Centerboard Schooner C. Chase 1846 by Maury S - FINISHED - Scale 1:48

[Maury S]

I finished the cheeks and put on the rails of the bows.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Maury S
dupe photo

[Maury S]

Not much work done with the holidays coming up.  I worked on the rocker arm / brakes / purchase rod and purchase for the windlass.  Soldering some of the smallest pieces was a challenge...particularly the little tubes at the end of the brakes.   Getting all the pieces lined up with the gears on the windlass will be a challenge.  It is set on a piece of scrap about the size of the pawl bitt.

Maury

[Maury S]

Bowsprit:  The bowsprit is 31' - 10" long and 20' is outboard of the knightheads.  Bowsprits of the era were tapered 50% from the gammon iron out to the the end of the pole.  The bottom of the pole was not tapered.  Tapering is pretty straight forward marking a line of taper from full size (12") to 6" on three sides (all of the vertical taper occurs on the top).  The circular sander was use to achieve an even taper.  The spar is square out to near the billet, then 8-sided for about 4', then 16-sided and eventually round.  Following is a picture on the jig used to cut the square to 8-sides.

The top is kept flat.  the jack stays? were put in place and need some cleaning up.  Really tough to hold them in place while glue dries.

Maury

[Shickluna searcher]

On 8/14/2019 at 11:13 PM, Shickluna searcher said:

We are looking at building a 1:100 model of a 1870s canaller 3 masted schooner as used in the 2nd Welland Canal.  It will have a center board, on the keel centerline.  I have been unable to see how these were raised and lowered.  Wouldnt there need to be a system to force it down into the water below the ship and obviously one ro raise it up snugly into the centreboard case? A hand operated winch on deck might have performed this?  How was it done on this 2 masted schooner?  Curious also if anyone has any details of how the bow sprits were rigged so that they could be raised before entering a lock,  thus allowing the ship to be built at. max lock length. 

Back in back in August, I asked about centreboard details to see what we might do with our Great Lakes schooner.  I’ve had the chance to do a lot of research since then, especially referring to shipwreck site detailed reports.  By the late 1850’s they had pretty much standardized on centreboards through the keel, with a dedicated hand cranked winch to lift it.  A chain ran from the upper aft corner of the CB through slots in the top of the centreboard case and deck to the winch, just forward of the mainmast.  I am not sure what angle they rotated down through, I settled on about 35 degrees in my layout, or enough that the upper aft corner is just appearing through the bottom of the keel.  What angle does the CB rotate through in your model?  Beautiful work by the way!

 

[Maury S]

...Searcher,

In the Chesapeake Bay, they had both off-center and through-keel centerboards well into the mid 1800's.  The Chapelle plans show a centerboard 16' long and 5.' high.  I doubt it was lowered more than the full width (5' + / -) or as you say

Quote

the upper aft corner is just appearing through the bottom of the keel.

 

  That would have given plenty of leeway resistance, and would keep the top edge of the centerboard contained within the trunk. for maximum strength.  From the pivot point, that would mean an angle of rotation of about 15 degrees.  When measured from the chain connection at the top of the CB to the slot at the deck, the variation in the angle of the chain is only about 6 degrees.  A shorter and wider CB would alter these angles.  There is no winch arrangement shown on the profile, so for C. Chase, the alternative is a Burton Pendant attached to the main mast.

Thanks for your interest and your comments.

Maury

[Maury S]

Bow sprit irons:  The two bands at the end of the bowsprit are made from .016" (3/4" @ scale) soft copper sheet.  I cemented the sheet to a scrap of 1/16" ? scrap plywood and parted off a strip 1/16" (3") for the bands.  I drilled holes in the strip 1/2 the circumference of the BS apart and cut it a hair longer than the circumference (trial and error dictated this).  I also drilled a hole near the end of the copper strip and cut it off for the ring on the iron.  I then filed one edge of the little tab to fit into the holes on the strip.

