20' Chesapeake Sharpie by Jim Cricket - 1:8 - from H.I. Chapelle

[Jim Cricket]

Here’s a new model project I’ve started while sequestered at home, and locked out of our commercial millwork shop, and the boat shop. I’m building the Chesapeake Sharpie-20’ Class, designed by H. I. Chapelle, and found in “Boatbuilding, pg. 291. This particular boat was designed as a pleasure boat, but modeled closely after the Hooper Island double ended crab skiffs. These boats were also used as gunning skiffs, and of course were raced with big summer rigs as well.

I’ve long been interested in working smallcraft, power and sail, and have built quite a few full size boats for myself. The latest is a 23’ deadrise outboard power skiff. I also have built and sailed extensively, a 16’ crab skiff, though not a double ender like the model I’m presenting.  I drew a sloop rig for Cricket, which is very similar to the Chapelle double ender, but in the end I used the cat rig.

 

 

I’ve always loved the double ended Chesapeake sharpies, and chose this model from Chapelle’s “Boatbuilding”. I ordered the 3 sheet plan set from the Smithsonian a few years ago, and the drawings have been tucked away in a flat file until now. The lines and construction set are at a 1:12 scale, but I like bigger models, so I have re-lofted the lines at 1:8 which will give me a model nearly 40” long from bow sprit to rudder tip. I will spar the boat, for sure, but haven’t decided about making a set of sails yet. I’m fortunate to have bought a set of ships curves, splines, and lead ducks (as well as a planimeter) back in the pre-computer days. That stuff is gold these days. I use them all the time.

Before the NYC lockdown, I ran out to the boat shop and milled up a boat’s worth of scale parts from oak, ash, pine, and WR cedar. I would use juniper if I had some, but I have a pile of the WR stuff, so I’ll plank with that. I also managed to scare up a small job site table saw, which I tuned up and have stashed under the back porch. I could use more tiny tools, but I do have some small Japanese back saws, detail chisels, and files.

I lofted the lines on a sheet of white-painted masonite. I’ve drawn the body plan in Vector Works on the computer, because the sections are all straight lines. I made some very small corrections to the stations after laying down the longitudinals, and corrected the table of offsets. These are very minor tweaks for fairness. You’ll notice a little unfairness in the sheer on the body plan, but I know the half breadths are correct and fair, and I can adjust the heights of the sheer clamp on the set up.

 

I approach models just like I do a full size boat, so I made a strong back with cross spalls to carry the molds or frames. The strong back is lofted right on the lines layout, as can be seen in my murky pictures. Normally, a cross planked boat is set up on molds, and the chines, sheer clamps, and keelson are sprung over the molds and temporarily fastened. After planking, the molds are released from underneath, and the boat is turned over then framed out. This presents a dilemma in a model with a full interior. It’s not easy to fasten the longitudinals without gluing. There is a lot of force from beveling and planking which can move the pieces around. But after some thought and help from John Earl, I went ahead with mold construction.

I brought home a cheap little Delta benchtop table saw, cleaned it up, and put a fine toothed skilsaw blade on. I have to say it works great, and much better than expected. I also made a table for my upside down Bosch jig saw, used as a poor man’s scroll saw. It’s a little rough, but adequate for now. I’ve ordered some diamond files, machinist’s clamps, and spring tweezers.

I’m just getting going on this, so I may be a little slow in posting.

Forgive my wordiness. I love writing about this stuff!

 

[ccoyle]

This should be a treat to watch!

[thibaultron]

I'm in! Great looking subject.

[Jim Cricket]

I’ve got all the molds cut out now and beveled, and I’ve set them up on the strong back. I probably could just as well have left them unbeveled, and set them up on the other side of their respective station lines. I usually do this with full size boats, but for some reason I decided to bevel them for better contact with the planking.

I also decided to make a plumb cut on the moulds from the sheer clamp notch, to hopefully facilitate lifting the model straight up off the moulds after planking. we’ll see how this pans out.

I’m gluing the moulds to the strong back, and installing braces after carefully squaring them up plumb from the base.

 

Another thing I like to do with full size boats, is to erect a fore and aft stem mould. This puts the stem (and stern post in a double ender) in the correct position, and helps fair the keelson at the very ends of the boat. It’s a little bit in the way for some operations, but I think it’s worth holding the stem steady. We’ll see.

