Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack by Venti - Model Shipways - 1:24

[Venti]

Just finished the Pram which was a ton of fun but I am much more excited to start this one! This style of planking seems much more enjoyable to me and is what I've seen done the most on bigger ships.

 

I think I'm going to order some black synthetic rope and some sheave blocks as a little upgrade from what the kit has. 

 

For a few days I'll probably be reading instructions and build logs again to be better prepared but I might not be able to help myself and get started 😅

 

 

Index:

Appendix 1: Part Sheet

Appendix 2: Shipyard Update

 

Steps 1-3: The Central Spine

Step 4: Reinforcing Pieces

Step 5: The Bulkhead Frames

Edited Sunday at 05:23 PM by Venti

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Venti said:

I think I'm going to order some black synthetic rope and some sheave blocks as a little upgrade from what the kit has.

 

 A nice thing about a kit like this one is that smacks are still in use as pleasure craft, so they can essentially be modified however you like.

[Venti]

19 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

modified however you like

Yeah! I've seen a few really nice modifications people have done in their logs!

I was hoping to find plans for the smack but I haven't been able to find any yet. Would have been a huge help in the Pram and I assume will be for this as well.

[Kenchington]

57 minutes ago, Venti said:

plans for the smack

Chapelle's "American Small Sailing Craft", figure 99 -- though the book-published version is very small.

 

At least, I assume that that is what all kit manufacturers have used for their Muscongus Bay centreboard sloops. How closely the Model Shipways kit follows Chapelle's version, I will not know until I catch up to your progress!

 

Trevor

[JacquesCousteau]

Looking forward to following along! 

 

If you're looking for inspiration, I'd second the recommendation to have a look at the relevant section of Chapelle. Another potential source would be to look for old photos. While I haven't found many of the Muscongus Bay centerboard sloop, there are quite a few photos of Friendship Sloops, which were deeper-hulled but otherwise quite similar vessels. There are a lot of photos of these--mostly as yachts, but a few as fishing vessels--here, for example: https://penobscotmarinemuseum.historyit.com/search-interfaces/search/digital-collection/0/1/1/1?rq[0]=8639&ip=1

 

 

[Venti]

26 minutes ago, Kenchington said:

book-published version is very small

Interesting. Unfortunately, the libraries near me don't have it 😭 I wouldn't mind buying it but I'm afraid that the small picture wouldn't be of any real use...

[Venti]

Thank you Jacques, I will check it out as well!

[JacquesCousteau]

2 minutes ago, Venti said:

Interesting. Unfortunately, the libraries near me don't have it 😭 I wouldn't mind buying it but I'm afraid that the small picture wouldn't be of any real use...

It's also available for short-term loan online through the Internet Archive (a fantastic source for books, btw).

[Kenchington]

3 hours ago, Venti said:

I'm afraid that the small picture wouldn't be of any real use...

There was a tie when the Smithsonian sold larger copies of Chapelle's many ship and boat plans. I don't know whether they still do but worth checking out.

 

For more background (though a rather later period than the centreboard sloops), courtesy of your federal government as it was in 1890:

 

https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=v98aAAAAYAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA235&dq=Maine+lobster+fishery+history+sloop+trap&ots=KQi-n948T4&sig=OFip4-NeAMJY7d3w689r3XwcPxo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

That link will take you to the Google Books version. You can likely find others on-line.

 

[Venti]

20 hours ago, JacquesCousteau said:

available for short-term loan

Unfortunately it says "Borrow Unavailable" at the moment. I assume someone else is borrowing it now and I'll keep checking on it. But I saw a picture on someone else's build log and I'm not sure it'll be all that helpful. 

 

I think I've decided to forgo the pre-shaped planks given in this kit. I want to get extra practice lining off the hull and bending/shaping the planks the "real" way. Is this a bad idea for this ship? Not sure if they give the pre-shaped planks because it's a learning kit and/or because it's small and difficult to plank. The garboard seems it might be a little difficult but otherwise I don't foresee anything too bad.

With this I need some help choosing the size of strips to use for this. The planks given in the kit are 1/32" thick so that seems like it should be the thickness. The width of the planks are kind of all over the place... around 3/16" wide with sheer strake at 3/8".

