Vigilance of Brixham (BM 76) by FlyingFish - 1:32

[wefalck]

Ladies' pads make great emergency bandages ... don't ask how I know this 🫢

[FlyingFish]

20 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Blood seeping through the bandage would have looked more manly

I have put a note in the first aid tin to that effect. The floor was spectacular.

 

[FlyingFish]

8 hours ago, wefalck said:

don't ask how I know this

Best not, but thanks for the tip!

[FlyingFish]

The rabbet and bearding lines are marked with a tiny marking gauge (a present from my children who know my weakness for these things

 

Then some careful work with a 2.5mm upcut bit in the hand drill against a straight edge to establish the rabbet, using a section of planking to check depth, followed by some carving and scraping with the tiny chisels I made last year for Orca. The stem and stern post rabbets will be refined as they are planked.

This is how it’s supposed to be done.

 

[Wintergreen]

What a nice build you've got going here Andy!

I'm glad to have found it. The similarities between our builds are quite striking, however, you go into much greater detail in keeping to the original than I do. Hats off for that, sir!

On the other hand of course they are similar! Atlantica is a scaled up version of a British smack built 1903 in Porthleven, which is basically just around the corner from Brixham 😄 

 

So, I'll grab a seat a little to the side here. Is the popcorn machinge functional or do I bring my own?

[FlyingFish]

12 hours ago, Wintergreen said:

The similarities between our builds are quite striking

Well they would be if I could match your wonderful joinery skills, Hakan. I rely on white glue and sawdust! Glad to have you on board; I'm enjoying your Atlantica build enormously.

12 hours ago, Wintergreen said:

a British smack built 1903 in Porthleven

I looked at the Gratitude when researching. It's interesting that she survived the war, unlike so many others. She survived a dreadful storm in 1911, then continued working until 1932. I see she went to Lowestoft before crossing over to Bohuslän. It's wonderful that she is still sailing, and teaching youngsters the art of navigation and sail handling. She is seriously fast, and won the Tall Ships race in 1978. Someone should build her one day...

Edited March 2 by FlyingFish

[Wintergreen]

Glad to be of inspiration Andy 🙂

It is a learning curve for me too. I have found out that the first attempt is usually decent, but no 2 goes in the bin because it is done in somewhat of a hurry. Then you settle down and let it take the time it takes and the rest is good as well. For time it takes.

Lovely marking gauges you got there. I'm pondering over miniature tools now and then. Apart from being enourmusly pretty, are they useful?

[Roger Pellett]

Your keel rabbit looks like it’s coming out nicely!

[FlyingFish]

7 hours ago, Wintergreen said:

are they useful

It's a good question Håkan - as with everything, it depends on the quality - they few I have bought are all from well known high quality tool makers, and use the same materials as their bigger relatives.

Of course they are only useful for tasks at scale, like scoring the rabbet - and the small palm planes I have are simply indispensbile to those fine shavings on small stock. Do I really need them? Probably not, but don't tell the Admiral!

2 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

Your keel rabbit looks like it’s coming out nicely

Thanks Roger!

[FriedClams]

Great work on those frames, Andy!  Authentic natural coloration also - like the real deal.  Very cool marking gauge set.

 

Gary

[Wintergreen]

Thanks for the insight Andy and my lips are sealed 😉

Yes, I recognize the make. My next tool will probably be a disk sander though.

 

How's that rabbet going?

[FlyingFish]

Thanks for all the comments and likes folks.

On 3/2/2024 at 8:39 PM, Wintergreen said:

next tool will probably be a disk sander

I've considered the Byrnes - maybe that will be possible if the company are going back into production some day. I do have a larger one, and made the mistake of getting a disc/belt combined. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but being direct drive the faces of the disk and belt are at 90 degrees to one another - so really needs to be positioned on a corner. It can really eat though the work though.

The rabbet is finished, and framing underway. I'll post more shortly.

Edited March 5 by FlyingFish

[FlyingFish]

Frame setting.

The rabbet is cut and the bearding line will be extended as planks are dry fitted to get the angle right. That 6.5° rake shows clearly in this image. It really throws your eye.

The gantry has lateral and vertical scale tapes to set the sheer and the beam correctly. The square is used to align the tapes to the plan.  

Temporary cross spalls will be used if the frame needs tweaking for width. The frame is set against a perspex support to get the 6.5 °angle right.

 

The frames are glued and dowelled with cocktail sticks to the keel. These will not be seen as the keelson will cover them up.

The frame heads look uneven, but they are oversize and will be shortened when the clamp is put on. They will have a coverboard over them eventually. The outside edges have a margin for sanding and are still a little uneven.

I'm making progress slowly, time is limited in the workshop - domestic chores are calling now the weather is improving, and of course the fly boxes must be refilled.

  At least the boat starts to take shape now.

 

[FriedClams]

I like the gantry/frame alignment jig - your own design and construction I presume.  

 

1 hour ago, FlyingFish said:

domestic chores are calling now the weather is improving

 

Oh, please don't speak of these things Andy as I have a growing list of unpleasant chores awaiting my attention.  Arrgh! 