I like to trace parts on mylar or vellum from the lofting, and then use a push pin to transfer the lines to the stock. For linear parts, this is simple. Curved parts require more pin pricks. I find this method to be accurate. You can just see some of the pin pricks in this photo of the bow stem.

I’ll probably regret it, but I’m cutting the backbone pieces out of oak. A mix of red and white, whatever I could find in the scrap pile. We’ll see how hard it is to bevel. I can lay out some of the bevels and cut them on the bench before installing them on the strong back. The keelson has been sawn out and faired, but I have to cut the ends where it fairs into stem and stern. I think I will loft the ends a little more carefully in Vectorworks, so I can see better what is going on. It’s a bit of a muddle on the lofting. I can isolate specific views in the computer. i’m trying to get bevel info on the stems in particular.

Anyway, moving onward. Oh, and I received my first model specific tools today. A pair of machinist’s clamps. I call them handscrews. These are 2”ers. Still to come are tweezers and a set of diamond files.

Thanks for looking.

Cricket

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by Jim Cricket
misplaced images

[Jim Cricket]

First, I want to thank Chris and Ron for their replies earlier. I appreciate it!

 

I finally seem to be making a little visible progress. I lofted the stem bevels in Vectorworks, and also came up with at least a preliminary shape for the keelson ends.

For the stem bevels, I tried clamping them a couple of different ways so I could plane or chisel them, but finally just clamped a block plane in the vise and used it like a jointer, running the stems over the blade at a skewed angle which worked very well, even for the bow stem which has some curvature.

After some fooling around, I got the stem and stern post anchored well enough that I could glue the keelson down to them. I made little forks that lock them in place at the strongback, but had to add a little birdsmouth jig to fit the stem bevels. I split the first one, and had to drill little relief holes at the vee, which solved the problem.

After realizing that the stems were not wide enough to land the chine logs and sheer clamps on, I added small blocks on the stems’ inboard edges to give a good gluing surface for the long, compound bevels on the chines and clamps. I did this as well on the 23’ deadrise skiff we recently built (see the pics below). On the model, I could just as well have made the stems wider to start with. They will be hidden under the decks. Then I had to notch the stem moulds for the add-ons, and now I’ll have to figure out how to cut those molds out of the way so I can lift the hull off later. BTW, I’m making the stems in two pieces, inner and outer, which was fairly typical Chesapeake construction according to Chapelle. I always do my full size boats that way, too.

The 3 pics directly above are the from the Point Comfort 23 construction log. Stem "blips" as I call them were added to provide bearing surface for the chines. The first pic also shows a widening at the sheer for the clamps, and the last pic above shows the transition from overlap of bottom plank to butt, at about station 1.

 

The compound bevels on the chines and clamps were relatively easy to cut. I’ve cut enough of those in real life that I can go about it without much back and forth. Getting those pieces to lay flat in the mould notches is another story. I think I’ve come up with a method for that, which I’ll try before beveling and fairing begins.

 

At any rate, the chines and clamps are glued on, and the backbone is complete. I have not yet cut the centerboard slot. I probably should do that before the bottom planking goes on. But that’s later.

I know this a fairly simple simple project, compared to many. But I am challenged! I’ve already realized a dozen things I would do differently next time. That’s progress, I guess. Thanks for looking.

 

[Jim Cricket]

I mentioned before that my chine and sheer clamps are a little “floaty” in their notches, which makes it frustrating for fairing. I suppose I could have laminated those parts from 2, thinner pieces which might help them retain the necessary twist. Is this common practice? At any rate, in an attempt to stabilize them, I drilled little holes in the parts close to the moulds, knotted a thread, and pulled the knot, with glue, into the hole. I then wrapped the loose end around a screw driven into the mould, pulling in and down at the same time. It helps, but doesn’t completely solve the problem.

 

After rigging the threads, I went ahead and beveled/faired the chines and sheer. I’m still futzing with the bevels on the keelson and chines up in the very ends, and likely won’t resolve those spots until after the side planks are on. I have to establish the point of transition from overlap to butt at the sides, too.

