HMS Winchelsea by Fred Healey

[jfhealey]

If I press this button will I, I wonder, open a new build log 

[jfhealey]

Ah Ha!

 

Good evening everyone from Cornwall.

 

Now I only have to work out how to post photos.

 

I took Chuck at his word as to the cost of shipping from the USA and bought a Proxxon scroll saw and an 8' x 4' piece of Russian Birch ply (for I guess about the same cost, and began work on January 5. I've broken about 8 blades, exhausted ferocious concentration, still have all my fingers and I'm quietly pleased with the result. I'd put up a picture but that may have to await the return home of one of my children to show me how.

 

Fred 

[jfhealey]

I'm disappointed to see I'm more than 55,900 views behind that fellow Chuck. Still, he started before me.

Fred

[Chuck]

Welcome Fred.....Enjoy the project.   That scroll saw is money well spent.  It opens up a world of possibilities for you now.

 

I just gave you one more view....so you are catching up!!! 

[jfhealey]

Thank you Chuck. I've taken great pleasure following everyone's build logs. I'm very conscious that with only two build to my name - Amati's Lady Nelson and AL's Bounty - I'm batting too high up the order for my skill level but nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

I thought very hard before joining the project. The deciding factor - by a country mile - was having Chuck's guidance at every stage. What a way to learn .

 

Fred

[Chuck]

Im not feeling any pressure.....everything will be fine.

[BobG]

I like your adventurous spirit, Fred! When I get interested in something I tend to jump in with both feet also. I'm currently working on the Medway Longboat and loving it. Reading some of the Winnie build logs has certainly captured my attention and, although I'm holding off right now, I can feel the pull. You seem to have a bit more in depth experience than I do at this point since you have completed the Lady Nelson and the Bounty. I started off with a small AL dory, then I built the Maris Stella Batelina and the Midwest Indian Canoe before beginning the Longboat. I'm sure I'd be in way over my head but I do enjoy being challenged and learning...

 

I'll be following your progress closely on this beautiful ship. Congratulations and good luck!

 

Bob 

[Rustyj]

Welcome aboard Fred. Follow what Chuck says, go slow and enjoy the ride!

[jfhealey]

I've gone off piste a bit - in two respects. First I've inserted plywood fillets between the frames. It does make the whole structure absolutely solid. I hope that will make sanding and planking easier. I haven't the confidence to do either out of a building frame. Secondly I've left off the beautiful Syren laser cut prow. I feel certain I would break it or damage it over the course of sanding. I think I can align it correctly when the time comes.

 

I know if it all goes pear shaped I can simply purchase the Syren bulkhead package but I'm happy going along this way for the moment.

 

Fred

[jfhealey]

I wish looking back I'd taken a little more trouble lining up the outer edges of my plywood fillets. They look scrappy and though they will all be covered up in due course it irritates me. Oh well -live and learn.

 

The last three frames are not yet glued in. I have not filed the rabbet on the BF yet. That's todays job.

Fred

[Chuck]

Nice start!  Keep going.

[jfhealey]

These are all familiar (but not very good - I need to think about my backdrops) pictures.

 

I didn't find the stern frames at all easy. I cut my own bulkheads rather than using the laser cut parts and I found that any slight inaccuracy at the junction of the bulkheads and the bulkhead former produces a big difference at the ends of the frames. But , with slow and steady as my watchwords I filed away and got them I think tolerably well lined up. The stern window guides were essential. The sharp eyed will see I had to push two of the frames over a tiny bit with a brace off the bulkhead former. It all seems OK - the gap around the window aperture is nice and even.

 

I'm not quite sure of the junction between between frames ST C/D and the bottom of the counter/incoming planking. I'm studying all the other build logs. I know I have a couple more bits of wood still to go in. I suspect it becomes clear as you work on it.

 

Faring the outside I thought quite therapeutic. One or two of my bulkhead horns were out - just by a couple of millimetres and only it seems right at the top. I suspect inaccurate filing of the slots in the bulkheads. I will go through and spend as much time as I need making sure everything looks OK before planking otherwise I will, have unwelcome rises and falls.

 

Its blowing a gale and lashing down with rain here in Cornwall (UK) so a good day for some boat building.

 

I'm thoroughly enjoying the project. Thank you Chuck for creating it!

 

Fred

[Chuck]

It looks very good.  Your care in planning has paid off.  It is important at this stage and she looks great!!!

[Mark P]

Hi Fred;

 

I agree with Chuck, it is looking good. However, one thing I can see is nagging at me a bit: are the timbers for the lower cills of the stern windows curving down at the outer end as they should? It might just be the photographs, but they look as though they are all in a straight line, whereas the bottoms of the windows should follow the curve of the upper counter moulding. Unless the timbers I am looking at are just infill pieces, there to help the ply facing piece take on the correct curvature, in which case please ignore my comment and carry on the good work.

 

All the best,

 

Mark P

[jfhealey]

Thank you Chuck.

