A Port Dredger 1750 by Greg Davis - FINISHED - Scale 1:36

[kurtvd19]

Thanks.  I want to see it at Manitowoc.  Completed or in progress if you are not done with it.

😃

[Greg Davis]

Sounds like a plan!

[Greg Davis]

Today's pleasant progress saw the deck beams permentantly attached. Here's a picture taken partway thru the process:

 

Next I will be able to provide the top of the beams with their final contour. It doesn't appear that much actually needs to be done at this stage - I'm taking this as an indication that the fabrication of parts has been done reasonably well so far. Still I will be taking this next step rather slowly as it will have a great impact on the final shape of the deck.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Greg Davis

[James G]

Greg,

 

Thank you so much for the response! Very helpful! Never heard of those applicators before but I can see how they would be extremely useful. Will save this for future use. Continuing to really enjoy your progress here. 
 

Best,

Jim

[Greg Davis]

While I continue to wait for the linseed oil to cure before contouring the deck, I have started to fabricate the 12 uprights that will serve as the main supports for the superstructure. 

Over the next couple of days I hope to clean up the uprights and start work on the carlings that they will support. These carlings do not maintain a constant distance from the deck (due to the sheer), nor are they parallel to the vessels bottom - but instead slope slightly downward from stern to bow. Because of these facts, each of the six pairs of uprights have their own unique height above the deck, also the segment the goes below the deck is modified from pair to pair. Thus the final dimensioning of the uprights will be done in concert with the carlings once the outermost deck strake has been put in place - which won't be done until the deck beams are given their final contour.

 

The linseed oil now is very dry to the touch. I just want to make sure that there is little or no chance of dust from sanding adhering to the innards. Since there are many other ways to make progress at this point I think it is best to leave the hull structure alone and go to work on other pieces of the vessel. 

 

[Tobias]

Hi Greg you have come a long way since my last visit, great progress that looks excellent.

[Jim Lad]

Catching up again, Greg.  Your deck framing looks very nice, indeed.

 

John

[Greg Davis]

Everyone - thank you for the positive comments and reassurance that the project is going in the right direction!

 

Greg

[Greg Davis]

The lower portions of the uprights for the superstructure have been beveled and shortened to near their final length. The upper portion of the uprights are getting close to their final vertical orientation. I don't think that anymore can be done with them at this point. The outermost deck planks will need to be installed before going further with these pieces.

 

The oil has cured to a point that I feel comfortable to working toward the final deck beam curvatures. I think that tomorrow some sanding is going to be the call of order.

[Greg Davis]

The top of the deck beams, ledges, top timbers, an planking now all blend together nicely. Even though everything was in pretty good order, it took awhile because I used 220 grit sandpaper for the whole process. I didn't want to create any indentations that were not supposed to be.

 

Now I need to take another look at the 14 timber extensions that will form the bollards. They need to be of the correct cross-sectional dimension and shape before the outermost strake of the deck is fitted. I believe that these strakes will be 'testing' to make as they are formed from two pieces of wood scarfed together and will each have 13 piercings to accommodate the bollards and superstructure pillars. 

[Greg Davis]

OK - I got up the nerve to start the outermost deck strakes and the first (of 4) is now fitted.

I chose not to make a template for this piece, instead here's how I got this far. First I took a piece of stock large enough to cover this part of the strake and marked where a bollard would go thru the strake. A hole was drilled and then filed to the shape of the bollard. With the stake positioned on the top of this bollard, the position of the next bollard was marked, drilled, and shaped. As I made it to the last bollard, the piece of wood was looking like this:

 

After the last recess was made, a little more filing allowed the blank slide to the deck beams.

I then marked the intersection with the hull planks and cut off the exterior excess. A bit of sanding evened the deck plank edge to the hull planking.

Next I marked the inner edge to create the desired width of the plank. After cutting the interior excess and sanding it was done (for now). Currently the piece is .5mm to wide and this will be shored up after it is scarfed to the second part of this strake. 

 

So three more pieces and two scarf joints to go here! Also, I will need to pierce these strakes for the superstructure pillars. I plan on doing that work after the strakes have been attached to the vessel. 

[Greg Davis]

The first deck plank on the starboard side is done. 

There is a scarf joint between the 4th and 3rd bollards, but it is not too easy to see right now - it spans the first three of the four deck beams between the bollards.. It should show up pretty well after the deck is oiled.

Time to work on the port side plank!

[kurtvd19]

That's a nice tight joint!

[druxey]

It certainly is!

[James G]

Beautiful craftsmanship, Greg! A pleasure to follow your work.

[Greg Davis]

The most exterior port deck strake was completed a couple of days ago. Today I spent a good deal of time with the easier deck planks. Six more planks, each having at least one curved edge, to go and I will have as much of the deck planked as I have planned.

 

The region in the center of the deck that needs to be removed has been marked on the beams. So maybe some beam sawing soon; and yes, that is some whiskey on the right!