With most of the beveling done, I spiled the first side plank. This I did with a spare piece of planking stock, clamping it on the boat with no edge set, letting the ends drop where they naturally wanted to lay. I put a tick mark on the mould centers, then used a 3/4” wide rule with the top edge set up to the chine line, and marked the bottom edge on the spile board at several locations along the hull.

I then layed the spile board on a piece of planking, and repeated the process in reverse, marking location, and span with the same rule. Then I laid out a fair curve with spline and ducks, as usual.

In cutting the plank out on my jigsaw table, I split the plank (the jigsaw is a little brutal). But I glued the split back together, and will use that as a pattern for both sides. That’s where I’m at right now. Today I hope to get the side planks installed.

These descriptions are, I’m sure, old hat for you builders with tons of experience. I’m hoping that other scratch build beginners like me might find some of it useful. Particularly the mistakes! Thanks for looking.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Jim Cricket
pics out of order

[VTHokiEE]

1 hour ago, Jim Cricket said:

 

What tools am I looking at here? I am not one with tons of experience 🙂.

Edited April 10, 2020 by VTHokiEE

[Jim Cricket]

That's a plastic flexible spline, and a set of spline weights sometimes called "ducks" though they look like whales. They are used for drawing curves on the drafting table. In this case, the spline is turned on it's side because it is stiffer that way, but they are normally used flipped up 90 deg. There is a little groove in the top of the spline that takes the nose of the duck. Splines used to be wood, of course, and were sometimes tapered for variable flexibility. These tools are used in conjunction with a set of ships curves. Here's a pretty good blog entry about the drafting from designer Robert Perry.

[Jim Cricket]

Got the side planks glued on today. This is a two plank per side boat, being low of freeboard, like all traditional sharpies, and from a time where wide, flitch sawn boards were available. I did the same thing with the model, but rather than hang two, separate planks, I got out the lower plank (not really called a garboard plank in a vee bottom hull) with the chine edge cut to shape and the upper edge left straight, then glued another straight edge plank to the first, and cut the sheer shape on the upper edge of that. I then was able to install the whole thing like a sheet of plywood. I was careful however, to make the sheer plank a sensible width, and keep both sides the same in case the seam shows up, or I decide to express the seam somehow. The lower plank sweeps up pretty high on the stem and stern post with the two planks nearly equal in width amidship. I’m pretty sure this is how the boat would have been planked. The lower plank can be cut from a 12”-14” wide board. No sweat in them days. And even now, clear eastern white pine can be found that wide. At any rate, I think the plank seam is visible in some of the pics.

 

I left the planks a tad wide, rehung them on the boat, and marked them out again, marking also the other edges of the chine, sheer clamps, and stems, so I would know where to put the glue.

I used Titebond for gluing them on, as I wanted enough working time to get everything just right, and the clamps on. I found these little plastic spring clamps at Harbor Freight. Six for $1.99. Bought a bag full of various clamps for $12.00. The ends of the planks are tricky to clamp, just like on full size boats, and the second one is worse than the first. I used sticky back sandpaper on little cauls to grab the planking, and it worked well enough. A better solution would be tapered cauls with sandpaper glued on with Titebond.

 

 

 

 

I

This is a milestone of sorts, and I finally think I’m making some progress. Bottom planking is next, Chesapeake style. Stay tuned.

 

[FriedClams]

Just found this build log Jim and I've enjoyed reading through your progress so far.  I really like small working/pleasure craft and this Chapelle Sharpie is a beauty.  The fact that you're building her much the same way the full sized boat would be adds to the interest.

 

On 4/1/2020 at 10:00 AM, Jim Cricket said:

Forgive my wordiness. I love writing about this stuff!

Most of us love reading about this stuff.

 

On 4/6/2020 at 9:37 AM, Jim Cricket said:

I know this a fairly simple simple project, compared to many. But I am challenged! I’ve already realized a dozen things I would do differently next time. That’s progress, I guess.

I've never know a modeler who has made a perfect model or wouldn't do things differently next time - the journey of improvement is part of the fun.

 

Very nice work and looking forward to future posts.

 

Gary

[Jim Cricket]

Gary, thanks for looking in. Your reply made my day! I'm just starting in on your salmon wherry log, and I'm finding your approach similar to mine. a fan of John Gardner as well.

