Germania Nova 1911 by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:36 - replica of schooner Germania 1908

[Wintergreen]

Paint, as druxey suggest, but I've also seen here people using silkspan (?). I never really got an exact translation of that to swedish, but isnt it that thin papery stuff?

Wet it with glue and you can form it to match the saddles. (of course a saddle needs some leather, aye?!)

 

Excellent metalwork Keith.

[wefalck]

Silkspan can be to different things, depending on which side of the Atlantic you are: either thin 'Japan'-paper or a very light silk fabric. In both cases it takes its name from the use as covering for model airplane wings. It is glued on with cellulose glue, when wetted it 'spans' itself over the wing frames. The effect is enhance by a specic kind of varnish that shrinks it on in addition.

 

I also would use a piece of paper appropriately painted to resemble greased leather.

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, michael mott said:

You can always tell the clerk that it is a gift for your daughter😉

 

 

Michael. In these woke days I'm not sure that I should worry about buying a slinky leather skirt - beautiful travellers.

 

Druxey, Eberhard,  Hakan. I have asked my wife to go through her gloves draw but failing that I will try paint.

 

[Keith Black]

 I think it would be pretty hard to achieve the look of leather with silkspan. Getting the edge to roll as per the photo would be difficult, IMHO.

 

[Dr PR]

A few years back I helped restore an old pipe organ. The control air powered switch bellows used a very thin lamb's skin (probably less than 0.5 mm thick), like was used on the original organ.

 

I don't know where you would find this material, but someone must have an organ repair web site that will give a source.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Dr PR

[KeithAug]

Thank you Phil / Mark I will take on board your comments. I have now made the fore and main masts, the fore and main top masts, the fore and main booms and the fore and main gaffs. None of them are actually complete as sundry strops and sheaves have to be added. That left 3 more spars to be made i.e. the spinnaker boom and the 2 main top sail spars.

 

I started with the spinnaker boom which was turned to diameter and then tapered each end by sanding it in the lathe. Turning down long thin dowels requires the support of a steady. Rather than mount the steady I improvised by putting a piece of wood in the back of the tool post. I then mounted a drill in the chuck and bored a hole in the wood slightly larger than the required boom diameter. I then turned the boom to size using this arrangement.

 

 

I the proceeded to make the gooseneck fitting for the boom.

 

 

 

 

 

The boom part of the hinge was much the same as previously described.

 

 

 

 

I then discovered a problem. The mast bracket was of insufficient width. This meant that the boom fowled the mast hoops when in the vertical stowed position. I had to remake this.

 

 

 

 

 

I then needed to make the beak. I don't have any details of this so I used a typical example from and internet search.

 

 

 

 

The latch doesn't work.

 

 

I then made the topsail spars. These are simple tapered dowels with end fittings and eyes.

 

 

That's about it for the masts spars and booms, at least for the moment. Now on to something else - a change is as good as a rest.

Edited February 8, 2022 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

I just love that 'brassy' iron-work 👍

[Keith Black]

 Keith, more beautiful details. Seeing the Germania fitted with her completed mast is going to be a treat. 

[Roger Pellett]

Keith,

 

Great job!  

 

That looks exactly like the spinnaker pole fitting on boats that I have raced on.  To douse the spinnaker, the foredeck crew trips the fitting by pulling on a line secured to the fitting’s eye.  The spinnaker then floats back into the lee of the mainsail, or in this case the foresail.  The foredeck crew then lowers the sail while a crewman aft pulls it in and gathers it, controlling it with the sheet and guy.  It is then taken below and repacked for the next downwind leg.  Meanwhile the jib is being set.  If all goes according to plan, the spinnaker stays out of the water!

 

On the boats where I was a crew member the owner was casual about maintenance.  On a particularly memorable occasion, approaching the downwind mark in a brisk wind the spinnaker refused to come down.  The sheave at the masthead had jammed.  The owner started yelling about what had happened until being reminded that the same thing had happened the week before.

 

Spinnakers always added excitement to racing.

 

Roger

[michael mott]

5 hours ago, KeithAug said:

The latch doesn't work.

Hmmmm why not? just a little spring😉

It does look convincing though.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

 On a particularly memorable occasion,

Roger,

 

Thank you for reminding me Roger. I remember sailing off the north coast of Guernsey

. The (French) boat ahead was flying a spinnaker but we though the conditions were a bit too variable and didn't have ours up. One particularly violent gust panicked the French crew who dropped the spinnaker to avoid a broach. Unfortunately the crew weren't quite ready and as we sailed past the spinnaker disappeared below the hull. A few moments later about half of it reappeared on the the other side of the boat still attached to the sheets. The remainder was presumably wrapped around the keel. They looked very crest fallen.

 

On another point do you recall whether the beak on the end of the spinnaker boom generally faces up or down. I can see advantages and disadvantages with both up and down orientation, but i just can't remember how we used to do it?

