ancre Le Gros Ventre 1767 by Woodrat - Scale 1: 48 - POF - French exploration vessel

[Captain Slog]

Hi Dick,

 

Following along for the ride and impressed with you ship.

 

I was curious to Brians comment about the name.  I can't believe they would called Christen a ship Big Belly so had a look in Google Translator from French to English.

 

Gros Ventre - Potbelly

Gros Venture  - Big Venture (more believable for an exploration ship)

 

I wonder if there is a typo somewhere and Venture is the same in French as well as English?

 

anyway, enough rambling nice work Dick. 

 

Cheers

Slog 

Edited December 26, 2013 by Captain Slog

[woodrat]

Hi Dick,

 

 

 

I wonder if there is a typo somewhere and Venture is the same in French as well as English?

 

Cheers

Slog 

No, Slog. it would seem that the french have a good sense of humour. The name IS Le Gros Ventre and it does mean Fat Belly   Dick

 

More bloody hawse pieces!!!

 

 

[druxey]

Woodrat is quite correct in his translation, Brian. it does mean 'big belly' or 'fat belly'!

[woodrat]

here is the completion of the framing of the bow module. Phew!

 

The jarrah has been oiled to nourish the wood. It wont remain shiny and the wood will darken.

 

 

hawse holes are yet to be made.

 

 

[woodrat]

I think this is the first model made of Jarrah.  I have a pile of Jarrah floorboards under my house. Could be useful for my model.

I wouldn't use those old floorboards, Brian, as the wood will be splintery. I used  a leftover sink cutout from our kitchen renovation, which is quite young wood and splintering has not been a problem. A problem has been dust when machining jarrah. A vacuum system and a good filtering facemask is essential.

Dick

[lee-c]

Hi Dick ,

    My friend want to build the ship either ,he want to know the width of the keel in the scale of 1:48 , can you tell me about it ?

  

 Thanks , Lee

[dgbot]

Ijust came across your build log and find your build very interesting. The progress you have made is great. Jarrah is a different looking wood. I do not know

how it works.

David B

Edited February 9, 2014 by dgbot

[cpt. Tom]

Hi Dick,

 

Wow, that looks great so far, incredible progress.

Today I start this project too and I look forward with you to watch your Buildlog

 

Greetings from Germany

[woodrat]

Thanks, Tom. I have been sidetracked onto another build but I hope to resume the Gros Ventre soon. There is limited room in the workshop.

Dick

[Alaska]

Nice project Dick! I'm new to this forum and have wanted to build the Gros Ventre for some time now! Just found the book on Amazon for a steal and purchased it last night,can't wait to recieve it!  Will follow along with your build,it looks wonderful with fine craftsmanship on your part!! Good luck!

 

Greetings from Alaska!

[woodrat]

Good choice, Alaska. I am happy to help with your build. Please post a build log. What is your build plan, POB, POF? I hope you got full set of plans with the book. I strongly advise a building board as shown in my log if you are going POF. At present I have been sidelined by my carrack build but hope soon to resume the "fat Belly" which has a special importance to Western Australia. Dick.

[rpeteru]

Nice one mate! Have finally got my new laptop, will talk to you later as its off to work we go. Another delivery. Rdgs rpeteru.

Edited October 16, 2014 by rpeteru

[woodrat]

Having taken 5 1/2 years off from this build to complete 2 mediaeval vessels, I feel that I have neglected the Fat Belly too long. I have restarted the build.

 

Cheers

Dick

 

 

Cheers

Dick

[gjdale]

Hey Dick - nice to see you back at the bench with this build. I look forward to resumption of play!

[woodrat]

As the immortal Arnie says: "I'm bark". After being derailed by two other builds I have girded the proverbial loins and cut some serious wood to finally finish all the frames for the legendary "Fat Belly". The frames have been cobbled onto the keel and not yet fully trued. Here are some piccies of the Beast:

As you can see, the jarrah frames from years ago which were oiled are considerably darkened and make a contrast with the new frames which have yet to be oiled.

Much happy and dusty woodcutting to come.

Cheers

Dick

[woodrat]

The double main wales have been affixed with pins and will be treenailed later. The sheer has been cut. The next step will be adding the keelson.

 

 

 

 

Cheerio

Dick

[woodrat]

The construction of the keelson:

The keelson is made from several overlapped pieces

Which are joined

Mortices are cut with a jeweller's saw. I find this safest.

and chisel (made from a small screwdriver)

Keelson in place

Framed hull taken out of building jig (but only for a little while. I like to leave it in the jig until all stabilising longitudinal structures are in place)

 

Cheers

Dick

 

[Louie da fly]

Good to see her back under way again. Very nice work.

