Steam Yacht Cangarda 1901 by KeithAug - Scale 1:24 - 1901/2008

[Rick310]

Keith,

I was able to get aboard Cangarda today and took approximately 100 pictures.  
undoubtedly missed some important photos, but I hope these will help.  She is still under wraps which made getting some photos difficult.

How should I get these to you?  I can post them if you like.

Rick

PS. I’m dedicating my model to my 5 year old granddaughter!!!

[Bob Cleek]

One thing's for sure, they need to brush up on their flag etiquette and strike that yacht signal from the stern staff. That place of honor is reserved for the national ensign only.

 

 

Then, later, here she is flying the British "Blue Duster" in Canadian waters.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ensign

 

 

And in 2011 in Brockville, Canada, flying an outdated (of 1957-1965) Canadian ensign, the "Blue Duster" with  Canadian of defacement. (As of 1965, the Canadian ensign is the red and white "maple leaf" national flag.)

 

 

So, as for a home port, perhaps she has none and sails hither and yon under false "flags of convenience." (See: https://naylorlaw.com/blog/flag-of-convenience/) Might she be switching national registries to keep one step ahead of the taxman? That could arguably make her a pirate, raising the question of whether MSW would condone a build log for a model of a pirated ship or whether its prohibition only extends to pirated models of ships.     

Edited April 22, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[KeithAug]

2 hours ago, Rick310 said:

I was able to get aboard Cangarda today and took approximately 100 pictures.  

Many thanks Rick. 
 

Are they on memory stick? If you agree I will send you my home address by PM. If you let me know the costs I will gladly reimburse them. Best regards.

[Bob Cleek]

12 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Keith, I know its early (very early) on in this build but I know you're already thinking about the myriad of "how to's" and "what to do's". In your Germania build I remember your decision not to paint the Germania's hull. What are your thoughts regarding the Cangarda's hull? 

Being as Cangarda is blind-riveted, there would be little point in not painting it, would there? Then again, there were some pretty spectacular builder's models of early 1900's metal steamships which were built of wood and finished "bright" with all hardware of yellow metal (sometimes even gold-plated.)

 

 

 

https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/cangarda-as-found.97579/

 

Or, build it all of copper and brass and leave unfinished:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, Bob Cleek said:

Then, later, here she is flying the British "Blue Duster" in Canadian waters.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ensign

 

Bob, hmmm! I suppose she may have a Royal Naval Officer or reservist on board or be a member of a Royal Yacht Club, who knows?

Or it may just be that the red duster is a bit lowbrow!

Edited April 21, 2023 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

10 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

In your Germania build I remember your decision not to paint the Germania's hull. What are your thoughts regarding the Cangarda's hull? 

Bob, I’m modelling her as she is now with her all welded “smooth” hull. As originally built she was constructed from riveted plates as can be seen in some of her early photos. My first thoughts on painting are. Plank her hull in mahogany and overpaint above the waterline in green to match her current finish. Below the waterline leave the hull as polished mahogany. But who knows what I will be thinking in a years time☹️.

[KeithAug]

2 hours ago, Rick310 said:

PS. I’m dedicating my model to my 5 year old granddaughter!!!

That is an excellent plan.

My granddaughter will be 4 in September and knows Germania is hers. I will suggest to the parents that I need a new sponsor for this one.😬

 

[Keith Black]

16 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

I will suggest to the parents that I need a new sponsor for this one.😬

 Well that's a new one for bribing the kids to produce a grandchild. 

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Bob, I’m modelling her as she is now with her all welded “smooth” hull. As originally built she was constructed from riveted plates as can be seen in some of her early photos. My first thoughts on painting are. Plank her hull in mahogany and overpaint above the waterline in green to match her current finish. Below the waterline leave the hull as polished mahogany. But who knows what I will be thinking in a years time☹️.

That was Keith Black's question that I was answering, actually. Your answer raises another question: "Why plank the hull at all?" It's an iron ship, not a wooden one. A "bread and butter" hollowed out solid hull is entirely appropriate. It's your call, of course, but If I were building her and had your skills, I'd be thinking in terms of a metal hull. Carve a pattern and "tap, tap, tap" to get the plates shaped as laid out in the plating schedule, if you have the plans. The late Gerald Wingrove, MBE, undertook as his magnum opus an exact sectional model of the Falls of Clyde in brass (I believe.) (His website, which contained something of a log on his Falls of Clyde build, seems to be no more. The below photo is from https://www.modelengineeringwebsite.com/Gerald_Wingrove.html ) 

 

[Keith Black]

6 hours ago, FlyingFish said:

Well, it would certainly part your hair with the top down!

