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

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice trout! (And of course, the build continues to amaze.)

[FriedClams]

Quite intense work fitting those frames, Andy.  I can see how leaving a little more meat on the bone could be advantageous.  Handsome fish - looks like a good time!

 

Gary

[KeithAug]

On 5/28/2024 at 8:29 PM, FlyingFish said:

I’ve been away on an extended fishing trip to the famous limestone Lough Sheelin in Ireland to fish the mayfly hatch.

And it wasn't raining for a change Andy. Interesting you didn't take pictures of there bigger fish - it's always the way with fishermen! Beautiful work on the frames.

[FlyingFish]

On 5/31/2024 at 5:24 PM, KeithAug said:

didn't take pictures of there bigger fish

Well, just for you @KeithAug, yer tis. (Caught by my boat partner, not me!!). He caught one bigger but thanks to my clumsiness with the net it got off. We are still friends, but only just.

 

On 5/30/2024 at 4:52 PM, FriedClams said:

Quite intense work fitting those frames, Andy

Sure is @FriedClams... as you know I enjoy the fidelity of following the original plans, but goodness these compound curves are a challenge at this scale. I'm getting there, and hopefully the next update is not far away.

 

Thanks @JacquesCousteau glad you are enjoying it. And thanks to all for the likes and for taking the time to follow this.

[FlyingFish]

Frames 31 -34 continued...

 

A little more progress - and a milestone; last four double frames in now.

Horns dry fitted...

 

 

And a glimps of the task ahead... I'll post a discussion of the counter framing in a while, which will explain the plan shown in more detail. 

Its taking shape now, with the perpendicular (or nearly) timbers 35 - 39 (shown above) next in line, followed by the cant timbers and stanchions that define the elliptical counter.

 

[Keith Black]

 Very nice, Andy.  

[wefalck]

Under the right light conditions and with the right background, this could look almost like the real thing  👍🏻

[KeithAug]

38 minutes ago, wefalck said:

this could look almost like the real thing  

My thought exactly. Wonderful job Andy.

[FriedClams]

Nice progress, Andy.  I also agree with the above statements, it does look like the real thing.  But of course it is the real thing, only smaller.  The color tone of your home-harvested wood is wonderful.  

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

Thanks @Keith Black @KeithAug @wefalck and @FriedClams for the kind comments and all for the thumbs up. So far all the parts are exactly as irl (as the young say), other than the bolts holding the frames together which are a step too far. The wood (holly) is so far working out well - I do like the grey staining which does take on the appearance of oak; it even blackens a bit as it gets worked over which is nice. Once it gets weathered later in the build I think it will look fine.

It is certainly hard, and produces a super fine smooth surface when scraped or planed. Hand sanding takes very thin layers off, and I can use a proxxon rotary sanding drum without the worry of gauging lumps out of it.

[FlyingFish]

Hawse or Knighthead timbers.

The hawse or knighthead timbers sit atop the forward two frames and with them present a solid support to the stem and help prevent lateral movement of the bowsprit. 'Hawse' because the hawse hole for the cable was originally fitted through these in old wooden warships. The ones on Vigilance are called kinghtheads by the shipwrights at the yard. 

Knightheads: “The knightheads are the forwardmost primary main cant timbers and are fitted one either side of the apron or stomach piece.   They extend upward through the covering board and on past the top of the caprail in way and were often carved decoratively to form the head of a man wearing armour.   Sometimes called Apostle Timbers”.   Pease – Modern Shipbuilding Terms.

Anyway they are certainly big lumps of oak and in the case of Vigilance their main purpose is to support the bowsprit. The anchor chain will not pass through them, but will eventually pass over the cap to a roller.

In Vigilance the hawse timbers are hooded to the stem, contiguous with it, and carry the planking to the rabbet on the stem. There is no apron as such, as shown in the following images of the reconstruction.

The planking in my build images below is temporary; an aid to fairing. The shipyard had the old planking to act as a guide for fairing the frames and knightheads, so I am replicating this using an engineer’s square to measure up off the frame plan on the building jig.

Next up will be the setting out of the counter frames, which is currently 'doin' my head in' as they say!

