Staghound 1850 by rwiederrich - 1/96 - Extreme Clipper

[rwiederrich]

Some extras with the hired help. 
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Couple pics with e penny for scale comparison.  
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

I thought I’d post a picture of my messy shop, where the magic happens.   
 

Rob

Edited Friday at 03:43 AM by rwiederrich

[Jared]

Your shop looks pretty normal to me Rob.  Whatever works is good!

[rwiederrich]

I began the work on the bowsprit and jib boom.  
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Extra picture. 
 

Rob

[ClipperFan]

Rob,

I never checked to see if you received your copy of the original 1851 Cornelius McKay Staghound drawing which accompanied his famous model. If you did, then look closely at the small sail plan depiction in the lower right corner. You'll see that her bowsprit, jibboom, flying jibboom is immensely long. Much longer than any other McKay clipper. I've attached an excerpt of his handwritten specs which confirm accuracy of the sail plan with her incredibly long one-piece jib-flying jibboom. Her bowsprit was 24' to the cap, outboard of the cap, jibboom was 18', plus 15' with 5' end and an additional flying jibboom was even 18' beyond that with 4' end. This was a single very long spar. Totaling all specs give us 60' outboard of the cap added to 24' bowsprit with 18" cap puts this out 85'6"! FYI: this is also the source of the fact that her bowsprit steeve was 4.2" not 4.5" and her mainmast was 166' high from deck to truck, incidentally 8' higher than that of the Flying Cloud.

Edited Monday at 12:00 AM by ClipperFan
additional information

[rwiederrich]

Interesting Rich.   McLean says she has a 24ft long bowsprit, a 38ft long jib boom,(to include both inner and outer jibs, divided at 18 and 15ft).  The flying jibboom is 18ft outside of the wythe.  I'm not fully sure of that term, or how it is applied here...but it represents a vertical line as in masonry.  Somewhere between 62 and 80ft...I suspect. Personally,  I'm considering Von Statina's wonderfully crafted Lightning's bowsprit design, which includes the jibboom (inner and outer) and flying jibboom arrangement, as seen here. The flying jib's doubling length, appears to mimic that of the jibboom and bowsprit.  I suspect from what is described in both descriptions, of Staghound and Lightning.....they are similarly designed.  Nearly the same terms other than the dimensions are used.

Edited Monday at 12:45 PM by rwiederrich

[ClipperFan]

1 hour ago, rwiederrich said:

Interesting Rich.   McLean says she has a 24ft long bowsprit, a 38ft long jib boom,(to include both inner and outer jibs, divided at 18 and 15ft).  The flying jibboom is 18ft outside of the wythe.  I'm not fully sure of that term, or how it is applied here...but it represents a vertical line as in masonry.  Somewhere between 62 and 80ft...I suspect. Personally,  I'm considering Von Statina's wonderfully crafted Lightning's bowsprit design, which includes the jibboom (inner and outer) and flying jibboom arrangement, as seen here. The flying jib's doubling length, appears to mimic that of the jibboom and bowsprit.  I suspect from what is described in both descriptions, of Staghound and Lightning.....they are similarly designed.  Nearly the same terms other than the dimensions are used.

Rob, that's exactly the case. I found a nautical definition and share it here. A wythe is an iron ring through which a spar is mounted. Dimensions remain the same, as the flying jibboom is described as being 18' beyond the wythe, plus a 4' end.

[rwiederrich]

2 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob, that's exactly the case. I found a nautical definition and share it here. A wythe is an iron ring through which a spar is mounted. Dimensions remain the same, as the flying jibboom is described as being 18' beyond the wythe, plus a 4' end.

Well see Rich...THAT makes all the difference in the world.  Not to mention all the sense in the world.  My conclusion is that Staghound had the same arrangement as did the lightning.

My jibboom was left slightly long...because I wanted to leave enough room to cut it back to the 38ft mark from the cap.  Now I will make the flying jibboom with a doubling as long as the bowsprit to also include the extra 18ft required along with the 4ft end..

 

OH.....and yes...Staghound had a significant bowsprit/jibboom.  Too bad Buttersworth doesn't clearly depict it on any of his paintings, that I can see.

 

Rob

Edited Monday at 04:46 PM by rwiederrich

[rwiederrich]

Looks like the Staghound had a bowsprit(proper)...10ft longer than did Lightning.  84ft verse. 74ft.  What a spar arrangement.

 

Rob

Edited Monday at 04:48 PM by rwiederrich

[ClipperFan]

8 hours ago, rwiederrich said:

Well see Rich...THAT makes all the difference in the world.  Not to mention all the sense in the world.  My conclusion is that Staghound had the same arrangement as did the lightning.

My jibboom was left slightly long...because I wanted to leave enough room to cut it back to the 38ft mark from the cap.  Now I will make the flying jibboom with a doubling as long as the bowsprit to also include the extra 18ft required along with the 4ft end..

 

OH.....and yes...Staghound had a significant bowsprit/jibboom.  Too bad Buttersworth doesn't clearly depict it on any of his paintings, that I can see.