 

Once again my wood sheets are not labeled correctly and did not come with a parts sheet to identify parts so I will contact ModelExpo and try to get that.

[JacquesCousteau]

I think the Internet Archive's borrowing period is just for an hour, so it might be available again soon. Beyond the plan, the written description on the accompanying pages can be useful as well.

 

While you can certainly go for it, this may be a bit of a tricky hull to plank given the overhanging stern. I suspect that the kit planks are not quite to scale in terms of width--you may be able to count planks from a photo to figure out the proper width. If you're going the tapered strip route, instead of cutting spiled planks directly from a wider sheet, you'd probably need thinner strips than the kit includes anyway in order to better edge bend them. Looking forward to seeing how you decide to go about it!

[Dee_Dee]

Venti,

Chapelle’s book has a full chapter dedicated to the MBLS with lots of great info.  A used copy can be purchased for $20, but the older printings has actual photos  (vs dot photos). 

The book was invaluable during my build.  My build was a scratch build using a Midwest kit for patterns, single planked, had a working centerboard and rudder.

The Model Shipway kit is nothing like the original boat.  It has a keel / sloop hull with a center board (????) and a shrouded mast.  The Midwest kit is a 99% match to the drawing in Chapelle’s book with one exception, the cockpit did not have a raised floor or benches.  .  The boat had floorboards laid directly on the hull, no benches and the mast is not shrouded. 

Here are a few items I had underlined in Chapelle’s book:

--The cockpits were deep and not self-bailing

--The keel structure were much stronger than was necessary

--Most of the boats were ceiled inside with 1” planks the full length as practical

--The gaff was hoisted by a single halyard

--The main sheet horse was extra wide

 

For phun, here’s a link to a discussion in Woodenboat.com forum, about the two MBLSs that submarined and sank in the 70’s in LIS, that I wrote about in my build log.  A confirmation that a farm tractor cannot / should not be souped up to race at Silverstone or Road America.  Great info about the hull and sail design.

https://forum.woodenboat.com/forum/designs-plans/149038-?164895-How-a-boat-sinks-Muscongus-Bay-Sloop=

 

 

Here’s the drawing from my book of figure 99 on page 267, the drawing fills the page. It gives a good outline of the centerboard trunk and confirms there was no cockpit floor as in the kits.  I was the original poster of the hull drawing from Chapelles book that has been circulating for 10+ years, (I watermarked it).  Here’s a higher quality print. 

Hexnut used this plan and put it into CAD.  His build log will bring this drawing to life.  Great photos in his build log showing the construction of the MBLS, post #40 shows the dropped floor.  

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/981-muscongus-bay-lobster-smack-by-hexnut-midwest-products-124-1st-wooden-ship-build/

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Excellent information, @Dee_Dee, and your build log on this subject is very interesting--great model! There are a number of differences between the Model Shipways kit and the Chapelle plans. The shrouds are one--I assume they were added to make the kit more of a learning experience for new builders, but they're really more appropriate for a Friendship Sloop. I was also intrigued by Chapelle's statement that most of the centerboard Muscongus Bay sloops were lapstrake planked (although his plan is based in part on a hulk that was carvel-planked), something I haven't seen represented by any model.

[robert952]

On 5/2/2025 at 6:55 PM, Venti said:

Interesting. Unfortunately, the libraries near me don't have it 😭 I wouldn't mind buying it but I'm afraid that the small picture wouldn't be of any real use...

I have Chapelle's book. I used this book for my current project of the peapod.   As stated, the book is a wealth of information on smaller craft.  The pics are small as you suspect. The image @Dee_Dee posted above is 9" X 6" as a full page image in the book. 

 

Here's how I  used the drawings in the book. I took pictures of the pages and drawings using my cell phone (Google Pixel 3a XL. Any camera will do, obviously.) I made sure I lit the image up and held the page flat as possible.

 

I find a photo works better than scanning the page. It gives more options to tweak the results at higher resolutions over a scanner. 

