Rangeley Guide Boat by FriedClams - Finished - Circa 1910 - 1:18

[FriedClams]

Greetings fellow modelers.

 

I'm starting a new scratch project of an inland waters boat called a Rangeley.  The model will be built in 1:18 and have a total length of about 11” (28cm).  The lines for this project are adapted from John Gardner's wonderful book Building Classic Small Craft.  It is a lapstrake constructed open boat with a 4' beam and 17' LOA.  But departing from Mr. Gardner's plans, this will be a double-ended boat instead of a transom stern. 

 

From Mystic Seaport Museum website

 

 

The Rangeley boat derives its name from the Rangeley Lakes region in western Maine where it originated primarily as a guide boat for fishing but was also used as a gunning boat for waterfowl.  The region's one hundred plus lakes and ponds are part of the upper Androscoggin River Basin and has long been a draw to outdoorsman in general and fishing enthusiasts in particular.

 

 

 

In the late 1800s and early 1900s these were perhaps the best know native brook trout waters anywhere.  During this time period, wealthy families from industrialized areas to the south began to “summer” in the area for recreation and to escape the hot crowded cities in a world before air conditioning.  They came to enjoy the cool fresh air, the sparkling clean waters and to fish, hunt, hike, picnic and rejuvenate.  These “Rusticators” stayed at camps (cabins) and lodges and hired local guides to take them out onto the lakes and ponds for bird hunting and fishing excursions. 

 

The period images below are from the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine.  The first image shows two double-ended Rangeley boats and one with a modified stern – even a canoe for size comparison.

 

 

 

 

The first Rangeley guide boats were built in the 1870s for members of “angling associations” and were fashioned after some of the boats found in the Adirondack area of upstate New York.  The design was changed and adapted to suit the sometimes shallow and often rough waters of the region.  The flat bottoms provided a stable platform for stand-up fly-fishing and the round seats provided maneuverability and helped keep the inexperienced in the center of the boat and out of the water.  Typically, the thwarts had built in trays on both sides of the seat for tackle and other gear.  Early boats were always double-ended and later modified to flat transom sterns to accommodate the small outboard motors that were becoming popular in the 1920s.

 

Until recently, I had no intention or even a though about modeling a Rangeley.  But a day outing to the area with my wife this past October planted the seed in my head and has since germinated. 

Mooselookmeguntic (pronounced just like it looks – really) is the Rangeley's largest lake at 16,300 acres.  A portion of it is visible in the photo below which was taken at the “Height of Land” pullout. 

 

 

 

Fishing in the Rangeley Lakes remains popular and productive to this day.  Some of the sought-after species are landlocked Atlantic salmon, lake trout, rainbows and browns and the area still boasts some of the best brook trout habitat to be found.  

 

This should be a rather quick build (he says) and I invite you to stop by on your travels around the forum.

 

Thanks for taking a look.

 

Gary

Edited February 25, 2022 by FriedClams
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[JpR62]

Very happy to be able to follow the build of this new boat. Also, the theme looks more than interesting.

I feel like it's going to be exciting 😊

[ccoyle]

56 minutes ago, JpR62 said:

Very happy to be able to follow the build of this new boat. Also, the theme looks more than interesting.

I feel like it's going to be exciting 😊

 

What he said!

[KeithAug]

Glad to see another build Garry. I look forward to seeing the build unfold.

 

 

[KenW]

Always great to follow one your builds.  Looking forward to it.

Cheers.

[mtaylor]

When the muse hits us, we have to build it.   Count me in in to follow along.

[usedtosail]

Count me in too Gary. We are not that far from the Rangley Lakes region of Maine here in New Hampshire but I have never been over that way. I am going to have to take a drive over and check the area out.

[Roger Pellett]

Gary,

 

This looks like an interesting and challenging project.

 

Except for the mountains on the horizon, the geography looks like Northern Minnesota.  I have read several accounts of Benedict Arnold’s incredible 1776 overland trip up the Kennebec River and over the portage to Quebec.  Did he and his troops pass through these lakes or was it further east?

 

Roger

[wefalck]

Will that be built over a former or templates? I suppose these boats had bent-in frames to make the hull light, perhaps with couple of sawn ones as templates?

 

Will make a nice show-off woodworking project I think.

 

And you are right, sometimes we make plans for new projects for years and then we come across something that catches our interest ...

