Clipper d'Argenteuil by G.L. - scale 1/15 - POF - SMALL

[G.L.]

Today it is Sunday and also the first day of Springtime. A perfect day to start a new log for a new project. 
A small remark before starting:
This will be a log for Sunday sailors and freshwater mariners.😁

 

I think this will be a fairly long project. Below you will find the impetus for the index. As the log grows, this index will grow with it and allow to quickly navigate to the desired paragraph.

 

Index

Chapter I. Introduction

Chapter II. Hull 
1. The building board

2. Making of the frames

3. Keel, stem and rudder post

4. Horn timbers

5. Transom

6. The wales

7. Planking the hull

8. Floor timbers

9. Centerboard case and Centerboard

10. Bottom boards

11. Thwart

12. Cockpit coaming

13. Mast tabernacle

14. Step of the mast and peripherals

15. Bulkhead

16. After deck beams

17. Assembly of the prepared sections

18. Laying the deck

19. Rudder and tiller

Charter III. Spars and rigging

1. Blocks

2. Cleats

3. Bowsprit (jib boom)

4. Mast

 

 

Chapter IV. Sails

Chapter V. Conclusions

[G.L.]

Chapter I. Introduction

 

 

It is already a year ago that I bought this monograph of 'Ancre' publications. Since a couple of months it is laying on my desk waiting for me until I have enough courage to start with it because it seems to me to be a project of high difficulty. A few weeks ago I made my decision and bought the necessary wood.
It is the first time that I have purchased an Ancre monograph, so I was very curious. It is a study, written by Mr Bruno Orsel about the 'Clipper d'Argenteuil', a small open regatta sail boat for use on inland waters. Mr Orsel calls his model 'Louise', but that is a fictional vessel. His model is not the reproduction of a specific clipper d'Argenteuil, but a thorough study of the boat type.

The photo above comes from the website of Ancre publications and suggests that the monograph is a voluminous book. In reality it is only half as thick as it looks in the picture. However the folder contains a booklet with a lot of nice drawings, 3D images and color pictures of the model with a detailed description of all plans and, very important, 10 very detailed plans in 1/15 scale.

Before I discovered this monograph I did not know the type of vessel at all. I was immediately struck by its elegance. It reminded me of the sandbagger of which I read the construction log on this forum months ago. The plans are drawn on a scale of 1/15. This is perfectly within the range of scale I enjoy working with. Mr Orsel built his model as a semi-open model. That is also something that attracts me enormously.

Everything I know about the clipper d'Argenteuil comes from the monograph. Here is a very brief summary:

In the second half of the nineteenth century the rail network began to expand in France. It became easy for the Parisians to leave the city. It was the 'Belle Époque' when townspeople began to appreciate the countryside. Many of the Parisian bourgeoisie took the train with their families at the end of the week and arrived half an hour later in the small villages on the banks of the Seine to spend the weekend. A lot of them practiced water sports: swimming, rowing or sailing in the Seine.
One of those villages was Argenteuil where the river Seine was about 200 meters wide and there were no obstacles like bridges for over a distance of 10 km. The 'Bassin d'Argenteuil' was an ideal place to organize sail regattas.
(Painting: 'Le Bassin d'Argenteuil' by Claude Monet property: Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

Originally they sailed with uncomplicated small sailing boats, but in 1850 a member of 'Le Cercle de Voiles de Paris' participated at the races with an American sandbagger 'Le Margot' and was joined some years later by a catboat (also imported from the United States) the 'New York'.  The ordinary sailing boats were no longer a match for these super-fast competitors. The more affluent club members had new boats designed by local yards. They used the sandbagger and the catboat as a base for their designs. The Clipper d'Argenteuil' was born.
(source drawing: publicity brochure Ancre publications)

One wealthy club member, the impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte spent fortunes designing and building increasingly high-performance racing yachts. Between 1878 and 1880 he had three consecutively built. When the last one, the Condor, did not win during its first participation in the regatta, he rigged the yacht with silk sails. With this secret weapon, the yacht beat all opposition in the next race.
(Photos: Gustave Caillebotte and yacht Condor with silk sails)
       
Clippers d'Argenteuil, painted by Gustave Caillebotte

The 'Lison' standard example of a clipper d'Argenteuil (source: 'Manual of yacht and boat sailing' by Dixon Kemp).

