Young America 1853 by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper

[rwiederrich]

It's tough staying out of the shipyard......isn't it.  I steal away 20 minutes here and there myself.

 

Merry Christmas.   And many sneak aways.........

 

Rob

[riverboat]

Hi Ed, just wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Frank

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 32 – Frame Alignment/Fairing

 

The aft half and cant frames are bolted to the sides of the keelson/deadwood, so these cannot be installed until that assembly is in place.  The keelson comes first, but to install that it is necessary to have the inboard faces of at least the floor timbers well faired.

 

The first step was to check and, if necessary, adjust the alignment of the installed square frames.  The first picture shows this being done with a batten.

 

 

It can be seen in this picture that there is a gap over the center frame.  To correct this, the pin holding the top of the frame to the ribband was removed and the frame pushed downward slightly on this side to adjust it outward.  A new pinhole was drilled while holding the corrected position – as shown in the next photo.

 

 

All the frames aft of 0, on both sides were checked and five or six were adjusted in this way before proceeding with the next steps.

 

The outsides of the frames between the floor heads and the ribbands were then faired as shown in the next picture. 

 

 

In this picture a cabinet scraper is being used on this part of the hull.  This tool has some advantages for this.  First, it works with the grain so sanding out cross grain scratches is reduced.  More importantly, it allows you to easily see when the frames have been leveled out – or which frames are out of line.  Pre beveling of the frames before setting greatly reduces the amount of work in this step.  No cross grain sanding was necessary in these areas.

 

With the outside of the frames faired out, the floors could be faired to receive the keelson.  This fairing was done out to the floor heads.  A rotary tool with a flapper wheel as shown in the next picture was used for some of this, so taking this fairing out at least to the floor heads is advisable before installing the keelson.

 

 

This tool also has the advantage that it sands with the grain.  In the next picture the fairness is being checked at the floor heads.  The frames above the floor heads are still a bit rough.

 

 

Finally the joint face with the keelson is leveled out as shown below.

 

 

All this work was done in the forebody earlier to install the forward part of the keelson and the forward deadwood.  The next picture shows the first section of the lower tier of the aft keelson installed.  Copper wire bolts through every other frame have been inserted through into the keel and epoxied.  The frames are now well secured.

 

 

The next section of the upper keelson tier is ready to be installed.  The dark areas are still damp from washing off the epoxy for the bolts with isopropanol.

 

The central model support bolt hole comes through the aft end of the keelson section in this picture.  The next task will be to cut a mortise around that hole to insert a nut – next time.

 

Ed

Edited March 17, 2014 by EdT

[garyshipwright]

Looking good Ed. She has come a long way since you started her. Seems that am going to have to get some more popcorn and take a bathroom break so hold on till I get back. Wonderful build Ed. Gary

[amateur]

Hello Ed,

 

She has beautiful lines.

I have a question: (perhaps I missed the answer in the preceding pages):

why is this type of ship named éxtreme'clipper? What is so éxtreme' about the ship?

(I also found reference to 'medium'clippers. Suggesting that there is some ranking in these ships. Can't find out what exactly)

 

Can you explain?

 

Jan

Edited December 31, 2013 by amateur

[Mahuna]

On the second page, post number 17, Ed  gives the answer:

 

"The term clipper had been applied to fast sailing ships since the 18th century. The “clipper ship” was the larger full-rigged type that began to appear around 1840. The term “extreme” referred to a class of these ships that were designed with one overriding objective – speed. Carrying capacity, the traditional priority in the design of merchant ships, was virtually ignored in the “extreme” clipper designs."

 

Frank

[EdT]

Thank you Gary and Jan.  Jan, the extreme designation was discussed in, I believe, the first post.

 

The term "extreme" was applied to clipper ships that were designed purely for speed, without compromising for other considerations like cargo space.  The extreme designs came about at a time when fast passage times were of paramount importance to shippers - because of the high demand for the freshest tea leaves from China to both the US and England, because of the extremely high profits to be obtained on goods bound for California during the gold rush, and later from the Australian gold rush. 