 

Here's details from a shot of the same image in Chapelle's book I took today. I tweaked it using a photo editor: 'faked' the white balance; played with brightness and contrast.   I had to straighten it along a horizontal line. (I can hold hold the camera steady or I can do straight...can't do both apparently).  It's a bit of trial and error to get the results you want. The photo editor I use is PaintShop Pro. You can use GIMP (free downloadable software) and, of course, Photoshop. 

 

While the numbers are a bit smudged, they are readable for the most part or you can at least take a good SWAG at the numbers. With the scale on the image you have a decent chance at measuring details. And it is not any worse than some drawings I have seen. BTW, this a reduction of 50% of my original image.  I wanted to show a larger area of the page and not have the website reduce the image much.   

 

Here's details of the offset table to show the detail at full size of the image (assuming only a small amount of reduction by the website. This was at the edge of the photographed area and not as evenly lit but you can see the numbers are readable. (And easier than using a magnifying glass.)

Just an option on using a resource with decent line plans.  

 

[thibaultron]

Most of the plans from Chappelle's books are available from the Smithsonian, for a suitable fee.

[Kenchington]

In an idle moment, I went searching for information on Muscongus Bay centreboard sloops more recent than Chapelle's "Small Sailing Craft". Initially, that led me to something older: His "National Watercraft Collection" (available for free on-line) has an entry on the boat type and specifically on a US Fish Commission model in the Smithsonian collection. I don't think that says anything that his later book missed.

 

Of more interest:

 

In 1994, Michael Tuttle (a nautical archaeologist and maritime historian) wrote a University of Maine PhD thesis with the intriguing title: "The Muscongus Bay Sloop: Study of a Nineteenth Century Small Sail Working Craft". That is not available on-line and I have no idea whether it contains anything of interest to model builders, but it might be worth a look, if anyone is near enough to a U of M library. Alternatively, the author is on Linked-In and might be willing to share.

 

Trevor

[Venti]

I appreciate all the extra information, everyone! 

DeeDee, thanks! I read your build log and the boat you made is incredible! 

 

On 5/8/2025 at 3:53 PM, robert952 said:

I have Chapelle's book.

Hey Robert, thanks! Those pictures look great! Would you be willing to get all the pages about the MBLS and post them here or send them to me? 😁

[Venti]

Got a response from ModelExpo finally! They sent a copy of the part sheet, so I'll throw it in here in case someone else needs it!

WP1472MLMuscongusLobsterSmack-PartsListRev8723.pdf

[robert952]

Sure.  Give me a few days.  On images I'll clean them up, probably 2 shots per page.  For text pages I'll just scan them. The section is called "Muscongus Bay or Friendship Sloops." I'll post to WeTransfer so they come across full size.  PM me email addy.  

[Venti]

Sooooo I couldn't wait any longer... I've been trying to hold off on starting this until we sold the house but it's going much slower than we hoped so here we are... I'm going to be trying to split up posts by steps and try to have an index at the top so that if someone reading this in the future can go to specific steps if needed. 

 

I decided to upgrade my shipyard with some 3d printed tool holders! so far it's been great! Not having to go into a drawer for EVERYTHING is very nice. I need to get some drawers made but having some printer issues 😭. 

 

[Venti]

Steps 1-3: The Central Spine

 

These steps were pretty straight forward. I took extra time to make sure the slots and top of the spine lined up to try and prevent any issues later! This went well and didn't have any issues. Almost glued in a spacer but caught it in time haha. I also took a lot of extra time letting glue dry while I had my 1-2-3 blocks pressing them together to try to prevent any warping and it did great. 

I decided to fix the centerboard in. Partially because I didn't want to test my luck with another moving part and mostly because when I was dry fitting it, the curved slot in the spine did not line up with the hole for the brass rod... I sanded the centerboard and rounded the fore edges and glued it in in a mostly down position. 

 

Lastly, I went to glue the other half of the spine on... I had been using a cheap squeeze bottle with a fairly precise nozzle for the first time. So I wouldn't have to squeeze some out into a little cup and apply with a brush. it worked great for the first half but when putting glue down, I guess I squeezed it too hard and popped the lid off and my white glue POURED out right onto the wood... It was a disaster... I cleaned up the model as fast as I could and finished putting glue on where it was needed and put on the other spine... It ended up being very slightly shifted back but considering the situation I was pretty happy with it... 