[Keith Black]

 I'm usually late getting to a build. Fortunately, Gary, I managed to stumble onto your new project before the actual work starts. I look forward to seeing the Rangeley take shape and watch as you apply your personal touch. 

[FriedClams]

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and for your interest in my modest little project.  I'm delighted to know you'll be following.

 

On 2/25/2022 at 1:32 PM, usedtosail said:

We are not that far from the Rangley Lakes region of Maine here in New Hampshire but I have never been over that way. I am going to have to take a drive over and check the area out.

 

Hello Tom.  I think it's a pretty area and worth the drive, especially in the fall.  Of course, it looks like New Hampshire and in fact much of the upper Androscoggin watershed is in the northern part of your state.  Thanks for following.

 

On 2/25/2022 at 8:23 PM, Roger Pellett said:

 I have read several accounts of Benedict Arnold’s incredible 1776 overland trip up the Kennebec River and over the portage to Quebec.  Did he and his troops pass through these lakes or was it further east?

 

Hello Roger.  The Arnold expedition did not pass though the Rangeley Lakes area. As you correctly stated, the expedition route came up the Kennebec River which is east of the area now known as Rangeley. About 100 miles up the Kennebec from the coast, the expedition left the main water course and headed west up the Dead River tributary which they would follow to the high point of land near what would eventually become the Canadian border. But the Dead River was unnavigable where it joined the Kennebec and the force of 1,100 men were compelled to portage 13 miles over rough terrain gaining 1,000 ft in elevation before they would reach the North Branch of the Dead River. The men carried several hundred wooden bateaux each weighing 400 pounds plus tons of equipment, food and supplies.  Some of the men made several trips and all endured extreme suffering and starvation.  And it would not get any better from there.  This portage route was well known to the native peoples of the region which they named the Great Carrying Place.

 

I've roughly traced the northern section of the route on the map below so you can see where it is in relation to the Rangeley area.  And it is close - but it is indeed a separate drainage basin.  The green line is the Kennebec, the black is the Dead River, and the red portion is the Great Carrying Place.  

 

 

I recommend Arundel by Kenneth Roberts which chronicles this Maine leg of the Arnold expedition. It's a historical novel written ninety plus years ago and like all novels it is a work of fiction, but it's highly regarded by historians and sticks to the central facts and details of the event.  In 1775 this was raw, remote and unforgiving wilderness.  Roberts' writing is clean, urgent and puts you there.

 

On 2/25/2022 at 8:23 PM, Roger Pellett said:

Except for the mountains on the horizon, the geography looks like Northern Minnesota.

 

As a younger man, I spent a week or so on the waters of Voyageurs National Park and I agree there is a similarity to northern New England.  They both have that same deep-woods feel, moose, the otherworldly call of the loon and mid-summer mosquitoes the size of Mallards.  My kind of place.  Thanks Roger.

 

On 2/26/2022 at 4:39 AM, wefalck said:

Will that be built over a former or templates?

The boat will be built upside down over the station cross sections.  Obviously, the planking will not be glued to the stations only formed over them.  Thanks for your interest Wefack.

And thanks again to all for looking in and I'll have some headway to show very soon.

 

Gary

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by FriedClams
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[druxey]

Mooselookmeguntic? More like 'Moose look gigantic'! Either way, this subject looks interesting.

[FlyingFish]

A fishing boat - excellent! Count me in!

[FriedClams]

Greeting all and thanks for the comments and likes.

 

Open boat modeling begins with the work of producing a plug or station forms to build the hull over. The final result depends on the quality of the form so it must be done with care.  It takes a considerable amount of time to make this temporary form which will eventually be tossed away.  It's like nailing together plywood to pour a concrete foundation into.  Necessary work, but not very rewarding.

 

I considered not posting any of this form work, because it's been shown many times before, and in all likelihood you have your own preferred or better way to do it.  But build logs should be about showing how a thing was done and not just presenting the final result, even if the method is – suspect. So, on that note, I begin with the drawings.

 

The plans come from the book Building Classic Small Craft by John Gardner and they are for a transom stern craft.  However, this model will be a double-ended boat and the author states the forward half of the boat has classic lines and all one has to do to build an authentic double-ender is simply mirror those to the rear. This what I did taking care to maintain the 17' LOA.  Rather than scanning/photographing the plans and tracing them in CAD, I instead created lines directly from the table of offsets eliminating the possibility of distortions.

 

Here's the body plan.