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

17 hours ago, FriedClams said:

your own design

No, Gary - can't claim that. I built most of my building jig stuff using ideas from Ed Tosti's incredible build of Naiad on this forum here. I don't recall him using the scale tapes. I'd recommend his log as a masterclass, and I think he has a couple of books on the build that detail each step.

Lists are very dangerous. I'd steer clear if I were you.

[Wintergreen]

I agree on EdT:s build logs as a fantastic source of information. I bought the first Naiad book only for the tools and drafting sections in it.

He didn't use scales, instead he used the profile plan and took heights from it directly. The plan was mounted on a board with a ledge representing the bottom line.

Framing is a lengthy process. It feels it will never end, and then all of a sudden all frames are in 😉 

How is that wood for sanding? I used apple, which I knew would be tedious, but there was less risk of sanding too much.

 

Keep it up!

[FlyingFish]

 

11 hours ago, Wintergreen said:

took heights from it directly

I made one of his sliding height calipers with a view to using it later. Yes I must get a set of plans mounted that way with a straight edge fixed on the datum.

11 hours ago, Wintergreen said:

How is that wood for sanding

Both maple and holly are pretty hard, holly the most. They sand OK, and scrape even better. As you say the advantage is that it's hard to overdo it!

I would like to have used apple or pear, but over the last decade UK has lost most of its orchards to intensive farming, and the wood is hard to find. To think we used to burn it on the fire! 

[Roger Pellett]

Andy, really nice work.

 

In the years before Covid, my wife and I went on three Sisley Garden Tours to different areas of rural England; a wonderful experience.  We heard from more than one gardener maintaining these magnificent gardens that there is an Asiatic blight killing the  Boxwood Trees.  It would seem that someone could scavage some nice Boxwood before it’s too late.

 

Roger

[FlyingFish]

16 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

someone could scavage some nice Boxwood

Indeed you would think so - however the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) suggest cutting back lightly infected plants, but removing badly infected ones altogether, and sadly burning them to avoid spread. I fear this has been the fate of most with bad blight. There is some English boxwood for sale still, but it's hard to find anything longer than a foot. I have some castello boxwood in my stash, which is a different family altogether. Never used it so don't know how it differs.

[FriedClams]

 

On 3/7/2024 at 9:09 AM, FlyingFish said:

I built most of my building jig stuff using ideas from Ed Tosti's incredible build of Naiad on this forum here. I don't recall him using the scale tapes. I'd recommend his log as a masterclass

 

I remember his Young America clipper build that he finished a few years ago - an amazing piece of work.  I haven't read his Naiad log . . . yet.

 

On 3/7/2024 at 9:09 AM, FlyingFish said:

Lists are very dangerous. I'd steer clear if I were you.

 

Good advice and trying my darndest.

 

Gary

 

 

[FlyingFish]

A fishing trip prevents progress currently - and Spring chores call. However thought this might be of interest until I can get back in to the workshop.

 

A Treenail detective tale.

Whilst looking over the boat as it was being disassembled, Peter Brown of the ‘Friends of Vigilance’ noticed some treenail holes in some frames that seemed oversize. On probing them he found that they did not go into the original timber below, and some were on the edge of the beam as shown below.

 

 

Treenail diameter increases with the length of a ship, and consequently the plank thickness.

Vigilant at 76 ft would not be expected to have a treenail of no more than 1”, and more probably ¾” inch or thereabouts. The treenail holes Peter found were 1 ¼”. Also, the wood looks older than even the 1926 original oak in the boat.

His explanation is worthy of inclusion here because it’s a clever piece of deduction and starts with the ice trading industry.

In the late 1800's Brixham relied on ice brought in ice-carriers from Norway. Peter’s Great Grandmother was Swedish and married to a Devonshire man. The family owned two ice carriers which plied the passage to and from Norway to Brixham supplying the fishing fleet at the end of the 19^th Century. The largest company in Britain, Leftwich always kept a thousand tons of ice in store, and by 1900 a million tons had been exported from Norway – it was big business, and its history is a fascinating example of the use of man and horsepower to get the blocks of hand-sawn ice from frozen lakes down wooden slides to the boats.

7

 

This all changed in 1900 when Hayman’s of Brixham built an icemaking plant at Dewdney’s Cove – run by the National Provincial Ice and Cold Storage Co. It was installed by Listers of Dursley Gloucester – a place I know well, as I once visited them to get an antique Lister water pump restored.

This made the ice carriers redundant. Peter’s great Grandparents resettled to England, and their ships were adapted to carry cargo along the South coast for a few more years before being retired. They ended up at Uphams Yard and were broken up. The useful timber from the boats was stacked in the yard in 1926 when Vigilance was built.

So, here’s the thing - Peter thinks some of the timber was reused in Vigilance, hence the large treenail holes. I’ve no doubt Uphams would have used the old timber to save both them and George Foster a few quid. It’s a splendid link for his family to the boat; explains what he found, and a clever piece of deduction on his part.

