Ranger type yacht by Mark Pearse - 1:12 - SMALL

[Jim Lad]

Very neat, mark!

 

John

[KeithAug]

Really taking shape Mark. She is going to be treasure once finished.

[Mark Pearse]

The cockpit seat & scuppers area is now glued in place, & mitred at the transom. The side sections of hull were laminated to a scale thickness of about 80mm, approx 7mm actual. The width between the footwell & hull is divided by the seating backrest, which does more to keep water out of the cockpit on a windy day than it does to provide sumptuous & ergonomic seating.

 

 

The width of the deck landings have been increased with strips of hardwood, Spotted Gum I think. I will use small screws to help the plywood deck to hold its camber while the glue goes off, so the screws can go into the hardwood rather than the edge of the ply. The mast sits on the 4th bulkhead back from the bow; the tripled strips are where the shroud chainplates sit. Although with a static model there's not a lot of load, it means I can have a leg on the back of the chainplates going down into the hardwood, & glued. Given it's not much work it's worth it for whatever additional strength it gives.

 

I'm probably ready for the deck, & then probably the timber to infill& finish off the propeller cutaway.

 

thanks,

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Mark. Can't wait for the next update.

 

John

[Mark Pearse]

Hi everyone, not a massive update, but a pleasing one.

 

The deck was glued down, with some small brass screws holding the shape while the glue cured. The deck setout is below, from the bow: samson post, fore hatch, mast (chain plates are deck mounted & indicated by the short pencil lines just aft of the mast), companionway hatch. The deck edges have to be sanded flush & the stem head finished off. There is the storm boards & removable side panels on the face of the raised deck line, so I did a 2mm plywood template of the shape between the cockpit seat & the underside of the deck edge while it was still accessible.

 

I drilled more screw holes than I would need, & only used as many as was needed to hold the plywood - which was a fair bit, being curved down at the gunwales & slightly concave in the fore-aft centreline.

 

 

 

This shows some of the raised deck face, with the side panels removed. All varnished timber, so for a nice sharp result it's going to be better if I make it on the bench & install it as one.

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

Mark - may be a short update but she is very sweet.

[Jim Lad]

Delightful, Mark!

 

John

[druxey]

Very neat and ship-shape work, Mark.

[Mark Pearse]

Thanks everyone

 

The last part of the hull is the shaped piece that completes the propellor cutaway. I glued two pieces of Huon Pine together to get the thickness, but it also gave a centreline, & I find that even on small pieces of timber it helps a lot with accuracy & symmetry etc.

 

The infill piece roughed up:

 

And installed:

 

Still just roughly sanded but that's probably enough for now. The photo also shows there's a bit of detail work to clean up the joint between the transom & the planks is in order.

 

Here's the actual one:

[KeithAug]

8 hours ago, Mark Pearse said:

The last part of the hull is the shaped piece that completes the propellor cutaway.

Nicely done Mark.

[Mark Pearse]

I've started on the rudder blade, & realised that plywood both suited the thicknesses of a sandwich approach, & also it would be very helpful to gauge accuracy of the shape - the easy visibility of the laminations is a great help with a subtle shape of changing thickness.

 

The rudder has a few complexities:

- they cleverly were able to make it very close & fair to the keel & also able to rotate a full 90º without hitting the transom (tiller is removable)

- the cutout for the tiller

- it has a very fine trailing edge

 

This shows the delicate shape well:

 

 

This shows the care with which they faired the rudder to the keel, the trailing edge of the keel is cupped & yet the rudder can rotate 90º...It must be that the pivot point is a bit more aft than you'd expect. It's only on anchor that you use anywhere near 90º, so it doesn't matter if the keel/rudder loses its fairness at that point.

 

The construction will be a 3mm ply piece with a 2mm piece each side. 3mm as that's the thickness of the aperture for the tiller stock. Here's the 3 sheets, & the aperture is angled as shown.

Here it is, glued up & with fairing underway. I clamped between 2 surfaces I was certain are flat, & used titebond for it's strength & simplicity of use. I am so glad I opted for plywood...