 

 

[KeithAug]

Sorry but it now looks better than the original. Needs a bit more bodging!🙂

[FriedClams]

Very nice work, Andy.  Thanks for the explanation of hawse and knighthead timbers, and the photos of the 1:1.  Yes, they are indeed -  big lumps of oak!

 

Gary

[FlyingFish]

Thanks all for comments and for following along.

On 6/23/2024 at 5:11 PM, KeithAug said:

Needs a bit more bodging!

Just watch this space Keith, plenty to follow!!

Time for building has been very limited over the past few weeks, and progress slow. Skip this post if you’d rather see sawdust than words!

 

Elliptical Stern.

Here’s a bit of history and context to the build which may be useful if you want (or like me, are daft enough) to build your own sailing trawler from scratch.

Vigilance has a round or elliptical stern. This was not typical for Brixham trawlers which previously had square counters.

 

 

Ketches built in Rye, for example Master Hand (see insert from March) had halfway between square and round sterns in the early 1900’s.

The counter timbers in this style butted to a fashion timber and ran parallel to the horn timbers to the taffrail, as shown by March below.

 

This was not new;  elliptical or ‘fantail’ shapes came 80 or so years earlier with the round designs of Sir Robert Steppings in 1817, as below, which evolved into an elliptical shape in the USS Brandywine. This shape was seen as less vulnerable to cannon fire than a transom.

In the elliptical stern, horn or post timbers (whiskers) sweep up from the fashion frame to either side of the stern timber creating a rudder post ‘tube’ before emerging to form the aftmost stanchions.

‘…the timbers of the elliptical stern all heel on the whiskers, to which they are affixed at a 45° angle (i.e., "canted") when viewed from overhead and decrease in length as they are installed aft until the curvature is complete. The finished stern has a continuous curved edge around the outside and is raked aft’. Wiki.

 

Why would this be an advantage to a trawler, given that the chance of coming under cannon fire in the 1920’s was remote! Maybe the greater deck space, less drag?

 

The ‘National Historic Ships’ website says:

‘Vigilance did incorporate all the lessons learned from the building and use of her forerunners, such as the beautiful elliptical counter stern which made her dryer and more manageable when trawling in a following sea’.

 

Over the years Vigilance’s stern has been repaired often, and many timbers including stanchions replaced. It is the area where the hogging of the sheer is most noticeable.

When the decking and counter was removed the reason became clearer. The rebuild is not a moment too soon.

The geometry of the original cant timbers has been altered during repair by the inclusion of new timbers, partners and filling pieces. Given this, trying to reconstruct the original layout involves some guesswork.

The re-building of Vigilance allows some very rare insights into the construction – how else would this geometry be seen? The shipwright’s left foot is on starboard perpendicular timber 38, his toe pointing to #39. Both heel onto the horn timber. The port original 39 is cut off halfway down and replaced with a smaller timber (circled red). This would have been the only way to get it under the after end of the haunch timber.

Both #38’s are replacements, the originals would have been perpendicular. There is evidence of many replacements, partner timbers and scarfings over the years. The task has been to try to reconstruct the original in CAD.

 

Drawing up the plan.

I started with Underhill's plans of Valarian to try and get positions of the stern timbers, but it soon becaime clear that they were different. I have been fortunate to be able to measure Vigilance at the yard, and after many hours of drafting this is where I am with the plan. 

The plan and profile drawings above and below give a possible layout. Frame 34 is the last double frame. A yoke timber was in place aft of frame #34, to which the stringers terminate. It adds strength to the stern quarters, as do the haunch timbers.

The horn timbers table to the sternpost via filling pieces which create an angled splay to the centreline to allow width for the stern tube. Their heels butt to Frame 34. Frames 35 -39 butt to the horn timbers as shown, perpendicular to the keel.

  

The two cant timbers butted to the horn at 66° (cant 3) and 45° (cant 2) respectively. The aftermost perpendicular frame #40 butted to the latter.   A final cant 3 timber might have butted to the 45° cant, but I and the yard have opted to make this am angled stanchion siding to the fitting pieces.

When I measured the position of the aft frames 35+ the last frame before the cant timbers was frame 39, as shown below. The shipwrights have added a further perpendicular frame #40, which heels onto the 2^nd cant timber. This matches the timber whose tip is shown encircled red below.

Altogether it's been an interesting detective story. I'm grateful to the Trust and the yard for allowing me access whilst they also recreate this section of the boat.