 

p.s. I guess I didn't get a picture with the other spine half on but it doesn't show much more than this picture!

Edited Sunday at 04:42 PM by Venti

[Venti]

Step 4: Reinforcing Pieces

 

This step was very straightforward (if you had correctly marked wood sheets showing you where they go). A big thing to note that the instructions don't really say is that bulkhead 4 will slot onto the B-pair of pieces. One of my spines had the laser etch of where B should but it didn't help much as the reinforcing piece was much wider than the spot lasered... I ended up getting out the two bulkhead halves and using them to know where to put the B pieces.

C and D I just tried to line up with the slots and the bottom of the spine since they are used for the planking later. 

 

After I got them all glued on, I let it sit overnight like how it is in the picture which was a HUGE mistake... I didn't think about it and was very frustrated after the glue-cident but all that glue on the wood make the wood wet and without doing anything special the spine had a pretty severe bow in it... Looking at it from the front it looked like a parenthesis - ) . VERY frustrating and unfortunately I did not notice until starting the bulkheads...

 

 

 

[Venti]

Step 5: The Bulkhead Frames

 

I had been looking forward to this step for no particular reason other than it will start to look like a boat after haha. Unfortunately, it was a very long, very annoying step... The warp from the previous step was initially so frustrating that I almost stopped and ordered new/replacement parts... In my head if it was this warped, surely it will affect many many things later and make it look terrible... I ended up decided to just move on with it and see if I can straighten things up with the bulkheads. 

This was where another very frustrating discovery was made... the fit for ALL of the bulkheads to the spine was TERRIBLE... I had seen other logs having the same issue but still annoying the lack in quality for the bulkheads. Then when dry-fitting bulkhead 8 it was a little tight and I pushed too hard and broke the bottom of the spine where the keel goes.... I glued it back on and after these 3 things I had to call it a night as I was not in the right mindset to continue...

 

When coming back the next day I started with bulkhead 4. The slot for the reinforcing piece had to be extended more than 3mm... I took lots of time to make sure these were square to the spine in hopes to keep everything good down the line... 

All of the other bulkheads fit to the spine was so bad that I had to find the center of the bulkhead and mark it so I could line it up with the spine and then also shim each side of the spine between the bulkhead and spine... I'm new to building ships in general and this is my first one with bulkheads but this seems like a fairly critical step to have this poor of a fit... 

 

After slogging through this taking WAY too much time (I think) on this step it is done... The bow from before isn't even noticeable now, thankfully and the bulkheads all look square!

I ended up going for a faux planked cockpit floor and staining it with a light oak color. Unfortunately, this brought out the grain of the basswood and kind of gives away it's fake haha.

 

 

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Nice progress! 

 

1 hour ago, Venti said:

After slogging through this taking WAY too much time (I think) on this step it is done... The bow from before isn't even noticeable now, thankfully and the bulkheads all look square!

 

It certainly sounds like it was a frustrating experience! Getting bulkheads properly positioned can be a real pain in the neck, I remember that it took me quite a long time to do it on my Lancha Chilota build. Your time and care in getting everything squared at this point, though, should pay off later.

[robert952]

I keep forgetting to mention this. 

 

Olha Batchvarov is posting a complete video build log on this model. Recent post is number 32 from a day ago.  I 'scanned' (as in fast forwarded through) a couple of them. Look great. Not sure what the colaboration efforts were but Model Expo ran a deal (aren't they always?) on the model and promoting her doing the video log. Most of the videos are 2 hours (one is over 3). Easy to search for since not a lot of YouTubers post 'Muscongus Bay build' for the subject. (A lot of videos to look through if you go the her YouTube channel.)

 

Definitely in my notes to review more when I dig down into my stash and work on this model. 

[Venti]

4 hours ago, robert952 said:

Olha Batchvarov is posting a complete video build log on this model

 

Yeah I actually saw her mentioned in another build log and was watching the series! Unfortunately hers is the Midwest which I imagine is different than the Model Shipways version. But I have kept her in mind in case something I run into that it could help because I'm sure a lot is similar.