 

Rob

Rob, I cannot understate the exciting discoveries made unearthing three hugely significant historic items. Cornelius McKay has left us the perfect blueprint to reconstruct his father Donald's "Pioneer craft of the California Clipper Fleet." We have his model, his 4 page letter with exacting specs and now the precise 1850 lines and sail plan of Stag Hound as well. What a gift, literally from 175 years ago! As with McKay's final medium clipper Glory of the Seas where we had such priceless documents and images courtesy of Michael Mjelde, you're now reconstructing his very first extreme clipper Stag Hound. You're literally building the Alpha and Omega of McKay's fabulous clippers!!

[ClipperFan]

10 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob, I cannot understate the exciting discoveries made unearthing three hugely significant historic items. Cornelius McKay has left us the perfect blueprint to reconstruct his father Donald's "Pioneer craft of the California Clipper Fleet." We have his model, his 4 page letter with exacting specs and now the precise 1850 lines and sail plan of Stag Hound as well. What a gift, literally from 175 years ago! As with McKay's final medium clipper Glory of the Seas where we had such priceless documents and images courtesy of Michael Mjelde, you're now reconstructing his very first extreme clipper Stag Hound. You're literally building the Alpha and Omega of McKay's fabulous clippers!!

Rob, just to clarify how these specs have been written. Dimensions were given before the bowsprit cap: 24' and after it: 18' + 15' +5' end, then there's the wythe, after them (perhaps the 5' end doubled as the spar support for the wythe too): 18' + 4' end. A total of 84' spars + 1'6" for the cap = 85'6". Jibboom passes through the cap but dimensions are given after it, so it has to be added to get precise numbers. Reviewing the small sail plan, the entire bowsprit-jibbooms combo appear to be equal to the height of the foremast up to her crosstrees. 

[rwiederrich]

11 hours ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob, I cannot understate the exciting discoveries made unearthing three hugely significant historic items. Cornelius McKay has left us the perfect blueprint to reconstruct his father Donald's "Pioneer craft of the California Clipper Fleet." We have his model, his 4 page letter with exacting specs and now the precise 1850 lines and sail plan of Stag Hound as well. What a gift, literally from 175 years ago! As with McKay's final medium clipper Glory of the Seas where we had such priceless documents and images courtesy of Michael Mjelde, you're now reconstructing his very first extreme clipper Stag Hound. You're literally building the Alpha and Omega of McKay's fabulous clippers!!

Years ago....when I set out to build replicas of my favorite clipper builder...Donald Mckay.  I decided shortly after, that I Had to pay homage in the best way I could imagine.  Reproduce, (to the best of my ability), the perfect vessels that exemplified...the true story of McKay's journey in Clipper design and construction.  What better way to begin this adventure then by building his greatest clipper achievement.  the Great Republic.  She represents all that McKay's experience and knowledge could produce.  Not withholding the fact, that she was to ever be the largest clipper ever constructed by man, Second, after years of unfulfilled gaps in research, I fell among folks, such as yourself and our dear friend Micheal Mjelde, and a blessed treasure trove of unpublished data and photos came my way.  So it was obvious,(To me), that the last clipper Donald McKay ever constructed, Glory of the Seas, had to be my next construction.   Knowing, I could never build every clipper McKay ever built....it became clear, to complete this collection, of the best representation of McKay's posterity, I had to build the clipper that set it all in motion.  Donald McKay's first *extreme* clipper, Staghound.  These 3 clipper designs, express the fullness of the ingenious imagination and the attention to skillful construction, that was Donald McKay.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

1 hour ago, ClipperFan said:

Reviewing the small sail plan, the entire bowsprit-jibbooms combo appear to be equal to the height of the foremast up to her crosstrees. 

Remember, long ago I had told you, that clipper designs had a wonderful way of balancing the dimensions of similar structures?  This is probably one of those *balanced* examples.  Like, main yards are the same length as the main mast is from deck to cap.  Many other examples exist.  Not forgetting, that sea faring folk of long ago, tended to be very superstitious.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Worked a bit on the bowsprit.  
 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Not sure I like the brackets.   I might make a change.    

[ClipperFan]

21 minutes ago, rwiederrich said:

Not sure I like the brackets.   I might make a change.    

Rob, a thought. Is it possible that the top of the jibboom and base of the flying jibboom might have been flattened to guarantee no possible rotation of the flying jibboom? Just like both inner bowsprit and jibboom were both carved back to rectangles to prevent any chance of rotation.

 

[rwiederrich]

1 hour ago, ClipperFan said:

Rob, a thought. Is it possible that the top of the jibboom and base of the flying jibboom might have been flattened to guarantee no possible rotation of the flying jibboom? Just like both inner bowsprit and jibboom were both carved back to rectangles to prevent any chance of rotation.

 

Not sure that is the solution.  Bruce simply rigged the flying jib as I did.  But I think I need to reduce the diameter of the jib and thus make the bracketing lighter.  Here is another of Bruce's work...you can see the space clearly between the booms.  The flying jib is rotated to the right to permit the stays clear passage.