 

[Greg Davis]

The remaining deck planks have been fitted. The holes for the fasteners have been drilled and a good start has been made on inserting and then smoothing the copper fasteners - only 300 or so to go!

 

Some additional sanding / smoothing will then be done. Not too much though as the planking came together quite nicely.

[Jim Lad]

Excellent work, Grag.

 

John

[Greg Davis]

With the deck smoothed out with 220 grit sandpaper; here's the state of affairs as January comes to a close, and 6 months have passed since I began this project. 

February tasks will focus on deck fittings, the superstructure, as well as the doubling hull planks. 

 

Thank you so much to everyone that has been providing me encouragement and following my progress!  

 

Greg

[Jim Lad]

Can hardly wait for the next stage, Greg.

 

John

[James G]

You’ve certainly come a long way in 6 months, Greg! Looks so nice.

[druxey]

Very nice so far!

[Greg Davis]

I'm now making some progress on the superstructure. The carlings and cross-bars have been formed. Here they are before being permanently attached to one-another:

Today I have been fastening them together. The unit will be placed on the pillars all at once. There are mortices on the underside of the carlings to accept the top of the pillars. Final fitting of the pillars is coming up soon.

 

The carlings were the most complicated parts here. Each is made of two pieces that are joined by a scarf joint. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this, so I decided to lay out the the scarf joints and join two pieces of wood before cutting anything out. The process started by milling the adjoining pieces of wood and then connecting them.

Next I milled the slots for the cross-bars and then started to cut out the desired shape. First one side, then some sanding, and followed by the other side.

I finally ended up with two nice carlings that just needed the undersides to be morticed.

I don't know if this would be the 'right way' to do the job; but it did seem to work for me!

 

So on to the pillar fitting, additional superstructure fittings, and a whole lot of knees to keep the structure where it belongs under load.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[James G]

Looks like a nice spindle sander you have there, Greg! What manufacturer and model is it? If you don’t mind my asking.

[Greg Davis]

Jim -

 

It is a WEN 6510T 3.5 Amp Oscillating Spindle Sander and cost about $125. There appear to be a number of oscillating spindle sanders around this price point that are the same except for color / branding. I like orange and have a few other power tools marketed by Wen - all of which have worked fine for me. The only thing that I would note about the sander is that the plastic inserts around the sanding drum don't quite match the height of the table so thin and / or small work pieces pieces can catch on the edge if you are not careful. At some point I will remake the inserts to exactly match the table height. Wen (and others) also make more expensive oscillating spindle sanders with a tilting table (> $200). There have been a few times when I wished I had spent a bit more and obtained on of these in order to make certain bevels more easily. Nevertheless, I have been very satisfied with what I have and am not looking to replace it anytime soon.

 

Greg

[druxey]

Good strategies on the carling construction, Greg!

[James G]

Greg,

 

Thank you much for your response…very helpful! At some point I’d like to get a spindle sander but would prefer not to spend a ton of money. Currently, my trusty Dremel in its stand is doing the job. Although it can flex a bit if I’m not careful. I’m still debating which would be preferable for ship modeling, a spindle or bench disc sander. The jury’s still out but your experience is certainly helpful. I had no idea you could get a decent spindle sander at this price point. I have a Wen scroll saw that works quite well that had a similar price. Again, thanks. Finally, I continue to enjoy following your beautiful build!

 

Jim

[Greg Davis]

Spindle and disk sanders are truly different tools - I have both and the spindle sander came last. For myself, I find that I use the spinal sander a lot more often. One of the nice features is that I can sand both concave and convex shapes on the spindle sander. I don't know a way to work concave shapes on a disk sander. However, I can square up material and bevel along straight lines well with the disk sander. I also find the spindle sander easier to use because the velocity of the sanding surface is constant, whereas on the disk sander the angular velocity goes from 0 at the center to its highest as the radial distance increases. The varying velocity has always been a challenge to me, making it a much more touchy tool. My disk sander is part of a duel system that also has a belt sander and I find the belt sander fairly easy to use, although I always need to first check that the sanding belt has not curled up on the outer edges which then interferes with making smooth shapes. I'm sure others have completely opposite views and find their disk sander to be the favorite. It would be nice if there was somewhere you could go to give each type of sander a try before making the choice!

[James G]

At some point I’d like to own both as well. I’m trying to decide which one to purchase first. Yes, wouldn’t it be great if there was a tool “take it for a spin” store? Sadly, I don’t see it coming soon. Can you imagine the liability costs? 😆

Thanks Greg!

[Greg Davis]

It has taken quite a few days of careful filing, but now the superstructure pillars pass thru the deck planking and have their exterior portion perpendicular to the vessel. It also looks like the pillars line up where they should with respect to the the superstructure carlings.  Very glad to have this done - it was a bit nerve racking for me!

All of the pillars need to be shortened to their correct heights and provided with mortices for connection to the carling system. Once this is done, I will be setting these pieces aside for a while. I don't plan on actually attaching these prior to adding the doubling planks to the hull.