Thanks again,

Cricket

[Jim Cricket]

Quick post today. I got the centerboard slot cut. Basically burned my way through with a Dremel metal cutoff wheel (I don’t have the little sawblade kit yet), and cleaned up with a sharp

chisel.

I then started bottom planking with the typical Chesapeake herringbone pattern. This allows the planks, at least away from the extreme ends, to lie nicely on the chine and keelson. The faying surface is nice and flat, and I’m making good contact with the planks. I started roughly amidship, and I’m working towards each end simultaneously. I put on a temporary keel (skeg and fore gripe) to butt the planking against, then realized that is probably a mistake, so I’ve stopped planking and I’m getting out the skeg, gripe, and outer stems now, which I’ll go ahead and fasten in permanently before I continue. I'll still have to fit a temporary piece in the centerboard slot to butt the planks against, but there's less risk of gluing that in by mistake, which is what I was worried about before.

 

I’ve been busy as well with other distractions, but I’m free now for a few days to concentrate again on the model. I’ll continue the bottom planking later. Its getting more fun now, and as always, thanks for looking in.

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Jim Cricket
typos

[Jim Cricket]

Skeg, foregripe, and stems are fitted and glued on. That was a bit of a chore, when I’m anxious to get planked up, but its done.

I use this Versa Vise knockoff above quite a bit. It's an import, but works well. The bowstem is clamped up here to tune up the fit.

While I was staring at the ends of the boat, and thinking about the staving to come, I started cutting and fitting staves to see how it might go. Boy, this is difficult. Way harder than any lapstrake planking I’ve done. I’m almost reluctant to show the pictures, because the difficulty is so apparent. I like the process of boat building to at least appear like it was no sweat, but not so here. I know I can make things look good in the end, but seeing how the sausage is made can be brutal (and photography at this scale is pretty unflattering). Anyway, I’m having to resort to a little filler. I think I’ll get better at it. I’ve got 3 more quadrants to go. The staving in a deadrise boat has to be worked thick, and hewn out on the inside to address the twist, then dubbed off on the outside as well. The pieces are so tiny that they are hard to grip, plus the bevels on each end make them get too short real quick. I think I’ll try chunks rather than staving next time. But, I’m clear to finish planking the bottom now, working from amidship towards each end. There’s a lot of easy, repetitive planking to accomplish. I can switch back and forth from that, to hair pulling at the ends of the boat.

Thanks for looking.

[Voyageur]

Looks great. I love the design of this little boat. It is one I could see myself doing someday. I get in this hobby intent on getting a big ship model but I find myself distracted by the small craft. I'll continue watching your build with interest.

[Jim Cricket]

We are all planked up. That was a lot of work, for a relatively simple boat. I believe that I could build a full size boat in about the same amount of time. Same number of parts, anyway. There are 120 planks in the bottom of this 20’ crab skiff!

The nice flat run of planking was pretty easy, but as I got near the ends there was a bit of twist, so I had to rip some thicker planking stock, and carve a little relief in the undersides so the planks would sit flat on the chines and keelson. I planked all 4 corners with staving, then planked the bottom to within one plank, and cut a tapered “shutter” that was a tight fit. That was satisfying, driving the last one of those up tight.

 

There was quite a bit of shaping to do on the outside in the ends, to fair in the thicker staving, and to maintain a clean, fair rabbet and chine. For the chine, I connected the line at the stem to the fair run of planking with a batten, and penciled in a line, then with a sharp chisel, pared the planks down to the line.

I had to resort to some filler, but I thought it more important to have a fair hull.

I think that I will scribe a line at the plank seams so they will show up under paint. For the bottom planking, I’ll let a little darker paint fill the scribed lines to show them up. Most deadrise boats that I’ve looked at up close show pretty pronounced plank seams, where the bottom paint is worn but the seams have stayed dark red copper. For sure I don’t want the boat to look like plywood, after I’ve gone to the trouble of laying traditional plank!

 

At this point, I need to finish sanding all over, and I’ll go ahead and use gesso primer on the hull, before I flip her over. Plus, I’ll get my waterline scribed while I have the boat all leveled on the jig. Thanks for tuning in.

