wale. I doubt whether the shipbuilders had planks of 13 to 14 meters long but I bank on it that it will not be conspicuous on the model.

First of all I stick a wooden lath on the frames with the upper side lined up with the upper level of the wale. I mark with a pencil the angle of middle line of the frames with the plank subdivisions on the lath. I take off the lath from the model and lay it on the piece of wood from which I will make the wale and copy the frame angles on the wood. With a pair of compasses I take the width of the wale on the marks frames and bring them over to the corresponding frame lines on the wood. Connecting the width marks I obtain the lower profile of the wale. After being sawn a little bit outside of the line, I sand it with the belt sander to the correct shape.

[G.L.]

6.8

The result. When I bend it around the frames, it appears to fit. Let's hope it does also when I glue it.