 We owned a 58 TR3A so I was bit particular how my hair was parted. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Keith Black

[KeithAug]

39 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

The late Gerald Wingrove, MBE, undertook as his magnum opus an exact sectional model of the Falls of Clyde in brass (I believe.)

Bob, Yes, I was following Gerald’s build until he sadly died. His jigs were fantastic. I just prefer working in wood. 

[Bob Cleek]

32 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

Bob, Yes, I was following Gerald’s build until he sadly died. His jigs were fantastic. I just prefer working in wood. 

I'm a "woodie," too. I also followed Gerald's build and was in awe of his jigs. He must have spent a tremendous amount of time conceiving, designing, and building them. That man was a genius, for sure. His Techniques of Ship Modeling is one of the best books on the subject that I've ever seen. I go back for a re-read every so often, along with Underhill's modeling technique books, just to refresh my memory. Looking back on his build log, though, I see where all of his links to his own website are now dead. Apparently, nobody maintained them after his passing and all of it is probably lost, including things like the plans for his jigs. Sigh. 

 

[noel_colledge]

Looking forward to watch you engineer this one Keith, your skills have definitely been honed over your !ast two models.

 

If anyone can make wood look like metal, my money is on you.

[KeithAug]

So I had better make a start but firstly a big thank you to all of you who have engaged with this project thus far. I will try to be as enthusiastic as you all seem to be.

 

I have been collecting photographs and looking for plans of Cangarda on the net for about 8 months. It is fairly normal to find web photographs of restored classic yachts. Typically they are photographed in anchorages and photographs are also taken when they are sold or chartered. Unfortunately these photos are generally less than ideal for the typical modeller. For a start, much of the charter photography focuses on broad external overviews complemented by extensive detailed shots of the internal accommodation. The camera rarely points down at all those interesting deck fittings or up to the heavens where all that fascinating rigging resides.  Shots taken at anchorage (or in transit) are also generally less than ideal. They tend to be taken from too far away to get the detail and of course deck detail is generally obscured by the viewing angle. Sometimes as in Cangarda's case photographs of the restoration are available and these can be a useful resource. 

 

So far as plans are concerned, in Cangarda's case I was somewhat fortunate.  A paper to The Classic Yacht Symposium 2006 covering the early restoration of Cangarda contained 4 useful plans as follows:-

These plans while containing a lot of detail were contained within a PDF document and I struggled to find a way of extracting them while keeping the detail. The images posted above are screen shots and of course when these are blown up they pixelate and produce saw tooth line edges which aren't very useful.

 

Notably the plan information did not contain hull lines and at this stage this was the most significant obstacle to attempting a successful model build. What did give me some optimism was that I had found a lot of on line photographs of the hull fabrication. With these I had started to get a bit optimistic that I could use the available plans (above) with the general frame shapes to make a reasonable representation of the hull form. 

Interpreting the frames from the camera angle distorted images to generate the frame sections wasn't going to be easy but hey i was willing to give it a go.

I am always a bit reluctant to put upon people and this was probably the reason that I only recently contacted Jeff Rutherford whose boatyard undertook the restoration of Cangarda. I couldn't have been more delighted with his response. Jeff confirmed that

there were no lines originally and that the designer drew the profile of the bow and stern and the yard filled in the rest. The hull was then digitally scanned and the lines were retrospectively generated. Jeff put me in touch touch with Andy Davis of Tri Coastal Marine who supplied the "precious" hull lines drawing in PDF format together with a bonus reproduction of two of the plans from the 2006 paper. 

The lines at this stage are not sufficiently detailed for modelling having only 11 abeam sections (5.5" spacing at 1:24 scale). 

The hull of Cangarda is constructed on 86 frames all equally spaced at 18" full size or 3/4" at 1:24 scale.

Only one of the cross sectional hull lines aligns with a frame (frame 75 at the ruder post) with all the others being set off from the frames by varying distances. I want the frames on the model to align with actual frames (I learned this lesson on Germania see note1 below) and so I need to do a lot of draughting to generate the frame drawings. 