I don't know if there are still sail regattas on the basin d'Argenteuil. I visited Argenteuil on Google Earth and I have the impression that the village has been absorbed in the last 150 years by the expansion of the Paris metropolis. It doesn't look as idyllic as it did when Claude Monet had his floating painting studio there. But maybe I am mistaken because I have never actually been there.
(Screenshot Google Earth)

Mr Orsel he based his study on the clipper 'Argenteuil on drawings that appeared in the magazine of le Cercle de voile de Paris and on yacht models of the 'Musée de la Marine'.
(Image extract promotion brochure monograph Ancre)

This is the model, built by Mr Orsel. I hope my model can approach this standard somewhat.
(Image extract promotion brochure monograph Ancre)

Now it's time to stop dreaming and get started so that I can show something tangible next week.

 

Till next week!

Edited March 22, 2021 by G.L.

[wefalck]

Nice to see a project here on this Ancre monograph. I had the opportunity to see the original (I mean the model) LOUISE at the big model exhibition organised by the Association des Amis du Musée de la Marine (AAMM) in Rochefort in October 2018. A splendid model.

 

I have completed a few months ago a manuscript for a three part series of articles on 'Boating on the Seine in the Age of Impressionism' for the German quarterly Das LOGBUCH. The first part is with the printers. The third part on sailing will appear in autumn. As a matter of fact, I live about 12 km away from Argenteuil ...

 

The Bassin d'Argenteuil is not the part upstream of the railway bridge of Argenteuil, but the stretch of the river below, reaching down to Bougival, where the weir is located that created the bassin. The area between Argenteuil and Bezons has been quite industrialised already at the time in question. After all, this is where the Caillebotte family made their money, which allowed Gustave and his brother to live the life of gentlemen of leisure (though the Caillebottes still looked after their business), leaving behind a signifcant cultural footprint in sailing (Gustave was a founding member of the French sailing club), painting and art collection (Gustave's collection was the seed to what is now the Musée d'Orsay in Paris), and philately (the Caillebotte collection became after their sale by the brothers the core of the philately department of the British Museum in London).

 

Chatou was one of the focal points of the rowing and sailing activities on the Seine. Remember Renoir's 'Lunch of the Rowers' / 'Dejeuner des canotiers' ? It was painted there on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise, a popular restaurant. Today, there is a museum in part of the building. Next door to it, there is the boat-house of the Association Sequana (https://sequana.org/), which has 'clipper' and a copy of one of the boats Caillebotte designed, had built in his own yard, and sailed on the river.

 

I am looking forward to the development of this project !

 

[G.L.]

10 hours ago, wefalck said:

Nice to see a project here on this Ancre monograph. I had the opportunity to see the original (I mean the model) LOUISE at the big model exhibition organised by the Association des Amis du Musée de la Marine (AAMM) in Rochefort in October 2018. A splendid model.

 

I have completed a few months ago a manuscript for a three part series of articles on 'Boating on the Seine in the Age of Impressionism' for the German quarterly Das LOGBUCH. The first part is with the printers. The third part on sailing will appear in autumn. As a matter of fact, I live about 12 km away from Argenteuil ...

 

The Bassin d'Argenteuil is not the part upstream of the railway bridge of Argenteuil, but the stretch of the river below, reaching down to Bougival, where the weir is located that created the bassin. The area between Argenteuil and Bezons has been quite industrialised already at the time in question. After all, this is where the Caillebotte family made their money, which allowed Gustave and his brother to live the life of gentlemen of leisure (though the Caillebottes still looked after their business), leaving behind a signifcant cultural footprint in sailing (Gustave was a founding member of the French sailing club), painting and art collection (Gustave's collection was the seed to what is now the Musée d'Orsay in Paris), and philately (the Caillebotte collection became after their sale by the brothers the core of the philately department of the British Museum in London).

 

Chatou was one of the focal points of the rowing and sailing activities on the Seine. Remember Renoir's 'Lunch of the Rowers' / 'Dejeuner des canotiers' ? It was painted there on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise, a popular restaurant. Today, there is a museum in part of the building. Next door to it, there is the boat-house of the Association Sequana (https://sequana.org/), which has 'clipper' and a copy of one of the boats Caillebotte designed, had built in his own yard, and sailed on the river.

 

I am looking forward to the development of this project !

 

Eberhard,

I know the original Louise model only from the photos in the monograph, but I agree that it is a splendid model. Mr Orsel must be a master modeler.  I will do my best to make my model as good as possible but I realize that I cannot achieve such a degree of perfection.

Thank you very much for clarifying the clipper d'Argenteuil and the era. I was not aware that anyone with local knowledge of the site and the subject would read this log. It will certainly stimulate me to build this model as well as possible. I would like to read your articles on 'Boating on the Seine in the Age of Impressionism', but unfortunately I don't speak German.
I will correct my mistake about the location over the Bassin d'Argenteuil in one of my next posts.