 

 

 

The boat has an inner and outer two-part keel as shown below. The keel changes proportions as it travels the length of the boat, and the width of the inner keel is taken from the drawings. The inner keel is beveled to conform to the shape of the station form it's crossing, and the outer keel is beveled to accept the flat square edge of the garboard. Both keel sections are beveled independently and when they are placed together, the rabbet is automatically created. Between the stations, the bevels are a linear transition.

 

RB 3-02

 

 

The four station lines are taken from the body plan, mirrored and the inner keel cutouts are drawn in.

 

 

 

The station forms are placed in profile and the form extension lengths are determined.

 

 

 

 

The extensions are added to the station templates.

 

 

 

 

A closer look at one of them.

 

 

The boat is mirrored at midship, so two printings of the templates are made. They are printed on full sheet labels and stuck to 1/8” (3mm) basswood sheet.

 

 

 

Then to the scroll saw, sanding disk and files.  I'm inept at using the scroll saw, so I always cut large and sand/file back to the template outline. The forms are squared and glued to the building board.

 

Instead of placing the two forms at 8' side-by-side on the build board one scale foot apart, I used only one, placing it equidistant between the 6' stations.

 

 

 

Next, I printed the stem lines and stuck those down on scale 2” thick stock and cut them free.

 

 

 

And carved out the rabbet.

 

 

 

The inner keel is cut.

 

 

 

The keel is glued lightly with PVA to the station forms to keep it in place. It is then beveled to match the contour of the forms.

 

 

 

The stems are glued to the inner keel and secured to the building board.

 

 

 

The outer keel is beveled and glued to the inner keel.

 

 

 

Then the garboards are fitted to the keel on both sides. This was simply a file and fit exercise and didn't cause any problems. The material is 1/32” (.8 mm) basswood and it was soaked in alcohol for added flexibility.  Each side is made of two pieces. The full-scale plans call for a plank thickness of 5/16” (8 mm) so the 1/32” garboards are double what they should be.  I wanted the extra thickness for added heft and it won't be seen in the final model because the edges will be covered inside and out.  But the remaining 10 planks per side will be made from harder material and at the proper scale – 1/64” (.38 mm).

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Gary

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by FriedClams

[druxey]

Looking good so far, Gary. Water will work just as well as alcohol for bending basswood planking. Cheaper, too!

[Keith Black]

Gary, while the plug maybe the stepchild in the process, there's craftsmanship in the making. Your typical excellent craftsmanship is evident as are your detailed instructions. 

[KeithAug]

12 hours ago, FriedClams said:

I'm inept at using the scroll saw

I know how you feel. At the end of cutting the frames for a particular build I’m getting quite good. I then put the saw away and don’t use it for 3 years until I start the next build. I’m then back to square 1.

[FriedClams]

Thanks to all for the likes and the fine comments – it is appreciated.

 

Moving on to the planking, I first decided on a material to make them from.  The 1:1 boat has a plank thickness of 5/16” (8mm) which equates to .0173” (.43mm) in 1:18.  I wanted a material that was stiff and would return to its natural flatness after bending or being racked – and no kinking or denting.  So I decided to use 1/64” (.0156) birch plywood.  This 3-layer plywood is considerably thinner than most single layer veneer and much tougher as well.  It's manufactured by Midwest Products and is available in 12” x 24” sheets.

 

 

 

Edge view of the plywood showing the 3 layers. Each layer is about .0052” (.132mm) thick – they must have some very sharp tooling.

 

 

After I built the hull form, I checked the station fairness with battens, but I didn't sand/fair any of the forms like I would if I were gluing planks to bulkheads carvel fashion.  In fact, I slightly back beveled all the stations so the planking rests against a narrow edge at each form.  I hung each strake as a single plank from stem-to-stem, and due to the stiff springy nature of the plywood, they produced a nice smooth arc over the forms.  Another advantage of this material is that the 90 degree inner layer kept my cutting knife from being pulled off course by the grain pattern, even when cutting closely with the direction of the grain.  But there are also some disadvantages and I think the biggest is that it doesn't take much surface sanding to wear through the outer layer and reveal the darker inner layer.  Also, the adhesive holding the sandwich together is apparently abrasive because it ate through knife blades like they were Spanish peanuts.  Admittedly, these were cheap junk knock-offs pretending to be knife blades, but just the same I kept my Bard-Parker blades at a safe distance.