 

[Jim Cricket]

We are primed, and the waterline marked. First pic below shows 1 coat, before sanding. I added more filler in places after this coat.

I set up my laser to shoot the waterline, blocking it up until I was even with the building strongback on the bench. Then I shimmed the strongback up level with the laser line.

At that point, I just measured up from the strongback to a point on the hull that corresponded to the designed waterline, and then added blocks and paper shims under the laser to get us up to the marked DWL, and put a row of pencil ticks along the hull, repeated on the other side.

I used a batten to mark the line, sheering the line slightly at the ends, about a scale 3/4”. Just enough to give a little lift, so it doesn’t appear to droop.

 

I won’t paint the bottom yet. I need to get some paints together and make some test panels. To that end, I prepped a few boards.

I think I’ll be using Golden acrylics, because I have a good collection of colors, and I think we have some matte medium and retarder, etc. around the house. I’d like to try the Vallejo paint, but don’t want to spend the $ right now. Golden is pretty good paint. I have some tube, and some liquid acrylics. At any rate, first it’s time to flip and work on the interior!

 

[Jim Cricket]

Flipping the model is a bit less of a project than rolling a full size boat upright. Before pulling it off of the jig, I fitted a pair of cradles to set the boat into, which will get screwed down to the platform.

The boat popped right off, though it must have been stuck in one place, as there was a loud pop as it came free. But no problems anywhere, and the model is rigid, and holds it’s shape. I left the jig intact, so that once the inside is sanded, I can put it back in to mark station locations from which to measure my interior frames and bulkheads, etc.

 

 

There is the inevitable squeeze out between bottom planks, but hopefully it won’t be too hard to clean up. Except for the area either side of the centerboard trunk, there is either a deck, or a cockpit sole, so the interior bottom is not real visible. I’ll clean it up, but not get too crazy with it.

Now the real work begins.

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Jim Cricket
Spelling

[John Cheevers]

Jim,

 

This is a really nice build, and an excellent photographic record. Can't wait until you reach the rigging...

 

John

[Jim Cricket]

Thanks for the comment, John. And thanks to those looking in and hitting the like button!

 

I had a bit of work to get the planking at the sheer cut down and fair with the sheer clamp, and with the correct bevel. My usual procedure is to make a master deck crown template, and use that everywhere to set the sheer bevel. That doesn’t work on all decks, like turtle backs, or decks with a variable crown, but for many traditional, half decked boats, it works fine. For the model, I went a step further and lined the radius edge with 120 grit sandpaper, so that once the sheer is close I can use the radius block like an automatic fairing tool. It can be used side to side, and fore and aft. As long as the plane doesn’t over cut the bevel, the sanding tool does a great job of hitting the bevels exactly.

 

With that done, I turned to the framing layout. After thinking about this design for a while, I decided to make some small changes in the layout, to suit myself, as if I were building this full size skiff for my own use. This is not a set of lines taken from an existing hull as Chapelle often did, but a new design of his based on the double ended crab skiffs of the day. Also, this is clearly a yacht, rather than a working boat, so I wanted to make it comfortable. I am eliminating the bridge deck, and fitting in it’s place a thwart, set a little lower down. This makes possible a set of rowlocks, and opens up the forward area somewhat. Also, I’m coupling the floor framing with the side frames, rather than space them as shown in Chapelle’s drawings. The interval is still very close to that detailed, and the structure is stronger. It makes sense to locate a floor and frame at each end of the centerboard trunk, tying those structures together. The frames at the forward end of the trunk will also be tied to the deck beam that defines the aft end of the forward deck. Likewise, I put a set of frames at the aft deck opening. Without the bridge deck, the floorboards can be continuous, and I set them up so that the tops of all the floor framing is coplanar. So there is now a 12’ stretch of flat, unbroken sole for the entire length of the cockpit. To do that, I took the midship floor height off of the drawings, then used a straight edge to locate the tops of the foremost and aftermost floors at equal heights, and in line with the midship floor. My crab skiff Cricket has a sole like this, and I loved it.

So I’ve got the layout figured, and I’m busy with the fiddly job of fitting all the framing. This vee bottom is pretty simple, and I use a temporary pattern “bulkhead” clamped to a little block that is held to the keelson with a drop of glue. I use a little gauge of consistent width to create offset lines which I then transfer to my framing stock. On a full size boat, I use little tabs and hot glue, but that is not practical here. I think my method is apparent from the pics.