 

The extreme designs featured very sleek lies with sharp entry and run aft.  Length to breadth ratios were very high.  In the early years high deadrise of the midship floors were prominent.  Sail plans were extremely lofty - often to the point of oversparring and/or fragility of the upper spars.  They were more like Formula I cars than the family sedan.  They were intended to be raced.

 

The period was short lived as the California prices cooled off and the Suez Canal made steam more viable for the eastern trades.  This created a glut of fast clipper ships.  About 1855 the designs of ships began to trend back toward increased cargo space and the clippers of this later type were referred to as "medium".  There were no hard and fast classification rules, but the builders and the press made the designations that have generally been accepted by time.

 

Ed

[amateur]

Thanks for taking time to answer.

 

Jan

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 33 – Aft Keelson/Deadwood

 

In the first picture a section of upper keelson tier is being glued to the lower tier.

 

 

I have been using pins with small wood blocks as opposed to clamps when gluing pieces like this.  It is working well, but it is important to size the blocks (or drill the holes) accurately so just enough pin head has to be driven into the wood.  Too much and the pin will bend or be hard to remove.  Not enough and the piece will not be secured.

 

The next picture shows some of the lower keelson pieces glued in place.

 

 

The frame cross spalls are being removed as this works proceeds.  With the lower keelson glued and bolted to through the frames into the keel, the  hull frames are quite secure and no longer need them.

 

The next picture shows the fitting of the last keelson section.

 

 

The last step in fitting these last pieces is to carefully trim the aft ends of the slightly over sized piece for a neat fit against the sternpost knee.  All of the scarph joints were cut before either adjacent piece was installed.  The next picture shows the final fit.

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, the keelson in these long clippers was the main longitudinal member and so it was installed in a straight line from stem to stern, with the deadwood at each end built up on top of it.

 

The next picture shows the first two deadwood sections cut out and and set in place between the keelson and the inner post.

 

 

Once these have been roughly fit, the patterns are removed for final trimming as shown below.

 

 

The last picture shows an upper piece ready for gluing.

 

 

Glue is placed in the gap and the pins driven down for a tight joint fit.  There is still one section above this – in two pieces – that will form the curved top of the deadwood.  All of the sections are also later secured with epoxied copper bolts into the sections below and the inner post. 

 

 

Ed

Edited January 5, 2014 by EdT

[SJSoane]

 

Hi Ed,

 

The project is looking great. Interesting way of clamping, with driven pins. Can you tell me a little more about what kinds of pins you are using, and do you size the drilled hole a tiny bit smaller than the measured diameter of the pin? Hammering always looks a little scary on a model....

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[EdT]

Not too scary, Mark. The pins in the picture are ordinary straight pins, in this case .021" diameter pleating pins. The holes are drilled for a slip fit. The depth of the holes is about 1/32" to 1/16" longer than the pin projction below the softwood stop, so it only has to be driven that distance into the bottom of the hole. When the glue dries the pins are pulled straight out with pliers. Copper wire bolts are then epoxied into the holes.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 34 – Stern Deadwood continued

 

In the first picture the stern deadwood has been constructed.  A template has been made and is being used to mark out the bearding line on the model.

 

 

As mentioned before, the bearding line describes the position along the hull where the hull profiles intersect with the width of the deadwood.  Below this line the deadwood narrows down to the rabbet of the keel.  The cant frames rest on this line and provide for the increased breadth of the hull above it.  The other side was marked with the same template.

 

In the next picture another template is being used to mark the cutting down line on the port side.

 

 

The cutting down line marks the intersections of the inboard faces of the frames with the deadwood.  It is just slightly below the top of the deadwood.

 

In the next picture the fore and aft lines of each cant frame are being marked on the deadwood.

 

 

These lines are squared up from the base drawing using the small square and the special Plexiglas square that was made to clear the keel side support strips on the shipway.

 

The next picture shows the cant frame lines drawn in.  As with the bow, these lines define the shallow mortises that will seat each cant frame.

 

 

The dashed lines forward of the cant frames mark the location of the half frames back to the last full square frame.  The next picture shows the remaining area to be framed.

 

 

In the next picture the two central stern timbers have been cut out and are held up in place on the sternpost.  Stern framing evolved during the clipper period.  Early clippers continued to feature the square counter stern and transoms of earlier times.  As the elliptical and circular sterns evolved, new methods were used in their construction.  Young America’s actual construction was not recorded.  I have elected to go with the transomless framing that was widely used at the time on circular/elliptical sterns.