[tkay11]

If you haven't already seen it, you can follow a nice discussion by Bruno of his planning, design and building of the Louise on the Marine & Modélisme d'Arsenal forum at LOUISE - Tentative de reconstitution d'un clipper d'Argenteuil.

 

I look forward with much interest to this build.

 

Tony

[wefalck]

Ahh, yes, that is a nice 'thread'. I am not looking at that forum very often, so I forgot about it.

[G.L.]

On 3/23/2021 at 10:50 AM, tkay11 said:

If you haven't already seen it, you can follow a nice discussion by Bruno of his planning, design and building of the Louise on the Marine & Modélisme d'Arsenal forum at LOUISE - Tentative de reconstitution d'un clipper d'Argenteuil.

 

I look forward with much interest to this build.

 

Tony

Yes, Tony, I read Mr Orsel's log. I think this is necessary to build this model because this log contains a lot of information about making certain parts. The monograph only describes the background of the vessel and the ten enclosed plans.

[G.L.]

Before starting the work in my workshop I will have to make a new virtual trip to France (I would like to do it in real time, but unfortunately that is not allowed now). Eberhard (Wefalck) lives in the Paris region and pointed out to me that the Bassin d'Argenteuil is situated about ten km further to the southwest than I wrote in my introduction. I took a walk there, again virtually with Google street view, and indeed, the banks of the Seine look much more pleasant over there and invite to water sports. So, to correct my mistake, follow the Seine a dozen km further upstream from the bridge of Argenteuil and you arrive here at this lovely location (source Google Earth):

Edited March 28, 2021 by G.L.

[G.L.]

Chapter II. The hull
 

1. The building board
 

The drawings in the monograph give frame drawings every three frames. The frames will have to be laminated, so I will need a frame template for every frame, therefore I draw the missing frames by taking over the measurement from the line plan.

 

I use the frame drawings to saw out 29 frame templates in 3mm plywood. I make also a base and a backbone for the building board.

Base plate and backbone screwed together.

Starting to place the frame templates. The forward four are cant frames and have to be placed in pairs at an angle to the backbone.

All the others are perpendicular to the backbone.

The frame templates are placed in such a way between guide slats that they can easily be lifted out again. I check the horizontal and vertical angle while gluing the guide slats.

 

After a while all the templates are placed.

All frames have a different bevel, depending on the position at the front or rear. To smoothly sand the beveled edge of the templates, I start by coloring the edge of them with a red pencil.
  
The third after template is visibly wrong and has to be remade.

 

Sanding the templates. I use a kind of bow to do it, a flexible batten with a strip of sandpaper stapled on it. I sand until the pencil color has just disappeared

Portside is done:

when both sides are sanded, it becomes clear that the fifth frame from the front is also a bit too narrow. This one must also be remade.

Frame remade and sanded.

 

Now I can start to make the frames.

 

Thank you for reading this log, for your comments and likes.

Till next week!

Edited March 28, 2021 by G.L.

[wefalck]

Good start and the fairing sander is something I should make a mental note of.

 

I seem to remember, I think from some magazine Article, that Bruno Orsel made a very elaborate metal framing device to produce the laminated frames. Reminded me of of the devices the Thonet factory used to make their bent-wood chairs (the 'classical' bistrot-chairs).

 

I gather you will need a lot of clamps or something to keep the laminae bent in two directions, while settling.

[vaddoc]

Not too late I hope GL, this is a nice boat! Your sanding bow and method is a great idea, I should have seen this earlier before I make such mess of my frames.

I am curious to see how you will laminate the frames. I would think that it would be easier to laminate and then sand the bevels. Also, are you going to use PVA or epoxy? My attempts laminating with PVA faired poorly, the laminate was just not stiff enough.

[jlefever]

Good history and a great start. I'll enjoy following this one.

 

Jim

[vaddoc]

On 3/21/2021 at 4:57 PM, G.L. said:

he rigged the yacht with silk sails.

GL, I tried to find some info on silk sails but couldn't. Do they make such a difference in performance?

[G.L.]

On 3/28/2021 at 11:10 AM, wefalck said:

Good start and the fairing sander is something I should make a mental note of.

 

I seem to remember, I think from some magazine Article, that Bruno Orsel made a very elaborate metal framing device to produce the laminated frames. Reminded me of of the devices the Thonet factory used to make their bent-wood chairs (the 'classical' bistrot-chairs).

 

I gather you will need a lot of clamps or something to keep the laminae bent in two directions, while settling.