 

There are 11 strakes per side and the garboard, which is wider than the others, is already laid down.  The shear strake is also wider to provide a consistent plank exposure after the gunwale is attached.  The remaining 9 strakes are equal in width and that width was determined by dividing the remaining distance between the garboard and shear strake at each station.  These distances were taken from the CAD drawings and not by measuring the forms themselves, because I don't care what the form measurements are, I only care what the drawings tell me the strake widths should be.  The station forms are needed to provide the shape of the hull, but I don't reference them “as built” because they are only temporary.  And even though they should be in agreement, I let the drawings determine where the plank edges are, not the forms.  So, I work up a plan and a tick strip for marking the forms per the drawings at station 8' – the center of the boat.

 

 

 

And the same for the other stations.  These are the total plank widths with a .75” lap already added.

 

 

 

 

And the stems.

 

The tick strips are printed out and used to mark both sides of the station forms.  They are positioned and a pin is pushed through one of the plank edge locations.  The pin is not removed until all the other locations are pin punched.

 

 

 

Same thing on the stems.  The pencil marks are there to help me find the pin holes.

 

 

 

The way in which I determined the shape of each strake is the work of a barbarian and is not offered as an alternative to doing it correctly.  There are some great articles on spiling and planking in the NRG database and they are a good read if you haven't already.

 

The first strake is spiled off the garboard in a traditional manner by placing heavy paper in close proximity and tracing a parallel line with a pair of dividers off the edge of the garboard. After cutting out and test fitting, the curved paper is photographed.

 

 

 

The photo is imported into CAD, scaled, traced and becomes the upper edge of the #1 strake shown below.  The strake widths (including the .75” lap) for all 9 strakes at each station are assigned and added below the line.  A spline curve is then used to connect the points and create the arc of the lower edge of the strake.  I am referring to the upper and lower edges of the strake as I look at the boat upside down.  Also, I have left extra length beyond the marked stem locations.

 

 

 

 

This strake is printed on copy paper, cutout and test fit.  No adjustments were needed, so it was then printed on adhesive backed full sheet label paper and stuck to the plywood and the strake was cut free.  The adhesive paper is peeled off and the strake is sanded.

 

 

 

The shape of the next three strakes are all determined in CAD.  The bottom edge of strake #1 now becomes the top edge of strake #2 and so on.  Again, the widths at each station are added and the points connected by a spline curve.  Each new strake is now slightly more curved than the one before it due to the widths being greater at the center than at the ends.  The process continued with no adjustments for the first three strakes and only a minor correction for the fourth strake.  I should mention that only one half of each strake was created with the other half simply being a mirror image.

 

 

 

Each plank is glued to the previous one starting at the center and working outward to the hood ends.  They are attached by lining the lower edge to the pin holes created with the tick strips and then a tiny amount of CA is applied at the lap, allowing capillary action to pull it into the joint.  This was done at each station and various points between like it was spot-welded.  After each plank was placed, a flat bevel was filed to the lower edge creating a lap landing spot.  In the real world, both planks would of course be beveled at the lap, but not here.  It's always been my intention to paint the boat, simply because all the period boats were painted.  It makes good sense for working boats to have a sacrificial layer that is easily renewed.  And I don't need to worry about the glue stains.

 

 

 

I've been able to get away with creating strakes this way because I've been working in an almost 2-D world.  The first four strakes sit nearly flat side-by-side on the same plane and only the ends are folded back.  But now, as I begin to round the belly of the hull, the geometry changes.  The lower curved edge of the previous strake still matches the upper curved edge of the new one but the face of the strakes are now pointing in different directions.  With the free lunch over, I spiled off the #4 strake with dividers and paper to gain the proper curvature for the #5 strake and continued in CAD as before.  I was able to create #6 and #7 strakes in CAD by applying the same percent of change in their arcs as in the #5 strake because they share the common radius of the hull.

 

 

 

These three strakes around the belly of the boat were the most challenging and I resorted to edge bending.  Now hold on, it's not what you think!  Because the strakes are not attached to anything except each other, I had a difficult time keeping them against the forms as I rounded the curve, especially at the center.  By reducing the curvature of these three strakes, the edge bending pulled the outer lower edge of the planks inward towards the form.  Not a perfect solution, but it worked.