 

 

In the next picture the lines of the cant frame mortises are being scribed with a knife before paring them out.

 

 

The last picture shows the in situ paring of the mortises on the starboard side

in progress.

 

 

The extent of each mortise is defined by the two cant frame face lines, the cutting down line at the top and the bearding line at the bottom.

 

Ed

[druxey]

You are a brave fellow to cut in all those scores on the deadwood in situ! I'm impressed.

[dvm27]

I was thinking the same thing as Druxey, Ed. I've had tear outs even when being especially cautious. You make it look easy!

[EdT]

Thank you, guys. All I can say is that its doable with prescribed lines, very sharp small chisels, very light taps with a small hammer, skew chisels for the sharp corners. Acute corner angles can be difficult. Except for the bearding line most of this work is fairly hidden. Depth of he scores will need t be adjusted later when etting the cant frames.

 

Ed

Edited January 11, 2014 by EdT

[archjofo]

Hello Ed,

 

this is a construction of a ship model in highest perfection.
I'm excited.

[Trussben]

Wow ED, that is some tricky work to cut those mortises like that - don't think I could even attempt that, well done!

 

Ben

[Sandman]

Wow, this build is absolutely incredible. Very interesting reading!

[the learner]

Yes, some daring work!

[gjdale]

Wow Ed! That's a REALLY brave way to tackle that job! I'm impressed!!!

[harvey1847]

Hello Ed!

 

The keelson plus the upper keelson make a massive beam that gives an idea of the titanic effort for the solicitations of the entire hull… Wow! What is the height (or dimensions _x_) of both of them for real? Measuring the two parts beam from the top of the keel. I am just curious.

 

Best wishes!

 

 

Daniel.

[EdT]

Comments on my courage are highly exagerated for sure. I thank you all for the comments though - much appreciated.

 

Daniel, you are right. The keel/keelson is indeed massive. The keel is sided 16" and is 31" deep. That includes the 4" sole, the bottom tier of 12" and the top tier of 15". The frame floors are 17" deep. Aft of the last full frame a 17" filler rests on he keel below the keelson. The keelson is in two tiers, each 24" deep. So the height to the top of the keelson is 8' (about 2 1/2 meters).

 

As clipper keel/keelson structures go, this was fairly lightweight. Other clippers of similar size often had substantial "sister" keelson structures bolted on either side.

 

Ed

[Sailor1234567890]

What a feat of engineering she was. Beautiful ship.

[Wintergreen]

Nice work Ed. My guess about the in situ work was that you use (constantly) razor sharp chisels...and exercise great care.

I appreciate your tutorial log, it is truly great.

[SJSoane]

 

Ed, it is looking very nice indeed. I learn from every post you make.

 

Mark

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 35 –Deadwood scores continued/stern timbers

 

Chiseling out the cant frame scores in place has gotten some comments, so I will show a couple more pictures of this.  In the first picture, a ¼” wide paring chisel is being used to pare out the third score forward after the outline had been scribed fairly deeply to prevent tear out.  

 

 

In this picture the chisel is being used with the bevel against the work so the bevel angle can be used to keep the paring cut vertical and controlled by the angle of the chisel.  The chisel is being lightly tapped with a small mallet.  This permits much better control of the cut than pushing the chisel and risking slippage and tear out.

 

In the next picture the chisel is being used to plunge cut and deepen the side line.

 

 

Once the depths along the boundaries of the score are sufficiently deepened, the center area can be pared and leveled out.  There will very likely be some additional light paring done when the cant frames are fitted.

 

In the next picture, all of the scores have been completed and the work on the stern framing has begun. 

 

 

The starboard stern timber is being fitted up in this picture.  The height at the top was measured from the drawing and transferred to the “clamped square”.  With the square positioned on the base drawing, the correct position of the timber can be fixed.  These timbers will be glued to the sternpost and bolted through.

 

In the next picture the port stern timber is being glued on.

 

 

The small height pencil mark on the clamped square can be seen in this picture.  The next picture shows both timbers installed – with the clamps cleared away.  All six starboard scores can also be seen in this picture.

