Pelican 1943 by FriedClams - 1:48 - Eastern-Rig Dragger

[Canute]

Having followed several of your recent builds, I'm signing on to observe a master at work.

[Glen McGuire]

Hey Gary, just stumbled onto this build log.  Looking forward to watching you bring this thing to life!

 

[TOM G]

I know it's going to be a well detaild build......... I'm going to enjoy watching the progress.👍

[FriedClams]

Greetings,

 

Here's the current state of the model.

 

The backbone drawing template was printed out in three sections onto full sheet label paper. The wood for the backbone is poplar and was cut to the required thickness using my full sized table saw. The templates were affixed to the poplar and cut out with a scroll saw.

 

 

The rabbet was then carved into both sides.

 

 

Below, the backbone is sitting temporarily on the station forms, waiting to be permanently attached.

 

 

 

This model is being placed on temporary hold and it will be some time before I post again.  I thank all of you for your interest in it and I hope to report some progress by the end of the year.

 

Thanks.  Stay well.

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

Great start Gary, like the lines - she looks like she could turn on a sixpence. Like you I am on a building pause until later this year, too many things to do in the summer! Looking forward to hearing from you in due course.

[Rpolson]

Thanks for the detailed log...looking forward to continued progress!

 

Richard

[Mirabell61]

Very nice build Gary, you`ve chosen a great boot....

 

Nils

[Cathead]

I missed the beginning but am thrilled to be catching up. This is way outside my wheelhouse which means I'll get to learn a bunch.

[KeithAug]

On 7/3/2023 at 7:51 PM, FriedClams said:

I hope to report some progress by the end of the year.

Just catching up Gary. I hope you are keeping well. The end of the year is fast approaching so hopefully the shipyard will soon get back into full swing.

[Hubac's Historian]

Happy Thanksgiving, Gary!  You’re off to a great start, and I look forward to your return when you are ready to do so.

 

Best,

 

Marc

[FriedClams]

Greetings fellow modelers,

 

It's been said that the problem with doing nothing is you never know when you're done.  I'm not the best version of myself when I am doing nothing, so it's well past time to get back to work on this model.  After seven months I finally have some progress to share, but first I'd like to note the donation of one of my earlier scratch builds to the Jonesport Historical Society in Maine this past summer.

 

The model is the sardine carrier William Underwood.  This vessel, considered state-of-the-art when built in 1940, worked for decades out of Jonesport shuttling millions of pounds of fish to the Underwood cannery located there.  The sardine industry in Maine was no small affair and lasted over a hundred years from the 1870s to the closing of the last cannery in 2010.  At its height in the 1950s the industry employed some 8,000 people in many dozens of canneries up and down the coast and particularly in the region known as Downeast.  Sardine carriers were not fishing vessels, but rather they were boats that gathered up sardine herring from the vast number of weirs and seines stationed along the coast and transported those fish back to the canneries.  These carriers were numerous and ubiquitous during this period, but today only a handful remain mostly as yacht conversions.  Indeed, the William Underwood now floats as a personal pleasure craft.  Oh – and if the name Underwood sounds familiar, think deviled ham and chicken spread.

 

The Jonesport Historical Society is a small organization, run by enthusiastic volunteers.  I was surprised to learn they didn't have a sardine carrier model in their collection especially considering the importance of Underwood Canning in the town's history.  The carriers and the canneries are long gone but the history remains.  The society museum doesn't see a large number of visitors, but if only 50 people view the model each year, that's still 49 more than would have seen it collecting dust on my shelf.  The society was happy to receive it, but the satisfaction was all mine in giving it to them.

 

It's a POB scratch built in 1:48 and approximately 18”(46cm) long.  Finished in 2018, it was my first scratch boat model that wasn't an open boat.

 

 

 

 

 

Hull Planking

 

The Pelican is an Eastern-rig fishing vessel.  If you're unfamiliar with this type of boat and interested in knowing a bit more, there's a brief explanation of its evolution in the intro post.

 

I left off on this build with the stations in place and the backbone resting on top but not attached.  After working on it in irregular bursts of activity over the past month, the hull is now completely planked.  I don't have any incremental progress photos to share but here's a few images and where the model stands today.

 

In the image below, the backbone is set and the garboard is placed.  The slots in the bulkheads were intentionally cut deeper than required to allow for vertical adjustment if needed.  It's more important that the distances from keel bottom to shear are correct than having the backbone bottom out in the slot.  Happily, the rabbets I had pre-cut were at the proper height and the garboards fit into them quite well.  The stations forms were cut from 1/8”(3mm) plywood and the planking material is basswood.  At 070”(1.8mm) the planks are a tad thicker than I've used in the past.  I did this in hopes of gaining a smooth fair arc across the station forms.