Eberhard,
Bruno Orsel indeed used a very sophisticated set-up that he built with a friend using CNC technology.

(picture from monograph)

I don't have that technology and would rather have the model become a product of my own handiwork, so I'll have to make do with the skills that are within my reach.
If what I have in mind works, I will not need any clamp to laminating the frames.

17 hours ago, vaddoc said:

Not too late I hope GL, this is a nice boat! Your sanding bow and method is a great idea, I should have seen this earlier before I make such mess of my frames.

I am curious to see how you will laminate the frames. I would think that it would be easier to laminate and then sand the bevels. Also, are you going to use PVA or epoxy? My attempts laminating with PVA faired poorly, the laminate was just not stiff enough.

Vaddoc,
I am used to work with PVA so I will try to laminate with PVA. If it doesn't work I'll have to try something else; I have no experience with epoxy. I have some workshop time again in the second half of the week, in the weekend I will report how it went.

17 hours ago, vaddoc said:

GL, I tried to find some info on silk sails but couldn't. Do they make such a difference in performance?

That's what Bruno Orsel writes in his monograph. I wouldn't use silk sails, first of all, I couldn't afford it and it doesn't seem like a good idea to sail with it on a windy day. But let's not forget that these gentlemen sailed on the sheltered waters of the Seine far from the sea (with blazer and tie). I suppose a silk sail will catch the lightest breath of wind compared to a canvas sail.
I started this log with the note that was for fresh water sailors and Sunday mariners😈.

[G.L.]

18 hours ago, jlefever said:

Good history and a great start. I'll enjoy following this one.

 

Jim

Thank you, Jim. Welcome.

[wefalck]

Well, Gustave Caillebotte became kind of a 'professional' in the area. He was successful in competitions, both on the Seine and off the coast. He designed his own boats, but hired a professional boat-builder and set up a yard to have them built.

 

I don't think they used real silk sails on these boats, though Caillebotte might have had access to all sorts of fabrics, as his family's business was in fabrics.

 

Sewn fabric sails are probably appropriate at this large scale. There is the silk that is used to cover the wings of model airplanes ('silk-span') or the fabrics used for silk-screen printing. This fabric is quite cheap actually. Not so easy to sew, but possible with a good machine. I have done it in the past with silk-paper backing to avoid distortion in the sewing-machine.

[Baker]

13 hours ago, G.L. said:

I started this log with the note that was for fresh water sailors and Sunday mariners😈.

 

Are "sea tourists" with experience on ferry boats and cruise boats also allowed to follow 😉.

 

As always, a very instructive and educational build 👍

[Redshirt]

What a beautiful start for a beautiful boat.

Allow me a question. Most of the recent Ancre plans left me somewhat (or in some cases, very) disapointed. How is this one?

Was it easy to draw the frames or did you had to correct much?

[G.L.]

On 3/30/2021 at 8:21 AM, Backer said:

 

Are "sea tourists" with experience on ferry boats and cruise boats also allowed to follow 😉.

 

As always, a very instructive and educational build 👍

Patrick, sea tourists with experience on ferry boats and cruise boats are the perfect audience for this log, welcome!

[G.L.]

13 hours ago, Redshirt said:

What a beautiful start for a beautiful boat.

Allow me a question. Most of the recent Ancre plans left me somewhat (or in some cases, very) disapointed. How is this one?

Was it easy to draw the frames or did you had to correct much?

Redshirt,

I want to be a little careful with my answer to this because it is my first time working with Ancre plans and I have a lot of friends who are very satisfied with Ancre.

I find the plans very detailed and suitable to work with, but now that you mention it here, I remember a few things that struck me:

1.  To make 29 frames, 29 templates have to be made, which is why I expected that all 29 drawn out would be found in the plans. However, only 11 frame drawings are available. The rest must therefore be drawn yourself.
2. When drawing the frames, I arrived at a slightly different shape from the one in the plans. On my first frame I thought the fault was mine, but it occurred with every frame. I also noticed that the deck heights behind the main frame on my drawings were a few mm higher than those on the plan.  I do not rule out that I drew the frames incorrectly, but I still have my doubts about that.
   
3. What I don't have doubts about:
   There is an inaccuracy in the height of the waterline on the plan. On the frames in front of the main frame, the waterline on the frame plan is 1 mm higher than behind the main frame.
   In the lines plan, the waterline is at the same level as for the frames behind the waterline. I have therefore assumed that height as correct.
   
    

I think it is a pity that the monograph does not give any indication about the method and techniques to be used to build the model.