 

 

The forward faces of both these stern timbers are beveled to match the angles aft of the aftermost cant frames.  Those frame pairs will butt against those faces when they are seated in the aftermost scores.  Then lots of bolts.

 

Assembly of those two cant frames is shown in the next picture.

 

 

There is quite a bit of work involved in these.  First, the lofting is more time consuming than for the square frames.  A lot of measurements were required for plotting the three curves involved in each cant pair.  Also, in these aft cants, scores for additional stern timbers and horizontal filling pieces were included on the patterns.  Following the pictured assembly step, the frames still need to be beveled, including the face bevel for the deadwood joint.  Then before installing, scores for the fillers and other stern pieces also need to be cut.  They are quite complex.  I am hoping they will fit together correctly.

 

Perhaps we shall see in the next parts.

 

 

Ed

Edited March 17, 2014 by EdT

[gjdale]

Fascinating to watch this come together Ed.  As usual, a highly instructive log.

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 36 – Aftermost Cant Frames (#48)

 

The last picture in the previous posting showed the two aftermost cant frames being assembled.  The same pin indexing was used as discussed in previous posts.  After assembly the frames were beveled.  The first picture shows the deadwood mating surface on one of the pairs being beveled using the disk sander with the table set at the correct angle.  These angles are printed on each frame pattern from generated measurements on the CAD drawing.  They are very accurate and the disk sander reproduces them fairly effortlessly.

 

 

The next picture shows the joint bevel.

 

 

This picture was taken before the outer bevels or the shape at the bearding line were shaped.  The picture shows vertical lines on the pattern aft face that mark the scores for seating the three angled stern timbers that bolt to that side of this frame.

 

In the next picture the lines scores being cut with a razor saw.

 

 

There is also a horizontal score on the forward face of this frame at the “knuckle” of the of the aft hull shape that occurs roughly at the line of the wale.  Horizontal chocks will be inserted in these scores between frames to support the ends of the planking below the wale at the stern.  Similar chocks will be placed between the vertical timbers that shape the circular stern.  This will be clearer later when those timbers get installed.

 

The next picture shows the port frame in its initial fitting into the aft score on the deadwood – held by pins at future bolt locations. 

 

 

In the last part I showed a picture taken earlier with the two central stern timbers installed.  After about an hour of trying to fit the cant frame neatly against one of those and into the score I decided to install the cant frames first.  So the central stern timbers have been removed in these pictures.

 

The three vertical scores on the aft face can be seen in this picture.  The temporary ribband seen in this picture and its starboard counterpart were becoming increasing obstructive to all this work and were soon cut back and removed.

 

The next picture shows the installed frame pair.

 

 

The horizontal score on the forward face can be seen in this picture.

 

The next picture shows the starboard frame clamped for gluing.  The two central stern timbers are being held up in position in this picture.

 

 

To assist in fitting and installing the eight stern timbers that form the curve of the circular stern, a template was made to help with this.  It is shown in the next picture.

 

 

The plywood template is clamped tightly to the two “clamped squares”.  The height at the center of the stern and on each side at about frame 38 was set using the caliper shown in the picture.  The line slopes down slightly going forward.  The template was also horizontally aligned up from the base drawing using the square shown on the port side.  The template is fit over the two installed cant frames. One central timber is loosely fit into its notch in the template.

 

The next task is to loft, make and install the eight timbers that form the circular stern.

 

 

Ed

Edited March 17, 2014 by EdT

[Mahuna]

Hi Ed:

 

Looks like you've reached a very complex part of the work.  I continue to be impressed by the solutions you develop.  

 

As an aside, after I read your comments about the Crothers book I looked for it online and found his book on Packets and Freighters of the 1850's.  Since my goal is to build the Dunbrody the book is a wealth of knowledge for me (it better be, at the price!).  Another benefit of following your build log - thank you!

 

Frank

[harvey1847]

If you ever need an aprentice I will quit everything, even my country and move to your log. I could sleep on the floor and keep and a eye on the YA at night...

 

Reading your post is like actually making a Master of Naval Building!

 

Best wishes Ed!

 

 

Daniel.