I have decided that I can get away with 43 frames for modelling purposes giving a frame spacing of 1.5".

 

I guess it is now time to get down to a few weeks of tedious draughting to generate the 43 frame drawings.

 

Note 1 - On Germania I didnt align the frames with the actual frame positions which became a problem when cutting the port holes (which invariably sit between frames) - some of which sat half on and half off the plywood frames - making for some very tricky drilling.

 

 

[Rick310]

Here are some of the photos.

[Rick310]

Those were photos of the engine room, pretty cramped.  The rest are topside and in the cabins.

[Rick310]

Note, stairs going down are at the aft ends of both cabins.  Note round holes in table and above for masts.  The 2 davits in the bow are for the anchors .

access to the top of the forward cabin only, where the helm is located.

Rick

 

[Rick310]

PS. There is a computer in the engine room for the engine, they left the old electrical (?) board in place for posterity. 

[KeithAug]

2 hours ago, Rick310 said:

Here are some of the photos.

 

Thank you Rick - some great detail there. The deck detailing around the deck houses plus much of the other stuff will prove extremely useful. The deck is remarkably uncluttered compared with that of Germainia. During the course of the build I am almost certainly going to find myself coming back to you to ask where is this or that bit. I hope you are in good health and planning to be around for a while? Some of the background reading confirms that the original panel has been retained as a museum feature. I guess the roof of the aft cabin is pretty clean. It doesn't have guard rails so obviously nothing up there requires routine access. Very nice winch detail but now I am going to have to figure out how I depict graded hoses.

 

What do you want to do about the remaining photo's - (or have you sent them all?). It's fine by me if you just keep posting them here if you have any more to send?

 

Once again thank you for all your help.

Edited April 22, 2023 by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

 Unfortunately she's gone to seed but her former glory is still present. Restoration cost could be as much as double the asking price. Someone with lots and lots of money needs to fall madly in love. 

 

 Keith, will you model her as she is today or as she was when launched? 

[druxey]

That deck planking is so beautifully laid that it's a pity the hatches don't follow the same lines instead of sitting there in ugly rectangles!

[KeithAug]

26 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

Unfortunately she's gone to seed but her former glory is still present.

Keith - She is an old lady making the most of her golden years. I hope you don't talk about the Admiral having gone to seed!  Also don't tell her about the restoration costs being conditional on continuing love!

 

I am planning to model her as freshly restored because that is how I like to imagine her - Cangarda that is!

Edited April 22, 2023 by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, KeithAug said:

She is an old lady making the most of her golden years. I hope you don't talk about the Admiral having gone to seed!  Also don't tell her about the restoration costs being conditional on continuing love!

 True beauty runs deep below the surface. I love my ole gal unconditionally, I wouldn't have her any other way than the way she is. I admire the tired beauty of Cangarda and what she represents. i'm sure that in time, with your help, I'll come to love her as mush as Germania. 

[Roger Pellett]

There is an interesting backstory here.  Cangarda was saved and restored by a guy named Robert McNeil, an American Venture capitalist.  Concurrent with the Cangarda project he was also financing the reconstruction of the large America Schooner Yacht Coronet at the International Yacht Restoration School at Newport, R.I. Unfortunately, Mr. McNeil died in 2021.  His heirs apparently don’t share his enthusiasm for old yachts so Cangarda is for sale and work on Coronet halted.  The current issue of WoodenBoat Magazine reported that Coronet has been launched and towed to Mystic Seaport where she will hopefully be completed by a pair of brothers who own restaurants in NYC.

 

Mr McNeil was apparently an advocate of “authentic” restorations.  In Coronet’s case, this meant no auxiliary engine or electric lighting, even though he had planned to use the vessel for long distance voyages.  This philosophy also influenced Cangarda’s restoration, and quite possibly her resale value. While he could have fitted her with modern Diesel machinery, she was instead powered with a carefully designed steam plant complete with reciprocating engine, generator and pumps.  He then went a step further by deciding that this complex collection of machinery would be run with a  unattended engine room.  This required the development of a sophisticated computer system as well as elaborate instrumentation and sensors.  Whether a new owner wants to take on the operation and maintenance of this machinery remains to be seen.