 

Thank you Mark. I've just been to check.You're right. They are not in a straight line but they do not curve as much as the windows on the laser cut transom piece that covers them and clearly they should. I'm going to have a think about it. I'm not sure it matters. If it does I'll have to get a file out and see what I can do. Good spot and thanks for drawing it to my attention.

 

Fred

[Gregory]

The curve appears to me to be very subtle, unless this is a matter of the angle on this picture.

 

 

Looking back at Chuck's  build log, the curve is really hard to see until the molding is added.

[jfhealey]

It is a very gentle curve. The cills on mine don't curve quite enough. I don't think it matters. We'll see when I come to put the laser cut parts on (the fit seems good). But  it was a silly mistake.

 

I sometimes think I shall make so many mistakes through inexperience that I should buy Chuck's laser cut bulkheads and start a second Winnie running a chapter behind the one I'm presently building. That way I'd hopefully make all the mistakes on the first and have no excuse for going wrong on the second. I shall review at the end of chapter 2!

 

Fred

[jfhealey]

I've put in the additional bits of wood below the counter. I'm happy with the transition from vertical to horizontal where stern post meets counter(having read and re-read stuntflyer mike's log). The outer bottom corner of the counter has a nice definition but not so on the left where I think I over-sanded. My plan is to sand the counter back to the frame on the correct (right hand) side and then trace that over to the left.

[jfhealey]

I made the bollard posts and was quite pleased until I offered them up and found I had not filed anywhere near enough angle. I think I will cut new blanks on the scroll saw with the bed set to the required angle. I can't get the hang of neatly filing it. Then chapter 1 is about done.

Regards to all

Fred

[Chuck]

That looks pretty good to my eye.  Just have to clean up more of that char.   Very nice!!!  I also see some additional fairing needed on those port frames.  But it is shaping up nicely.

[jfhealey]

Thank you Chuck. I'm going along slow and steady!

[jfhealey]

[Chuck]

Very nice....well done on those stern frames.  

[jfhealey]

I went a bit over the top with balsa wood and body filler. I have no confidence in my ability to single plank this ship however. It wasn't much work nor any great cost and it does give me a sporting chance of a half decent outcome. I actually intended only to fill a few bulkheads at the bow but got carried away.

 

I've been spooked by Matthias' problem with the quarter gallery. Matthias/Chuck: I have a 4mm space between the false window and the hull. It's a consistent 4mm form top to bottom (it does not appear so in the photo) and is the same on both sides. Is that enough or should I sand away a little more? Thank you in anticipation of your reply.

 

Fred

[Chuck]

You are good there....its perfect and everything will fit just fine.

[jfhealey]

Thank you Chuck

[jfhealey]

We've had the most wonderful early summer weather here in Cornwall for the past 10 days or so and the forecast is set fair. Cornwall is a holiday destination and the roads and beaches are usually packed over Easter. Instead all is quiet - and the sky over my home, usually criss-crossed with jet airliner vapour trails, is unbroken blue. Stay safe everyone.

 

I've planked one side to  the  bottom of the first belt (and given it two coats of sanding sealer) and the other to two strakes below the wales.

[jfhealey]

I do not have a Jim Byrne's table saw (perhaps for Chuck's next project!) so I used commercially available cherry necessarily, on our side of the pond, in millimetres. I should have taken more care - a lack of experience showing - selecting widths. As it was I planked in 6mm all the way up until the last two where I had to use 8mm. I'm hoping the error will be hidden behind the fancy mouldings and friezes - or perhaps they will make the error more obvious. We will see.

 

I'm pleased with the run of the planks and I have no dips and hollows or corrugations but the edge to edge fit is not great.

 

Chuck's laser cut drop planks went in with no more adjustment than sanding down from imperial to metric.

 

[jfhealey]

I wonder if I have a problem here. Chuck, can you help?

 

The plans show the deflection from a straight line between A and B is, at C, 2.5mm. I must have over vigourously sanded and mine came to 9mm.  Taking the hance pieces as a datum point and assuming I needed to use a plank of constant width as distinct from a tapered one I built up the sheer with limewood strips. So far so good. But am I now too high at the junction with the stern frames. I have not yet got the hang of posting photos in the order I want them but here goes.

I wonder if I've put the window frames in too low. I set the widow sills level with the transition from straight to curved on the stern frame - at the outside. I've lost the photo just at the minute - but this picture shows the result from the inside.

[jfhealey]

Should I cut out the window frames and re-install 3mm or so higher up? That would push the transom piece up by the same amount  which looks to be desirable comparing this picture with your photos in the instructions. The top of the blank window, as far as I can make out from your pictures is a clear plank or so higher than the top of the doorway to the quarter gallery. Mine as you can see is about two thirds of a plank's width. Pushing the window frames up would fix that, but am I, I wonder making another problem. All of this comes, I'm sure, from multiple little inaccuracies throughout.