The "iron hoop" has not yet been shaped to round yet.  After shaping the hoop to roughly round, making sure the ends mate well, I applied silver solder paste in the holes, inserted the tabs, applied solder to the butted ends of the hoop, applied heat with the butane torch and hoped the pieces stayed put with the gust from the torch.  Once I was satisfied the technique worked, I repeated the process for the second iron.  The one on the left (horizontal) is for the BS shrouds and the right (vertical) is for the stay and bobstay.   A little stretching / rounding over a home-made mandrel and inserted over the end of the bowsprit.  The BS has not been cut to length yet but it ends close to the hoop on the right.

I'll pickle and blacken them next time I do blackening.

Maury

 

 

[Maury S]

Spars:  I'm building up a punch list of items that need attention on the hull, and in the mean time, working on the spars.  The for and main masts have been tapered, shaped and cut to height.  The main boom  is shown tapered.  Maximum diameter is about 1/3 from the heel.  Taper is about 20% at both ends.

It was planed to eight-sided and then rounded except at the heel where the jaws attach and near the end where a couple of cheek blocks go.  So far, each spar takes about 1 hour to complete the tapering and shaping. Another boom, the 2 gaffs and top mast to go.

Maury

[Maury S]

Working on the chainplates.  I slit off pieces of ,016" thick copper (3/4" at scale) into .073" (3.5") strips and cut off in 1- 1/4 lengths .  The ends were bent into a loop, pickled and silver soldered.  Next I doubled-over a piece of 26 Ga. copper wire and cut it to 3x + the circumference of the deadeyes (Chuck's 4mm).  I soldered the ends to form a ring, flattened it out so there was a small loop at each end, bent the ends and wrapped the piece to become the deadeye band.

 A piece of 25 lb. test monofilament line was inserted as the pin holding the band to the chainplate.  For a prototype it's good.  I have to make the rings (a total of 12) just a hair smaller so the loops are a better fit (see right hand loop in the above photo extending a little further down) to the deadeye and chainplate.  I'm going to heat-flatten the ends of the monofilament line to see if they will hold well.  The flux still needs to be removed from the chainplate.

Maury

[druxey]

Progressing nicely, Maury.

[michael mott]

Coming together well, I like the flattening of he mono filament idea.

 

Michael

[Maury S]

The 26 ga. copper wire I have turns out to be copper coated (probably steel under).  Anyone think this will be a problem for the dead eye bands?  The copper is so I can blacken it in situ without staining the surrounding wood (per Ed Tosti).

Maury

[Chuck]

Looking very nice.  Nice attention to details.  

[mtaylor]

Try it Maury.  Sometimes the pickling eats through the copper so check that.  If it's clear coated that will have to be removed.  You won't be able to blacken the cut edge though so that will need some paint.  I discovered these little problems the hard way.

[Maury S]

I found some solid copper 26 ga. wire at Michaels.  I took the solder well.  The pieces were cut to the same size, ends squares up with a file, bent to a ring and soldered. After pickling they look good. They will be pinched and shaped for the deadeyes.

 

The chain plates have been drilled and cleaned up.  I'll round the bottoms a bit before I go any further.

 

Maury

[Maury S]

The deadeyes are temporarily attached to the chain plates.  I'm waiting on some 30 Lb test monofilament line to replace the pins and then blackening.  Deadeyes are from Syren.

Maury

[FriedClams]

Just catching up Maury.  Your model is looking great and I like the process your using on the chain plates.  Nice work.

 

Gary

[mtaylor]

Maury,  looks good from here.   BTW, is it me (I'm awaiting new glasses) or are the deadeyes upside down?    

[Maury S]

I didn't notice the config. of the deadeyes. They are upside down.  Not arranged yet.

Maury

[mtaylor]

11 hours ago, Maury S said:

I didn't notice the config. of the deadeyes. They are upside down.  Not arranged yet.

Maury

 

Ah.. no worries than.  I was fearing you had locked them down.

[Maury S]

Lots of "fiddy" work.  Making shaclkes, eye bolts, thimbles, etc.  I installed the port-side chainplates and the covering boards over the chainplates.