 

5 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Keith, more beautiful details. Seeing the Germania fitted with her completed mast is going to be a treat. 

 

Thank you Keith, But i will need a wide angle lens.

 

6 hours ago, wefalck said:

I just love that 'brassy' iron-work

 

Eberhard, thank you. I suspect it will look less blingy in a couple of years time.

[KeithAug]

11 minutes ago, michael mott said:

Hmmmm why not? just a little spring😉

 

Michael - I could wind one. It would only have to be 1mm OD - that's the size of the wire used to make the latch.

[TBlack]

2 hours ago, KeithAug said:

 

On another point do you recall whether the beak on the end of the spinnaker boom generally faces up or down. I can see advantages and disadvantages with both up and down orientation, but i just can't remember how we used to do it?

 

 

Keith, Roger,

My recollection is that it faces up which allows the pole to drop away. Are you going to rig the pole or just lay it on deck?

Tom

[BANYAN]

Everything has been said of your skills and the quality of finish so all I can say is WOW !

 

I just love all that fine detail in brass.

 

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited February 8, 2022 by BANYAN

[KeithAug]

3 hours ago, TBlack said:

My recollection is that it faces up which allows the pole to drop away. Are you going to rig the pole or just lay it on deck?

Thank you Tom I had thought that might be the case. The spinnaker pole will be positioned vertically in front of the fore mast. Ready for use.

[Roger Pellett]

I don’t remember but I agree with Tom.  When drawing, the spinnaker floats upward. If the jaws face up, when gybing or taking down the chute opening the fitting  releases the guy.  If it faced down the upward force of the chute would require the foredeck crew to manually dislodge the guy; difficult as the end of the pole is outboard.

 

By the way my comment above is incorrect.  When taking down the chute in the lee of the mainsail or foresail the only line available to the crewman hauling it down is the sheet

 

Roger

Edited February 9, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[Veszett Roka]

13 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I don’t remember but I agree with Tom.  When drawing, the spinnaker floats upward. If the jaws face up, when gybing or taking down the chute opening the fitting  releases the guy.  If it faced down the upward force of the chute would require the foredeck crew to manually dislodge the guy; difficult as the end of the pole is outboard.

 

By the way my comment above is incorrect.  When taking down the chute in the lee of the mainsail or foresail the only line available to the crewman hauling it down is the sheet

 

Roger

 

Folks, just take a look my avatar: as a soling racer i'm quite expert handling the spinnaker Of course, you are too. The latch always facing down, allowing the outer (luv side) sheet to fall out from, and allowing the spi to come back to the lee side of the main. Usually jibs are lowered when spinnaker in use, if the jibs are on, the spi will get less wind and will much harder to handle it correctly due the jib's vortexes.
Collecting the spi rod (spibaum in terminology) is according the taste of the crew: can be the first to avoid ripping out the spi, or could be the last to give time the crew to pack up the spinnaker, raise jibs up, new course set, and gather the necessary speed - then easily collect and store ready. Larger boats keep the spibaum latched to the mast, just pull it up in vertical position.

 

Roger, when the chute falling, the crew will pull the sheet first, then grab the spinnaker's lower leech, and manually collect it for a long 'sausage', the lee side of the mainsail allow it to do - it is practically impossible when the spinnaker is full because the pulling force easily catapult the crew out from the boat, even on smaller boats like Soling. Then the crew collect the sausage under the deck, carefully to keep the sheets clean, otherwise the next attempt to raise the sail will end to pull up a giant bra.
Dinghies can collect the spi on luv side, to be ready for next tack on olympic course.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Veszett Roka
typos

[KeithAug]

9 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

By the way my comment above is incorrect.  When taking down the chute in the lee of the mainsail or foresail the only line available to the crewman hauling it down is the sheet

 

 

Roger

 

My recollection of what the French crew did was as follows:-

 

The boat started to broach.

A crew member released the spinnaker sheet to recover from the broach.

The sheet ran out completely leaving the spinnaker flying like a giant flag.

The crew then tried to take the spinnaker down by lowering the spinnaker halyard. 

With no ability to control the sail it inevitably ended up in the sea and then disintegrated.

 

1 hour ago, Veszett Roka said:

The latch always facing down, allowing the outer (luv side) sheet to fall out from, and allowing the spi to come back to the lee

 

Veszett, thank you - I'm sure your expertise vastly outweighs mine.

[KeithAug]

I thought i had better look up what the internet says about the orientation of the spinnaker pole beak:-

 

Whisker poles should be flown with the jaws facing down. When taking down a whisker pole, the jib sheet usually wants to drop down-and-out of the end fitting. Spinnaker poles are flown jaws facing up, as the spinnaker sheets usually want to lift up-and-out of the end fitting. 