In order not to present it all negatively here, I would like to emphasize that despite what I wrote above, the plans are very useful and that I enjoy working on this model so far and that it will undoubtedly still have many challenges for me in store.
 

[Redshirt]

Thanks for the answer. The problems that frames which have been reconstructed from the waterlines do not fully match the frames given by the monograph as well as inconsistencies between different plans of a single set are something i have experienced far too often with some of the more recent Ancre monographs.

In the age of cad software this should no longer happen.

[G.L.]

13 hours ago, Redshirt said:

Thanks for the answer. The problems that frames which have been reconstructed from the waterlines do not fully match the frames given by the monograph as well as inconsistencies between different plans of a single set are something i have experienced far too often with some of the more recent Ancre monographs.

In the age of cad software this should no longer happen.

Perhaps it is a phenomenon that has occurred since the use of CAD technology?🤔

[vaddoc]

GL, the differences between the frames as given and the lofted ones are pretty dramatic. Now, this is why we loft before building but with the accuracy in CAD era,  everyone's lofting should not be that far apart. Strange.

[wefalck]

There are different CAD systems, of course. If you work on a 2D CAD, the dimensions in one plane are not normally correlated with another plane. What I mean is that the body-plan is drawn separately from the plan of the waterlines. They are two independent drawings. This in turn means that you can make all the same mistakes as in hand-draughting.

 

Only, when you use a 3D CAD system and print out different sections of the the same 3D body, everything should tally.

[G.L.]

2. Making of the frames
Before making the frames, something about the wood. Mr Bruno Orsel states that mahogany for old models is often associated with pleasure craft. He recommends to use mahogany for the exterior and ebony for the interior, included the frames, and indeed his model is a real beauty.
The frames are laminated with ebony veneer, thickness 0.6 mm. To find the necessary mahogany was not a problem. Ebony beams are more difficult to find but also available. Ebony veneer on the other hand is another story. The only ebony veneer that I could find (picture below) has an average thickness of three mm, not really veneer, but rather planks.

They cost also about 50€/500 grams. That means that you see about 100€ wood above. I will not plane those planks from 3mm to 0.6mm, that would be a waste. They will be used for making more structural parts. But I also need black 0.6mm veneer. I have 0.6mm mahogany veneer and decide to use that for making the frames.
I start with cutting an amount of mahogany veneer strips with a paper cutter ...

... and stain them black (color: wenge).

 

To make the laminating easier, I drill holes around the templates.

The frames are built up from three veneer strips which are glued together round the template. I fix them with wire. On top of the frame I lay a thin wooden strip to prevent the cracking of my veneer strips when bending them around the template and also to protect them from being damaged by tightening the wire.

 

I place them on the building board to dry.

Next day I can remove the laminated frame from the template. It nicely keeps its shape.

It can now be sanded. I use the 3mm thick template as thickness jig.

With the sanding some of stain disappeared. When it is re-stained, I place the frame back on the template and on the building board. A piece of card protects the spots where the wire is tightened.

Oops! Not been careful enough when sanding.

That's it for this week. Nine frames are finished and two re-laminated after being broken during the sanding.

 

Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for all your interesting reactions.

 

Till next week!

Edited April 3, 2021 by G.L.

[wefalck]

Good progress. I somehow figured, that you would probably tighten the laminate onto the template with wire or string.

 

Be cautious when working with ebony. It seems that ebony dust is not very healthy ...

[G.L.]

On 4/3/2021 at 12:12 PM, wefalck said:

Be cautious when working with ebony. It seems that ebony dust is not very healthy ...

Thank you for the advice, Eberhard, I was not aware of that.

[mtaylor]

Do a search on ebony and health problems, G.L.   Not just the lungs can be affected but also the skin.  

[G.L.]

8 hours ago, mtaylor said:

Do a search on ebony and health problems, G.L.   Not just the lungs can be affected but also the skin.  

I will certainly do, Mark. It looks like I've gotten into something dangerous.

[wefalck]

One should not overemphasise this. Wood dust in general, when inhaled is not so good for your lungs and some people can develop allergic sensitivities, when exposed more frequently to the dust of certain wood species. So you won't fall over dead, when working with ebony. Good ventilation and a mask when working with it should solve most of the problems.

 

Personally, I never worked with ebony, but heard from colleagues - and can quite imagine this due to its hardness, that ebony is very difficult to bend and prone to splitting. In fact, it seems to be mainly used for carving, inlay work and the likes. I would not use it for structural parts.

 

In fact, there seems to various tree species originating in different parts of Africa and Southern Asia the wood of which goes by the name of 'ebony'. So there may be a certain variability in its workability.