The chainplates need some touching-up with LOS solution and the bolt heads need flattening.

Maury

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Maury S
wrong picture

[Maury S]

The elm tree pump is finished.  Eric Ronenberg and Randy Biddle assured me they would have used such a pump on a schooner at that time... Not one of the more modern metal pumps like the Edsons.

I started with a longer 1/4" square piece of boxwood, bored out the center on the lathe then finished it to 8-sided and cut it to proper length.  The bands are paper.  The cheek that supports the brake (handle) is reinforced with small brass plates.  The pin in the brake is black monofilament line.  The drain pipe is blackened brass tubing.

Maury

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Maury S

[Windships]

M

 

Where do I order a couple of these beauties?

Looks great, in spite of whatever contribution I might have made.

 

RB

[Maury S]

I assembled the stemplate / shackle / bobstay. 

Getting the pin through the shackle and chain was tough.  I lightened up the photo.  It's darker so very difficult to see. 

 

I have no first source on this so any help would be appreciated.  The plans for my Emma C. Berry (c 1866) show the bottom third of the bobstay chain was parceled and served.  Would this have been standard practice? [am I going to have to serve this chain?]

Maury

 

[Maury S]

Bollards made and installed.

Maury

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by Maury S
typo

[Maury S]

Working on the masts...Hoops made earlier from 1/16" curls using the mini plane.

Cheeks and trestle trees next.  I stacked 4 pieces, lightly glued them together then shaped the cheeks.  The tops have a 4 degree forward slope to account for the rake of the masts.

Once shaped, I soaked the piece in iso. and separated the parts. 

Once glued to the masts, I'll work on the trestle trees.  WASH YOUR HANDS!

Maury

[Maury S]

More on the trestle trees.

The main has a spreader, the fore does not.  Dry assembly...

The pieces were all pre-drilled for the stables.  Finish sanding to come.  All interlocking pieces done on the Byrnes saw and my homemade sled.  I checked with Jim Byrnes; he's open and shipping so my new sliding top will be here soon.

Maury

 

[Maury S]

I built jigs to hold the masts.  The base is as wide as the boat at the level of the mast.  The block is as high as the bottom of the mast step to the deck. 

Since the main mast is off-center, this arrangement matches the plan.  The one for the fore mast is centered on the base.  It will help getting all the attachments, shrouds, etc. set up properly (hat tip Ed Tosti again).

Maury

[Maury S]

More time on the masts... All the spars were wiped with a 50% diluted wipe-on-poly.  The trestle tree is installed, staples on the bottom are not installed yet.  They will be attachments for several blocks (main throat halyard, fore boom topping lift, and centerboard lift).  Mast band for the Peak Halyard block is paper.  The bail (iron piece that attaches to the mast, goes around the top mast (and is currently just hanging there)  connects via a line or chain  to the fore mast cap iron) is next up. The mast cap is copper strip soldered to a piece of tubing that accepts the top mast.  The ring at the back of the cap is for the Main Boom topping lift.

Maury

[Maury S]

Fore mast head iron.  This was one of the toughest soldering jobs I've done using two different temp. solders, but I don't think it mattered.  I'm not good enough with the benzene torch to vary the temp between 1450 and 1325 degrees and not melt my project piece.  There are tabs on each side.  One for a line to the Main top mast shoulder and one for a line to the Main Top mast head.  The fore ring is for the jib stay and aft goes to the main mast bail.

I started with a piece of rectangular brass tube that just fit over the mast, drilled a hole for a ring in the narrow edge then proceeded to cut and solder the two tabs on the sides with the rings attached.  I then cut off one end to the tube to make a "U" shaped piece that just fit aft to fore.  The open end of the piece was finished by using black paper similar to the intermediate band shown.

Maury

[Maury S]

The eyes and rings are too large. ID works out to about 4.5".  New ones in progress are about 2" ID.  Copper wire stretched to harden comes to about .96" dia. (all at scale).  This should look better.

Using a 1.2mm drill bit to wrap around.

Maury