 

Steven

Edited August 8, 2022 by Louie da fly

[woodrat]

Thanks, Steven. I was feeling a mite guilty because the thing sat in its building frame for years glaring balefully at me from the back of the workshop. It's now starting to look like a ship and hopefully a happy one!

Here is the view from below out of the frame

It was  necessaery to measure, remeasure and re-remeasure the position of the deck clamp as this is the most vital for all other measurements. Also the deck must end up horizontal. fortunately with the building frame holding the hull strongly in a vertical position, it was possible to measure directly off the plan

 

and transfer the measurement directly to the frames

The main deck clamp ready for insertion

The main deck clamp fixed in position and horizontality checked

The main deck clamp installed

Cheers

dick

 

[woodrat]

More progress on the hull:

• The ceiling has been indicated by a number of longitudinal strakes
• The athwartships futtock and floor riders have been installed.
• Main deck clamps in place
• Breasthooks installed
• Fore and mainmast steps in place

Looking forward

Looking aft

Stern timbers promise to be a challenge!

Cheers

Dick

[druxey]

Looking great so far!

[woodrat]

Thanks, Druxey.

I have now cut the gunports and trued the frames. The wood (jarrah, a west australian hardwood) has been oiled with orange oil. This brings out the red of the timber but this will darken with time. Not many models are made with jarrah (if any) but the replica of Cook's Endeavour, which was built in Fremantle West Australia and is now in Sydney, was built using jarrah and therefore will last forever.

 

 

Cheers

Dick

Edited September 30, 2022 by woodrat

[woodrat]

Lots of fun doing the stern timbers.

This is the key shaped opening for the sternpost and rudder head being cut using a mill and finishing of with the rotary tool

The stern timbers temporarily in place

The stern module front and back

sort of in place but not yet fixed. The window frames need work.

Cheerio

Dick

[woodrat]

The stern timbering is largely complete and the upper deck clamps are in place. Consideration now needs to be given to the orlop and false decks. As this vessel is meant to portray the ship at the time of its West Australian visit, augmented armament has been installed as well as an extended false deck to provide additional accommodation below the main deck.

 

 

Cheerio

Dick

Edited October 30, 2022 by woodrat

[woodrat]

I have decided to install cross sections os the lower deck partitions. This the powder room, the lowest store. As this is a merchant vessel, it would probably double as a filling room and be accessed from a flush scuttle in the deck above. No iron fittings were allowed and all nails were of copper. A small scuttle in the floor would allow powder spills to be swept out to avoid risk of explosion. It is a good exercise to build the s storerooms as it made me research more .

this shows the sliding panels for distribution of filled cartridges. I assume that the powder barrels were loaded through the scuttle above. I have not shown the light alcoves  which separated the lanterns from the powder store . These would have been in the starboard wall. These would exclude flame from the store.

 

 

The beams for the deck above are in place.

Dick

[woodrat]

The next level of deck has been installed as well as the flush scuttle above the powder store. This deck is level with the sill of the loading port in the port stern timbers (used for loading the spar spars for the expedition. To allow for loading of spars, the store cabins on this deck are demountable.

 

 

cheers

Dick

[woodrat]

This shows the storerooms beneth the main deck beams. This would include the bread room, vegetable locker, spirit room etc. Only the port half is shown. Sliding hatches allow access to some of the stores. I made balsa wood blanks to ensure fit of the cabin walls beneath the deck beams

and constructed the  walls around them.

 

Cheers

Dick

[woodrat]

The stern storage cabins are finished on the port side and will be covered by the main deck planking. As this was an exploration vessel it required more accommodation for the many extra personnel it carried. So a false deck was built below the main deck and above the hold. Without this false deck the vessel was called a gabare and after fitting the deck was called a flute. The records of the expedition refer to the Gros Ventre as a flute.

Dick

[woodrat]

Beams for the false deck below the main deck are installed as well as some main deck beams. The pump housing and forward bulkhead for the water storage hold are also installed temporarily.

 

 

 

the ladder inside the housing allows access to the cannonball storage around the base of the mast

Note the sliding access port to the housing

Dick

[woodrat]

The port side of the false deck has been fitted. This consists of rectangular floors fitted between rebated cross-beams. Each floor has a central recessed lifting ring. This false deck was meant to accommodate additional passengers such as scientists, artists etc in what was a cargo carrying vessel. The deck is meant to be temporary and would be removed after the completion of the voyage. The pictures are self explanatory.

 

Cheers

Dick

Edited October 6, 2023 by woodrat