 

And here's the tiller, when I get to it:

 

[Rick310]

Very nice,  really coming along!

Rick

[KeithAug]

I see she has a feathering prop Mark - that should be a test. Beautiful shaping around the stern, prop cut out and rudder.

[Bedford]

Beautiful work Mark

 

You're right about shaping ply, the good marine ply I've used for rudders and keel on my full size builds and the Miss Caroline model were very easy to get right because of the perfect contour lines created by the ply layers

[Jim Lad]

Catching up after holidays, Mark. That's some very nice work on the stern.

 

John

[Mark Pearse]

I've started on the visible timberwork, the decorative stuff that is either varnished or unfinished timber on this boat. It's not usual in Australia to have much unfinished timberwork, paint or varnish are the usual finishes & of course paint is more traditional for working style boats as it's cheaper & more durable. This yacht has work boat lineage in its design, but is a pleasure craft & there is certainly pleasure to be had in the highlights that varnishwork gives. Teak decks are not common, but for this boat there is some unfinished teak, which has of course weathered to a grey. 

 

For the timber that is varnished on the actual boat, I'll use shellac, several thin coats & finished off with steel wool to give a burnished look. To my eye, a brush-applied clear finish is out of scale, the build thickness looks heavy. Also, gloss levels have a scale effect: if the viewing distance of a model is 600mm, that's 7.2m at scale. At 7.2m from full gloss varnish, you can see gloss highlights, but not much - hence the burnished, slightly lower gloss level I propose.

 

The hatches are vanished teak, & I am using Queensland Maple. 

 

The companionway hatch commenced; it integrates with timber wok on the face of the raised deck, see photo below of the actual. Various trimming pieces of timber still to be done.

 

 

 

Regrading the weathered teak, I'm thinking of trialling the following: sand with a heavy grit sandpaper; rub some dark grey paint into the scratches & allow to dry; paint over with thin coats of white or pale grey paint. If anyone can give advice on weathering, I would appreciate any guidance or experience on this.

 

And the forehatch. I haven't used CA glue a lot, but for the sake of time & used it on these hatches so I could get al of the timber strips on in one session. The seam first one from the top in particular, & it's not on the surface, seems to be what soaked into the timber. I'm not sure if it will become invisible when I apply the shellac finish. I will do a test & report back. In the second photo you can see the way light reacts with Qld Maple, it's beautiful when finished.

 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Coming up very nicely, Mark!

 

John

[bricklayer]

Hi Mark,

 

that Queensland maple looks good to me. It looks that good that I`d use it for all wooden parts that remain unpainted.

That wood looks weathered somehow. If you used it for deck planking, then you could do without simulated weathering.

Is it a hardwood? As hard as ash, beech or mahogany?

Regarding the stain between the 1st and 2nd strip of the hatch cover: I`m afraid that you can`t make it disappear.

Take it as a reminder: "I shouldn`t have applied half a bottle of liquid CA glue to a single strip of wood ".

I love the bulky shape of the yacht and the proper workmanship.

 

Michael

 

 

[Mark Pearse]

Hi Michael

 

Qld Maple is a hardwood & is used for furniture & apparently it's good for musical instruments. It's not a tough or strong timber & is fairly light. I'm familiar with Mahogany & QM is not as hard, strong or as heavy as that - & as far as Ash & Beech go, I only know what we call Ash & Beech in Australia & they are probably unrelated to what you mean - I'm assuming you might be not from Oz.

 

The weathered look you mentioned, I think is just the medieval standard of lighting I had on in the workshop (AKA the garage) when I took the photos.  I agree that it's a really lovely timber, the photo below shows a hatch on a previous build, that has been finished with shellac.

 

thanks for the interest

 

[bricklayer]

Mark,

 

I live in northwest-Germany, close to Netherlands and Belgium. So the timber that I know is mostly of central or western european origin.

Ash isn`t the hardest, but the toughest wood. Tool handles, treads of ladders and stairways, chairs and tables are made of ash.