The following shows what they have done. I was very pleased that my plans were very close to theirs, and my task is now to model it.

Next up will be my attempt!

 

 

[FlyingFish]

Elliptical stern build.

 

Preparing frames 35-40 takes the same form as before; printouts from CAD of aft and fore profiles bevelled to the right profile. This time however the fore and aft are printed on the same template as the bevel is so slight it can be sanded easily by sight.

The boatyard erected scaffolding and bent a steel pipe to the shape of the sheer and taffrail to help set the pesky cant timbers, stanchions and filling pieces.

 I went with a two-layer ply template. This attaches at the front to the heads of frame 34 and the centreline. The sheer and rail rise are set with the lip of bent maple which follows the inside of the planking line.

 

The height is adjustable with the red knurled nuts, (easier than trying to cut legs to the right height), and then locked into place with the brass nuts.

 

I’m hoping there will be enough room around it to get my hands into set the timbers in position, but the top layer unscrews if I need more access.

The horns go in first, with filling pieces to set them either side of the rudder trunking, and shaped to create the tube that will later be lined with vertical planking.

 

Then the perpendicular frames. A set square from the frame plan on the baseboard marks out their position. Their heels are cut to length and angled to side onto the horns. Temporary planking helps guide the bevel which is shaped before and refined later.

Each frame is taken to the sander many times to get an accurate fit.

 

 

There’s a lot of cleaning up to do, but progress is being made at last. Next the cant frames, frame 40  and filling pieces.

 

All for now!

 

[KeithAug]

Beautiful work Andy and very impressive building frame.

[FlyingFish]

Thanks Keith! I added some bloomers for you which you'll see below. If I was any good as CAD I'd be able to bring the cant frames into a 2D axis to print out. But I'm not,  so I did it using trial and error with some card, and then lots of back and forwards to the sander. 

After a good deal of T&E and a little foul language which helped, I have something like the shape I need.

I think it was Gary @FriedClams who wisely suggested leaving plenty of meat on the bone, so I've done just that with these, especially underneath so that when I put the filling pieces in I can have a glorious sanding session to try and fair it all in.

There may be a pause for a while as I have offered to turn some of the old decking from Vigilance into little 'models' of her to help raise funds for their rebuild at a local country fair. I think I'll sand the shape of the hull and maybe stick some bamboo masts on them. Its really so that local folk who donate to the refurbishment can have a piece of the old boat as a keepsake. The good news is that the Trust have been successful in getting a further National Heritage grant to complete the replacement of the deck, which means Vigilance will now have a fighting chance of another 100 years afloat! 

 

All for now!

[FriedClams]

This is complex model building, Andy, and what a great job you're doing.  Your detailed CAD work really illustrates what is going on in the stern and of course the on-site images of the full-scale reconstruction are always a treat.  

 

"The good news is that the Trust have been successful in getting a further National Heritage grant to complete the replacement of the deck, which means Vigilance will now have a fighting chance of another 100 years afloat!   Excellent!
 

 

Gary

 

 

Edited July 15 by FriedClams

[AJohnson]

Wonderful work Andy, also great news also about the Heritage grant to continue the restoration. 😃

[KeithAug]

40 minutes ago, FlyingFish said:

But I'm not,  so I did it using trial and error with some card, and then lots of back and forwards to the sander. 

This luddite thought that was the only way to do it.

 

43 minutes ago, FlyingFish said:

Vigilance into little 'models' of her to help raise funds for their rebuild at a local country fair.

Very good cause Andy.👏👏👏.

[Keith Black]

 Andy, you said country fair and Cash and Dylan singing the below popped in my head.

 

 i hope you sell a ton of the little models, good on ya for making the time. And thank you for walking us through this project. It really helps in making sense of the build process. 

 

"So if you're travelin' the north county fair

Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline

Remember me to one who lives there

For she once was a true love mine." 

 

 

 

Edited July 15 by Keith Black

[FlyingFish]

3 hours ago, FriedClams said:

complex model building

Too true, Gary, I'm a fool to myself sometimes, but there is method in my madness, as will become clear later down the line.