 

 

 

 

[Veszett Roka]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

I thought i had better look up what the internet says about the orientation of the spinnaker pole beak:-

 

Whisker poles should be flown with the jaws facing down. When taking down a whisker pole, the jib sheet usually wants to drop down-and-out of the end fitting. Spinnaker poles are flown jaws facing up, as the spinnaker sheets usually want to lift up-and-out of the end fitting. 

 

 

Hi Keith,

 

Releasing spinnaker sheets upwards is dangerous. In this case the spi can get wind and start flying like a giant parachute, pulling the now breaching boat, as the halyard and the lee side still connected. I know a boat sunk due this mishap. Similar event pictured here from the 2010 world's championship. Anyway, i found references that spiboom used with upwards looking latch (jaws up) position too, but i would avoid this on my boat for sure.
But i don't want to waste up your build log with my mumbling, also i believe all of you guys have experience sailing smaller or larger boats.

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Veszett Roka

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, Veszett Roka said:

Anyway, i found references that spiboom used with upwards looking latch (jaws up) position too, but i would avoid this on my boat for sure.

 

Veszett,

 

I think I am back where I started and that is upward and downward facing both have advantages and disadvantages.

 

This is also on the net under "how to rig a spinnaker" and shows the jaws facing downward.

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

My experience sailing with a spinnaker involved two Boats, a 34ft Peterson 34 with a masthead rig and a 40ft fractional rig “Screamer 12 Meter” light displacement sport boat.  In neither case did we use the double sheet/ guy arrangement shown in the picture.  On different tacks, the sheet simply became the guy and vice versa.  

 

When dropping the chute by releasing the guy the chute lost its energy, floated back to the lee of the mainsail, and was pulled down by hauling on the sheet.  Once under full control by those in the cockpit it was bundled up and taken below to be repacked.

 

Roger

[KeithAug]

2 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

In neither case did we use the double sheet/ guy arrangement

 

Roger - agreed I have never used the Lazy Guy arrangement. For the record Germania will be rigged with the beak facing upward.

 

 

[Veszett Roka]

15 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

When dropping the chute by releasing the guy the chute lost its energy, floated back to the lee of the mainsail, and was pulled down by hauling on the sheet.  Once under full control by those in the cockpit it was bundled up and taken below to be repacked.

 

It depends on the wind direction. In full backwind run there is no lee side (of course there is, but the spi must be on luv), and sometimes no space to steer the boat closer to the wind, therefore need to collect the spi in full 'energy'. This must be controlled by the sheets behind the foredeck crew and need great attention of the skipper.

I never used the lazy guy configuration either, but seen this one on a 35ft daysailer. Although our soling had double sheets, but the small sets used in very light breeze only when the stronger one kept secured.

Anyways, since the fashion of reachers and fixed bowsprits, our spinnaker knowledge is a bit obsolete.

[Retired guy]

A joy to watch an artist 

 

Regards

Richard

[KeithAug]

Thank you Richard.

 

Soon i am going to need a lot of blocks. Repetition isn't one of my favourite activities so I though I would start the block production line and then do a few at a time as needed.

 

I always read the block making posts of other MSW members with interest, but in the end I come back to what I know. I am therefor repeating the method that I used for Altair with a few slight improvements.

 

I need 3 sizes of .2" .24" and .28" (5mm 6mm 7mm) overall height.

 

I start with a strip of mahogany and glue on to this a further strip which I accurately slot cut on the table saw.

 

 

I then glue on a closing strip.

 

 

I need 3 of these for the 3 sizes required.

 

I then slit off strips with the width being equal to the width of the finished block.

 

 

I then need to drill an axial hole. For this I made a holding jig with slots accurately cut to take the strips pictured above.

 

 

This was fixed with double sided tape to the moveable jaw of the machine vice. This arrangement allowed me to accurately and repeatably drill the axial hole.

 

 

 

I then made a fixture to hold the strips for sanding. This was just a slot in a piece of wood with 1 mm pins to locate the strips.

 

 

 

With the strips mounted the edges of the blocks were rounded using emery paper glued into a circular slot.

 

 

 

At this stage the strips were moved back to the mill and the 2 ends were drilled in various configurations to take attachment fittings.

 

From the strips single double or triple blocks can be cut off as required

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Keith Black]

Keith, great tutorial, the blocks look fantastic. Were you able to find suitable leather for the saddles? 

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

suitable leather for the saddles? 

Keith yes - an old glove.

[BANYAN]

Hi Keith, as usual your workmanship is simply superb.

 

WRT leather, I contacted a local saddler who put me onto their supplier.  After some discussion on what I was trying to achieve, they were able to supply me with some small offcuts of very thin leather which I was able to 'scrape' to get it even finer.  May be worth a try?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

Just checking in, Keith.  Absolutely delightful, as usual.

 

John