 

 

 

 

I continued my way down to the shear strake.  In the end, I spiled four of the strakes and adjusted all but three of the others.  The amount of time I spent in CAD probably exceeded the time it would have taken to spile each one right off.  But the payoff was that I simply printed and cut the planks for the opposite side of the boat without adjustments or even having to think about it.

 

 

I used one of these, so my planks didn't come out looking like an old french fry.

 

 

 

A couple of in-process photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Exaggerated lighting to accentuate the strake lines.

 

 

 

 

 

The form was removed without drama, although I did have to break one of the 2' station forms out.  And a little PVA on the inner keel was removed with alcohol.

 

 

 

Sorry about the wordy explanations and thanks for stopping by.

 

Gary

 

[Keith Black]

 Gary, fantastic tutorial, beautiful work.

 

 I hope Midwest is able to continue to be the great supplier they were when I first ordered from them some five years ago. 

[wefalck]

I didn't realise that this would be a clinker-built. Nice job !

 

Did you chase the upper edges of the lower planks to allow the following strake to run into the stem rabbets?

[druxey]

A very nice example of clinker planking, Gary. I'm always surprised at how rigid the model is even before adding any framing.

[KeithAug]

Wonderfully precise and technically competent clinker planking job Gary. Beats my usual suck it and see approach hands down.

[KenW]

Keep the long explanations coming.  At some point, I'll look back and remember and praise your thoroughness.

Thanks.

[FriedClams]

Thanks to everyone for the visits and the likes!

 

23 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 I hope Midwest is able to continue to be the great supplier they were when I first ordered from them some five years ago.

 

Hey Keith.  I went to the Midwest website to order their 1/64 plywood and I found they don't even list it.  And they don't list their 1/32 or 1/16 ply either, but they do offer all the thicker sizes.  I wonder if they are phasing out the thinner materials.  On-line retailers are asking a pretty penny for the 1/64 ply – $30 to $48 for the 12” x 24” sheet.  I bought mine at Menards for $17 – extremely reasonable shipping too.  And thank you for the nice words Keith.

 

 

23 hours ago, wefalck said:

Did you chase the upper edges of the lower planks to allow the following strake to run into the stem rabbets?

 

Hello Wefalck and thanks.  I filed opposite bevels on the edges of the two planks where they overlap.  I tapered the length of the bevel for about 10mm in attempts to feather it into the stem, but I'm not happy with it as it presently sits.  They need further attention.

 

 

23 hours ago, druxey said:

A very nice example of clinker planking, Gary. I'm always surprised at how rigid the model is even before adding any framing.

 

I too am surprised Druxey, and I half expected it to close up like a clam shell when I pulled it from the form.  Delicate yet strong, like an eggshell.  Thank you for stopping and for the nice comment.

 

 

19 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Wonderfully precise and technically competent clinker planking job Gary. Beats my usual suck it and see approach hands down.

 

Keith, I've been following your Germania build from the beginning and I haven't seen anything that's close to a “suck it and see” approach.  You are one of my precision modeling and technique heroes.  And thank you for the kind words.

 

 

17 hours ago, KenW said:

Keep the long explanations coming.  At some point, I'll look back and remember and praise your thoroughness.

 

Thanks Ken.  Sometimes I get to typing-out-loud and don't know when to stop.

 

Gary

 

[Keith Black]

17 minutes ago, FriedClams said:

I went to the Midwest website to order their 1/64 plywood and I found they don't even list it.  And they don't list their 1/32 or 1/16 ply either, but they do offer all the thicker sizes.  I wonder if they are phasing out the thinner materials.

 I just went to the Midwest WS and they are "temporally out of stock" on everything. Doesn't look good. Nothing on their FB page

 

 This pretty penny...that's wack! 

 

 https://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/mid/mid5240.htm

[Cathead]

Beautiful, and thanks for the detailed instructions from the beginning. Helps folks like me learn.

[druxey]

Looking for thin 'aircraft' ply? I found that my wood supplier (Exotic Woods, Burlington, Canada) had 4 foot square sheets of this at much better prices than hobby stores. Now this was a while ago, so don't know if this is still the case today. Check your own hardwood supplier to see if they might stock sheets. Of course, there may be supply chain issues at present.

[Paul Le Wol]

Aircraft Spruce has a good selection of aircraft ply. I usually go to the one next to the Brantford airport. They have many locations in the States.

[FlyingFish]

Oh I like this approach very much. Are you going to pin the planking to the ribs eventually?

[Valeriy V]

Gary, this is great and clean work!