3 hours ago, AJohnson said:

great news also about the Heritage grant

Indeed Andrew - otherwise they would have faced wasting money weatherproofing the old deck, taking it back to Brixham, and then returning down the line. this way she stays in the yard and the work continues. They hope to have her completed by the centenery in 2026.

2 hours ago, KeithAug said:

luddite

Me too, in that I do enjoy drafting plans with the pencil and the way you connect with the lines if you draw them yourself. I've already decided to do it that way for the nexy build, whenever that is!

2 hours ago, Keith Black said:

Cash and Dylan

Ha! I beleive Dylan had an 80 ft schooner called 'Water Pearl' that might make a good subject for your next build Keith!! Cash sang a song called 'fast boat to Sydney', but as far as I know didn't declare what type it was! 

Altogether now...

Because I am a cheat and I'm a liar
Oh but you're a loving ball of fire
I'll leave you like a bum without a penny
And while I'm home with the blues
I'll be hoping like a kangaroo
When I get off of that fast boat to Sydney

😄

[FlyingFish]

The fleet is lined up. The hulls are from Vigilances planking - larch I think, and I raided the kitchen drawer for bamboo skewers for the masts soaked in thin CA glue for more strength. 

Away for a few days then back onto the 'real' build.

Edited July 24 by FlyingFish

[KeithAug]

Handsome little fleet Andy. Let's hope they sell well. Presumably the buyer gets an authentication certificate?

[FlyingFish]

Thanks for the many likes and for following along. 

On 7/25/2024 at 8:16 PM, KeithAug said:

Presumably the buyer gets an authentication certificate?

Yes, and a sticker on the boat.  I've made 20 and plan to do some more when I have the time. 

[FlyingFish]

Thank you for the many likes, and comments - all much appreciated. I've been preoccupied with all kinds of domestic duties and distractions, but have made a little progress to share.

 

Filling pieces and fairing the stern; Bridle Beam and Stern Tube Carlins.

 

Some further work on the counter/stern timbers – this involving a lot of careful measuring and trial fitting to get the angles and relationships correct.

The space between the horns and cant timbers are filled with deep wedges that will provide strength as well as a faired surface above for the aft-most deck, and below for the planking under the counter.

Some photos from the yard to illustrate this stage: the bridle beam sits on the stern post and ties it into frame 37 locking the post from lateral movement. It passes over the haunch timbers, shown in position in this photo, and notches into the top of the deadwood and frame ends

The aftermost beam sits aft of frame 40, notching over the horns. The ends of the haunch timbers heel onto this beam, as shown below.

  

The deck planks pass over the aft-most beam and will terminate on the arch timber, not yet shown here.

Two carlings will join it to the bridle beam, forming a boxing for the stern tube, as shown below.

The whole assembly forms a very rigid bracing for the stern post, and with the haunch timbers helps reduce twisting under the enormous strain of trawling.

And now my attempt...

The filling pieces are  bevelled to reduce their height to that the beams. Cover timbers will sit over the bevels to bring the area aft of the planking up to the sheer line.

The underside of the counter is faired to accept the planking. Note that the planking from the port meets the startboard in the centreline aft of the stern tube. On either side the planking flies past the sheer line aft, where it is covered by boards that form the stern sheer.

 Next the horns and cants are notched at the sheer line to take the arch board which runs around the aft sheer and joins the covering boards. The position is both measured from the plans and checked by using cardboard templates as shown.

The remaining cants and aft-most stanchions are then positioned to accept this curved line whilst being bevelled to take the taffrail and the transit rail. I came over all 'arty' and borrowed the Admiral's camera for the next two shots which makes the wood ‘warmer’ for some reason. In this, the haunch timbers and the yoke have been added, completing the structural elements of the stern.

 

[Keith Black]

 Fantastic work, Andy. Showing photos of the build coupled with photos of the restoration provides easier comprehension of the task at hand. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

I love the realism of the construction Andy. Flipping between the model and the full size build it is easy to lose track of which is which.

Edited August 20 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

I am always perplexed by the complexity of the shape of some parts. Do they use some sort of templates to (rough) cut the pieces and fit them then?

[FriedClams]

Beautiful work, Andy!

 

10 hours ago, FlyingFish said:

borrowed the Admiral's camera for the next two shots which makes the wood ‘warmer’ for some reason

Perhaps the white balance isn’t set to automatic?

 

Gary