Probably all european wood species differ from endemic australian species, even though their names are the same.

I like the concept of using wood from local or regional supply.

When being coated with shellac the Queensland maple looks less weathered and more cabinet-like.

How come that the shellac-coated mahogany edge-strip is high-gloss whereas the QM cover-strips are semi-gloss or matt?

 

I didn`t mean to offend your yacht by calling it bulky. To me it just looks like a longitudinally compressed racing yacht. A lady that you gotta love.

 

Michael 

 

 

 

[Mark Pearse]

Hi Michael,

 

We're almost related: one of my grandfathers was Belgian before emigrating - his name was Herbrand, a classic Flemish name I believe.

 

Well spotted - Qld Maple is mainly used as a furniture timber. There aren't too many indigenous timbers that are suitable for furniture, & of the ones commonly used, it is a nice one. A gentle grain but lots of life in the way the light interacts with the grain.

 

8 hours ago, bricklayer said:

How come that the shellac-coated mahogany edge-strip is high-gloss whereas the QM cover-strips are semi-gloss or matt?

I'm not sure if you are referring to the photos of the actual yacht, or maybe the photo above from a previous build. In the actual yacht, they decided to do the cockpit & some boat details in unfinished teak. It feels really nice underfoot. The hatches are also teak, but varnished.

 

"Bulky" is a completely fair description, they are very beamy for their length. There are many unkind things said about that, but not many people criticise their sailing qualities. I'm biased as I've always liked them & co-own one, below shows what happens when they are pushed: they sit down into the water & throw a lot of water, but don't bury the bow.

[FlyingFish]

On 9/4/2024 at 2:42 AM, Mark Pearse said:

Qld Maple, it's beautiful when finished.

I agree, Mark. Nice match for the teak. CA glue can be a help and a hindrance. I learnt a trick from a luthier when gluing purflings and rosettes on a classical guitar - he soaked the wood around the routed slots with CA accelerant spray before using CA glue on the part to be glued down - it heps prevent the seepage of CA beyond the faces being glued because the CA glue hardens as soon as it hits the kicker. It can then be scraped off the surface. Ultra thin CA is the worst culprit I find - is is super fluid, and gets deep into the wood, preventing further staining. It is useful for hardening wood structurally.

I like your attention to the weathering!

[bricklayer]

Hi Mark,

 

I referred to your pic in #79.

Just wondered why those woods differ in sheen though you presumably coated them with an equal number of coats.

 

Your latest photo clearly shows that the displaced water at the bow remains low and doesn`t wet the deck. Not even the jib gets wet. 

Sailing that boat seems to be a veritable pleasure for the five piece crew.

[KeithAug]

A pleasure to see your deck hatch work Mark.

[druxey]

Certainly not a hatch-et job! Very nice indeed.

[Jim Lad]

I somehow missed that photo you posted on Friday, Mark. What a great shot of a small yacht powering along!

 

John

[Mark Pearse]

On 9/7/2024 at 11:16 PM, bricklayer said:

Just wondered why those woods differ in sheen though you presumably coated them with an equal number of coats.

Hi Michael

 

That hatch from a previous build: I had a look & you are right, that beaded edge is more gloss than the rest. Not intended, I gave the final buff with fine steel wool for a semi gloss but looks like I missed that edge.

 

thanks

[Mark Pearse]

Thanks everyone for the interest. 

 

A short update: I have done some more on the varnished teak work of the raised deck. I have done a fair bit of preparation & pre cutting of timber. Here's the raised deck face with the storm boards done, no finish yet. There will be vertical frames either side of the boards, as per the 'actual' photo. The work light seems to be bleaching the colours also.

 

 

 

 

And harking back to an earlier discussion, the CA glue stain in the forehatch really backed off over a few days. I gave it one coat of shellac to enjoy the thrill of a finish coat...The timber is the same colour on top & the vertical side, it just reacts strongly to the angle of the light. 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Nice!

 

John

[Bedford]

Looking beautiful Mark