 

Roger

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, Roger Pellett said:

There is an interesting backstory here.  Cangarda was saved and restored by a guy named Robert McNeil, an American Venture capitalist.  Concurrent with the Cangarda project he was also financing the reconstruction of the large America Schooner Yacht Coronet at the International Yacht Restoration School at Newport, R.I. Unfortunately, Mr. McNeil died in 2021.  His heirs apparently don’t share his enthusiasm for old yachts so Cangarda is for sale and work on Coronet halted.  The current issue of WoodenBoat Magazine reported that Coronet has been launched and towed to Mystic Seaport where she will hopefully be completed by a pair of brothers who own restaurants in NYC.

 

Mr McNeil was apparently an advocate of “authentic” restorations.  In Coronet’s case, this meant no auxiliary engine or electric lighting, even though he had planned to use the vessel for long distance voyages.  This philosophy also influenced Cangarda’s restoration, and quite possibly her resale value. While he could have fitted her with modern Diesel machinery, she was instead powered with a carefully designed steam plant complete with reciprocating engine, generator and pumps.  He then went a step further by deciding that this complex collection of machinery would be run with a  unattended engine room.  This required the development of a sophisticated computer system as well as elaborate instrumentation and sensors.  Whether a new owner wants to take on the operation and maintenance of this machinery remains to be seen.

 

Roger

Thanks for the back story, Roger! I was unaware that McNeil had died. (I've yet to get to my copy of the latest WoodenBoat ) Looking at the photos and unaware of your post until I reached it, I kept wondering why Cangarda wasn't being properly maintained, at least considering what had been put into her restoration. (The Harken stainless steel and plastic racing blocks on the anchor cranes really blew my mind.) Somebody's going to have to put some bucks into refinishing a lot of that brightwork. Once the seams open up and water gets under the varnish, it's toast. It's a crime, really. The cost of regular routine maintenance was probably peanuts in the context of McNeil's overall estate. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[Bob Cleek]

3 hours ago, druxey said:

That deck planking is so beautifully laid that it's a pity the hatches don't follow the same lines instead of sitting there in ugly rectangles!

The deck appears to be a veneer product made by Teak Decking Systems ("TDS" - World's Premier Teak Decking by Teakdecking Systems — Teakdecking Systems) The structural deck would be welded steel, TDS is laid out on a sheet of plywood and then the teak veneer is glued to the plywood in the configuration designed and shipped out of the factory as an exactly cut prefabricated sheet. (Note the absence of fastener plugs in the teak deck planks.) What you are looking at in the pictures is a modern "faux" laid teak deck, not a real one. I don't know how the original deck was laid out, exactly. It was probably much thicker (and wider) teak planking bolted to the deck beams or through the steel plate deck, then caulked and it was probably laid out to coincide with the bases of the deck furniture. The modern layout and narrow strakes of the restoration planking are an anachronism.  Quality teak in sizes suitable for "old school" deck planking is virtually unobtainable today, which probably explains the decision not to replicate the original teak decking. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[KeithAug]

53 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

 This philosophy also influenced Cangarda’s restoration, and quite possibly her resale value.

That's very interesting Roger. The one obvious anachronism in this approach is the fitting of the stabilisers. To me they look quite out of place on this style of hull.

 

11 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

The cost of maintenance was probably peanuts

Bob. The brass isn't in a great state which in my book is a crew duty. I don't know whether Cangarda was built with traditional wooden blocks but agree stainless steel and plastic look out of place.

[Rick310]

Keith,,

those were all the photos. I know they are a bit confusing, I’ll try and explain as best I can if you have any questions.  I was somewhat rushed as I was on board with the president of Front Street Shipyard and didn’t want to overstay my welcome,  He was extremely generous with his time as he is very busy especially at this time of the year.

Rick

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, Rick310 said:

He was extremely generous with his time as he is very busy especially at this time of the year.

They are great Rick. I have spent most of this evening studying and organising the photos, quite an enjoyable evening, particularly when I suddenly realise what an obscure image is ( eg the steam whistle hiding in the canvas). Could you please pass on my sincerest thanks to everyone who has facilitated your visit. A lot of other MSW members appear to be enjoying going through the images so that’s another accolade for your  efforts. Have a good day.

[KeithAug]

2 hours ago, KeithAug said:

don't know whether Cangarda was built with traditional wooden blocks

Early post restoration photos appear to feature what i would recognise as a modern representation of a traditional block.