 

 

Fitting frames and bulkheads to a round bilged, lapstrake hull is another matter entirely. This one is comparatively easy. Note the pics of frame templates, and finished frames in my Matinicus Double Ender, below.

So I’ve got a bit of work ahead of me, before I can begin the deck framing. I realized that in my haste, I had forgotten to cut limbers in the floors at the keelson, so I’ll have to go back and put them in where I’ve forgotten them. They are curiously absent from the otherwise well detailed Chapelle drawings.

Stay tuned….
Cricket

 

[Roger Pellett]

I’m not suggesting that you change your beautiful model, this is only boat building trivia.

 

The Chesapeake Bay builders were fond of using “chunks” of wood carved to shape to avoid having to plank difficult areas, particularly at the ends.  Is this what Chapelle is showing on his drawing on the boats ends?

 

Roger

[Jim Cricket]

Hi Roger,

Yes, Chapelle shows chunks, but my assumption was that most recent boats ( by that I mean mid 20th c.) were staved instead of chunked. The chunks were a holdover from earlier times. Larry Chowning in his book "Deadrise and Cross Planked" states that head blocks or "chunks" were a holdover from log canoe days, and that builders soon went to staves. However, I realized after planking the ends of this model that chunks in this particular case might be preferable, because the staves are so short. The chine in this case does not climb very high on the stem. Also, I couldn't get my mind around the junction of the head block, chine logs, and keelson. Most bateaux, and other deadrise boats after about 1940(?) were staved up, and some like Maryland crab scrapes were even planked fore and aft right up in the bow. This pic below is of a Carl Pedersen built bateau that Joe Gregory drew in the early 70's that is now in the Deltaville museum. So, I think there are examples of both. I'd like to ask John England (Deltaville boat shop manager and board member) his opinion about staving vs. head block construction for some of the lower chined boats like this one.

 

 

At any rate, I appreciate the discussion about this or anything else that comes to mind. I think that if I build a model from the Chapelle bateau drawings that I have in my flat files, I'll try the chunks.

Thanks!

[Jim Cricket]

A quick post this evening. The frames and floors are in, except in way of the centerboard trunk. Those floors will butt the bed logs, so I wanted the trunk in place first. There will be two sets of frames left.

I laid the trunk drawing out on a piece of vellum, overlaid on the lofting, and built the trunk right on top of the drawing.

The head ledges were cut out and held in place with the trusty old lead ducks. Those things are as handy as a flashlight to have around for things other than drafting.

I glued the top two planks of the case sides on first, with the ledges spaced carefully apart, then the thicker bed log (scribed to fit the keelson’s curvature), then last a tapered plank to close the trunk side. The ducks again hold the parts in place while the glue sets.

After gluing the first side, I trimmed the ends of the planks flush, and cut the top of the ledges. It slipped into the keelson notches without too much fussing.

 

 

So I still have to plank the other side, and try hard to not forget about the PIVOT BOLT before I install the trunk! That would be a problem to get right after the fact. I will have to decide how I want to engineer the pivot. I have my own method, which involves plumbing nipples and caps, and works great, but might not be period appropriate.

I welcome any comments or criticism. Thanks for looking.

 

[Jim Cricket]

I had to take a couple of days away from the model to work in the garden while we had a weather window, but the roses are all tied up, and the grass is cut. I got the centerboard trunk completed, but I wanted to get the board itself cut out and glued up, so I could drill both it and the trunk for the pivot rod at the same time. Then, while I was at it, I decided to get the rudder made as well, since some of the operations on the table saw were similar.

The centerboard handle and lower end both run across the grain of the long planks. In the original construction of these boards, all the pieces were drifted together with steel or bronze rod (steel, more likely). For the model, I decided to spline the assemblies together. I could probably have just glued these end grain to long grain parts, but why not do it right? My thin kerf blade is about 3/32”, and the board about 7/32”, so it would just work, with enough meat outboard of the spline kerf.

 

The spline is evident in the above pic.

 

All of my stock was rough edged, so I made a little jointer again with the block plane in a vise, and a fence clamped to the plane. With tape shims, I can control the angle of the cut pretty well.