 

 

 

Edited August 2 by FlyingFish

[KeithAug]

On 3/18/2024 at 10:20 AM, FlyingFish said:

. The useful timber from the boats was stacked in the yard in 1926 when Vigilance was built.

Facinating Andy. Worthy of Sherlock.

[FlyingFish]

Thanks to all for likes and comments. A brief update - not much time to dedicate to Vigilance at the moment but I am making slow painstaking progress on the forward frames. The pace is dictated by the curvature of the rake which makes these challenging to say the least. However, despite a growing pile of rejects, it is taking shape.

The state of the workbench says it all....

[64Pacific]

This is really neat, being able to follow along with your build and the rebuild of the prototype. Definitely inspiring but my boat building skills are not there yet...

[Keith Black]

 

9 minutes ago, 64Pacific said:

This is really neat, being able to follow along with your build and the rebuild

 

 Yes, being able to follow the restoration of the Vigilance and Andy's build in the same log is a real treat. 

Edited April 5 by Keith Black

[FlyingFish]

19 hours ago, Keith Black said:

follow the restoration of the Vigilance and Andy's build in the same log

Thanks Scott and Keith - I'm very fortunate to be able to visit occasionally, with the Vigilance Trust's permission, to record the shipyard's progress - it makes the build come to life, and I'm pleased you are enjoying it.

An example of why they are master shipwrights, and I am a very lowly journeyman is demonstrated in the following example of a costly mistake.

A frame pair #27 was built using the templates lofted in CAD, and it was only when the frame was offered up that I could immediately see a problem...

The aft frame (in blue) looked too far away from the Fore frame (red) to fit in this section of the boat - turns out it was in fact frame 29, incorrectly transposed by me (probably late in the evening). The frame looks OK, but it's trash, and in the waste pot. I'm also remaking #26 and #28 for similar reasons all caught in the same dozy moment.

So another lesson learned. Copying and pasting in CAD may be quicker than the old school methods, but it's not without it's 'gotchas'!

 

[KeithAug]

On 4/5/2024 at 10:30 PM, FlyingFish said:

reasons all caught in the same dozy moment.

I find that the older I feel the Dozier I get, and I can't even blame it on late nights. Remember every failure is an opportunity for improvement.😀

[FriedClams]

On 4/5/2024 at 5:30 PM, FlyingFish said:

turns out it was in fact frame 29, incorrectly transposed by me (probably late in the evening).

 

Ouch and danged!  Self-inflicted wounds just hurt a bit more don't they?  Oh, how I know.

 

On 4/5/2024 at 5:30 PM, FlyingFish said:

CAD may be quicker than the old school methods, but it's not without it's 'gotchas'!

 

Amen, but the lure is irresistible.

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

On 4/14/2024 at 3:45 PM, FriedClams said:

the lure is irresistible

Oh the many hours I've wasted just tinkering around in CAD - fidgetting about lines being a hair out here and there. Not to mention the abject fear of deleting the files by mistake. Then the magic of 'copy as a mirror' or 'snap to vertices' command seduces me again...!

I still have a pot of sharpened H pencils on my desk just in case the power goes off one day.

On 4/9/2024 at 7:58 PM, KeithAug said:

I can't even blame it on late nights

Ha! My 'dry' January is still going, so that excuse is out as well!

Edited April 15 by FlyingFish

[FlyingFish]

Well it’s been a while – I’ve been away on an extended fishing trip to the famous limestone Lough Sheelin in Ireland to fish the mayfly hatch. It was, as usual, wonderful. It’s a spectacle of nature, and the big fish appear each year to gorge themselves. For those of you stateside it was the Ephemera danica hatch, much like your greendrakes.

The boats are 19’ made locally and designed for drifting broadside downwind as you cast your fly in front of the boat. The electric outboard is the ‘Ghillie’ helping to adjust the drift around points on onto rising fish. They can’t see you coming if you wear a camo buff…

 

Here’s one of about 6 lbs and we caught some even bigger. They all went back to grow even larger.

 

So to work and back on topic – I have some catching up to do on Vigilance.

Frames 30-34

These frames rise above the keelson onto the stern deadwood, as shown by the blue dashed bearding line.

 

The deadwood is then graded down onto the rabbet to allow the planking to sit flush with the keel.

Frame 34 is the last double frame. Frames #35 - #39 heel onto the horns which themselves butt to the aft face of frame 34. These photos are from the yard:

 

They started by using ply templates to work out the run of the planking onto the counter before making the frames. Then each massive oak pair was winched into place and secured.

 

My set-up is shown below here, with frames 29 and 30 being dry fitted. The paper template sets the frame heel position, bearding line position and sheer height. The gantry tape aligns the frames athwartships, and the sliding bevel and set square set the beam width and sheer height at the sheer line accordingly. Temporary ribbands hold everything in line, and help to check the frame bevel is faired. If not then adjustments can be made before fixing.

I've found that making frames this way is risky – if they are not right then maybe they can be faired, but more likely a new frame will need to be made. If I was to do this again I'd leave more margin for sanding.

All for now, whilst I slowly work towards the counter timbers.