 

 

 

This is a round stern boat, so I added a curved piece of wood aft as a landing spot for the planking.

 

 

 

I attached the sheer strakes which at midships scale to approximately 10” in width.  I then measured the distance between the garboard and the sheer strake at each station and divided it into four belts.  The boat had 24 strakes per side including the sheer and garboard, so I ended up with two belts of five and two of six.  I developed all the tick strips in CAD and printed them out.  I've never had much luck in accurately pencil marking the plank spacing on the stations, so instead I pin the center of the strip to the station to keep it from moving, then pin punch the remaining plank edge locations.  Obviously, it doesn't matter where the pin punches fore and aft on the station, only up and down.

 

 

 

I previously marked the landing spots for the plank ends at the stem on one side of the boat only.  After that side was completely planked, I transferred those plank edges to the opposite side of the stem using the little sled jig below.  Looking directly at the bow from the front, I want the planking on both sides of the stem to line up.  If the plank landings are a little irregular on side “A” I still want side “B” to match it.

 

The thin saw cut across the sled was when I thought I would use a scalpel to mark the opposite side.  I decided against that idea and made a second wider cut that would accommodate the width of a mechanical pencil lead.

 

 

 

 

As you all know, every hull plank is tapered.  To help in this repetitive process I created the little plank holder below.  It's just two strips of wood with an end stop glued to a scrap of plywood.

 

 

 

Below it is loaded with a plank strip standing on edge.

 

 

 

In years past I would taper planks with a straight edge and scalpel which I found to be a mind numbing and soul crushing activity.  I now use this miniature block plane from Veritas.

 

 

 

Sharp as all get out and no chattering.  Around $47 U.S. and worth every penny from Lee Valley Tools in Canada.  And yes, it is small.

 

 

 

The only problem with Lee Valley is in finding other items I didn't realize I needed so badly.

 

 

 

For bending, twisting and otherwise torturing the planks I used this small heating iron that is designed for quilt makers and in fact belongs to my wife.  Manufactured by Clover, it has two sizes of heat plates and three temperature settings.  The mid setting is just about right, but being a modeling Neanderthal, I use the high setting which if left more than a few seconds will burn the wood.  I prefer this iron over a clothes travel iron because I often use it directly on the hull.  It's small size and light weight make it easy to use and work with as long as you don't brand your forearm with it.  I'll take a prepared tapered plank and glue one end down on the model then apply heat to it as I work my way along the length of the hull.  Hold it in position until it cools then glue it down.

 

 

 

The hull has been roughly sanded to see what else needs done before cutting it from the forms.  The image below provides a good example of the sort of thing I'm looking to find.  At the stem, the third and fifth plank up from the sheer line are slightly recessed.  There is enough plank thickness to where I could file down the adjacent planks flush with those two, but that's working down to the lowest common denominator.  Instead, I'll use my handy dandy block plane and strip a curl of wood from a piece of scrap and build up the offending planks, then sand them flush.

 

 

 

The garboard and lower planking appear to be sitting on the surface of the keel/stern post in the photo below.  But what is actually seen is one third of the plank thickness and the rest of the plank is sitting down in the rabbet.  Should the ends of these planks be flush at the stern post or stand slightly proud?  Chamfered into it?  After looking at many real boat photos, I'm still not sure.

 

Also, in the photo you can see evidence of my wood burning skills.

 

 

 

 

 

Next comes cutting the hull from the forms, sealing and reinforcing the planking between stations on the inside and finish filing/sanding the exterior.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

 

 

Edited February 13 by FriedClams

[yvesvidal]

Gorgeous Planking. A pleasure to watch and probably even more to touch....

Yves

[wefalck]

Absolutely !

[Keith Black]

This post is a reason to smile when smiles for me have been few this past week. Thank you, Gary.  

[Jim Lad]

Gary, I've finally caught up with your lovely build.

 

That hull looks very nice indeed, and I love your plank bending tool - I think I'll see if I can find something like that our here.

 

You ask about the planks being flush with the stern. Yes, in all boats or ships I have experienced, the planking lies flush.

 

John

[Paul Le Wol]

Gary, thanks for sharing your gifting of such a beautiful boat to the Jonesport Historical Society. Very nice! And the Pelican’s planking looks amazing 

[wefalck]

Just a quick question, Gary, concerning this little quilting iron by Clover, which intrigued me. It seems not so easy to get over here in Europe. The question: what is the diameter of the stem of those shoes that slip into the heating element? I was thinking of getting just the shoe and use in my temperature regulated soldering iron.