I got all of the parts for both centerboard and rudder cut, jointed, and splined, then glued them up. The rudder on the Chapelle drawing is shown at 1:8, so all I had to do there was trace it onto vellum. I used only one of my curves for all of the rudder. Trusty old #53 gets used a lot. The centerboard had to be redrawn at the proper scale, however.

 

To locate the pivot point for the trunk and board, I put my vellum layout right on top of them and marked the centers for both with a push pin.

 

My pivot at the moment is a piece of 1/8” bronze rod. I’d like to use a small bolt with nut and washers, but it looks like I have to order 25 of each of them, which will cost a fortune. I may end up just gluing the rod in place after I assemble it all permanently, as it actually looks okay in the boat.

 

Anyway, I checked the pivot geometry with the board in the trunk, then assured myself that I could install the board from the bottom, after the boat is completed. I’ll now go ahead and glue the trunk in permanently. I can cut out the finished rudder, and shape both of the foils later. For now, I want to get back on the interior.
Thanks!

 

[Jim Cricket]

Sand-paint, sand-paint, sand-paint. It’s as time consuming as a big boat. But I got the interior, sans floorboards all done. I have
2 coats of gesso primer inside, leaving or sanding bare the frame heads and tops of floor timbers for glue adhesion later.

I pulled our Golden acrylic arsenal out of the closet and mixed a light grey for the interior. I ordered a pint of matte medium, to knock the shine off, but it won’t arrive until next week, but I found a bottle of matte varnish which I’ll use (on a test board first) to knock the slight sheen back. I’m so used to the beautiful soft gloss I get from marine alkyds on the big boats, and I hope I can achieve something similar here, but the acrylics are hard to handle, at least for me. I think I’ll have to move up to airbrushing if I want the perfect finish, though. But not on this model, with no $$ coming in.

 

The first grey I mixed ended up a little too subtle against what will be white decks, so I had to darken it a few steps. I also added some raw sienna for a little warmth. Probably could go further in that direction, but I don’t want to get too tricky with it. Greys and whites are complex, and tough to mix and match.

 

I think I should get the floorboards installed before deck framing, as that will be easier, but to do that I have to shape, paint, and install the centerboard. Another project in and of itself. so that is next.
Thanks for looking!

 

 

[thibaultron]

Even in the commercial world, gray is difficult between batches.

 

About 40 years ago, there was an interesting joke going around about military radar installations.   The US Military has standard colors, with associated color chip sets. In this case a General got it in his head to compare the interiors of the radar installations, with the associated gray chip. Of course the facilities all had slight variations, and he went ballistic! He ordered all of them repainted to the correct color, leaving them a standard chip to use as reference. After the specified time he reinspected, and once again all failed, but for one.  The others got in trouble, but the one that passed was commended. After ward the other facilities asked the sergeant in charge, how he got the color right. He replied, I repainted the chip, when I repainted the equipment!

[Jim Cricket]

Heh heh, I've been known to be "creative" in regards to millwork finish samples in the fussy NYC cabinetry world, too. Sometimes you have to find the spot where the light works to your advantage, before calling the architect and client over.

[Jim Cricket]

I went ahead and fitted the floorboards, before working on the centerboard. This will give me a chance to get them painted before installing. This pic shows them just sitting there, so not properly spaced and fastened down yet.

In actual practice on a big boat, I would make a portion removable with buttons or whatever, to inspect the bilge easily. The pic below shows our deadrise skiff floor, with cleated center section, removable with turn buttons. Those oiled floorboards have since been painted. I'll paint the sharpie model floorboards as well, because I think the typical boats of the era would have them painted.

Moving on...

 

 

 

 

 

[davec]

Hi Jim - Just went back and reread your build log.  Amazing work.  Your sharpie is really coming along beautifully.  I'm also really impressed at your building pace - your first post was 4/1.  My copy of Chapelle's boatbuilding finally came in the mail, a little delayed by COVID.  I like how many of the original building practices you've used.

 

Dave

[Moab]

Jim; I’m a real novice when it comes to building real boats (and often model boats) but I’m really enjoying your build. Great photos, explanations and craftsmanship ...Moab

[thibaultron]

Great work! I look forward to further posts.