 

And yes, I also like the jig for bending planks over the edge - simple, no fuss and practical !

[FlyingFish]

Hey Gary - great to see the shipyard doors back open! Congratuations on the Underwood - they are very fortunate to have such a handsome craft in ther collection. Pelican's planking looks great - and some very helpful tips and tricks as well! 

13 hours ago, FriedClams said:

Should the ends of these planks be flush at the stern post or stand slightly proud?

I agree with John - flush, otherwise exposing plank end grain would result, as well as increasing friction; neither desireable I'd have thought.

[FlyingFish]

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

It seems not so easy to get over here in Europe.

Try Boulevard Online, based in Worcester UK - listed on a well known online marketplace!

[Hubac's Historian]

Gary, congratulations on finding a home filled with eager and inquisitive eyes for the Underwood.  Work of your standard and attention to detail is precisely the sort that might inspire someone to give the hobby a try.

 

I love the elegant lines of these workman boats that you build.  The Pelican is shaping up beautifully.

[Glen McGuire]

Hey Gary!  glad to see you back at work on your Pelican.  Very nice job on the planking.  The tiny plane and chisels are quite interesting!   

 

And congratulations on  having your William Underwood accepted by the Jonesport Historical Society.

[jerome]

Beautiful work!

And so nice of you for donating your Underwood model to the historical society.

Next time I’m in Jonesport I’ll swing by to look her over.

[KeithAug]

Gary

 

Like the others I welcome the shipyards reopening. Your skills don't seem to have suffered from your layoff. The hull planking looks just the job.

[Wintergreen]

Very nice planking indeed.

And I'm with John and Andy about the stern planking. Flush with the timber. On my build the stern bulges around the prop shaft also. Flush planking gives hydrodynamically benefits of less drag due to the turbulence that step creates.

 

Keep it up!

[FriedClams]

Yves, Welfalck, Keith, John, Paul, Andy, Marc, Glen, Jerome, Keith and Håkan - thank you very much for your comments and the warm welcome back.  And thanks to all for looking in and as always for the "likes".

 

First, I need to correct an error – the Clover heat iron I used actually has three temperature settings, not two.  I will correct my post.  I see online that Clover offers a two-temperature iron, but I can't speak to how hot that iron gets.  Also, my wife informs me that she purchased the larger heat plate as an accessory some 15 years ago.  I see that Clover offers different set configurations where you can get everything a single bundle.

 

The iron itself has the model #9100 (40 watt) printed on it and the larger heat plate tip I believe is #9103.  Hope that helps and that I didn't confuse with the temperature thing. 

 

8 hours ago, wefalck said:

The question: what is the diameter of the stem of those shoes that slip into the heating element? I was thinking of getting just the shoe and use in my temperature regulated soldering iron.

 

My calipers measure the stem diameter at .224" about 5.7mm.  Here's a few photos of the large plate.

 

 

 

And the smaller plate.

 

 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

You ask about the planks being flush with the stern. Yes, in all boats or ships I have experienced, the planking lies flush.

 

6 hours ago, FlyingFish said:

I agree with John - flush, otherwise exposing plank end grain would result, as well as increasing friction; neither desireable I'd have thought.

 

59 minutes ago, Wintergreen said:

And I'm with John and Andy about the stern planking. Flush with the timber. On my build the stern bulges around the prop shaft also. Flush planking gives hydrodynamically benefits of less drag due to the turbulence that step creates.

 

Thank you, John, Andy and Håkan for that great info and the reasoning behind it.  Makes perfect sense.  I have plenty of meat left on those planks so flushing them back will be no problem.  Thanks again.

 

It feels good to modeling again and I appreciate the kind words and interest in this build. 

 

I hope to have an update in the coming week.

 

Be safe and stay well.

 

Gary

 

  

[wefalck]

Thanks for the pictures and measurements - it seems that the small one is not available separately, but I have to continue looking. I recently bought some heat-activated silkspan-tape that I want to use for making sails and for this these shoes would be just the right thing, plus the 6 mm-stem fits into my soldering iron.

[Valeriy V]

Gary, thank you for pleasing me with your next masterpiece.

The sardine carrier makes you freeze for a long time in front of the monitor screen. This is wonderful! 👍👌

[Rick310]

WOW. What a beautiful job planking!!

Rick

[pwog]

Hi Gary,

 

Congrats on the William Underwood!!! As per usual, your work is incredible!

 

Looking forward to your build of the Pelican

 

[druxey]

Welcome back, Gary! Good to see progress again.