Annie by altalena18 - FINISHED - Sandbagger Sloop

[altalena18]

Thanks!

[GaryKap]

Hi Altalena 18

I am enjoying your build log and look forward to progress reports.  As a teenager more than a half century ago, I was fortunate to have sailed on a Hudson River sandbagger that was built in the 1850's.  She was 20 feet long and carried 404 square feet of sail.  The hull shape was similar to yours but with a finer stern and transom reminiscent of the schooner yacht "America". The owner had two lovely college age daughters, and their several boyfriends were the human "sandbags" of moveable ballast.  So for a case of beer and some pretzels, the owner could keep an eye of his girls and at the same time enjoy his sailing.  She was a lovely thing (the boat) with a natural finish and beautiful woodwork. The wood was cypress or cedar - can't remember which.  She had a cockpit coaming that was perhaps eight inches high, with holes for oarlocks on each side.  And that lovely long curved bowsprit...

 

So I am eagerly looking forward to see how your sandbagger evolves.

 

<<Gary>>

[altalena18]

Oh how lovely, Gary! It's so nice to hear a real story like that that connects us to history. It must have been sheer joy just to speed on the Hudson on such a beautiful boat. I think a lot of what is behind our hobby is the sheer beauty and romance of these machines.

[Robhvw]

I look forward to following your build. I'll be at Mystic Seaport next month if you need any additional photos of Annie.

 

Rob

[altalena18]

Hi Rob, I'm glad to meet so many caring and helpful people! If you do go to mystic, please feel free to take pictures of Annie, especially of small details like fittings and rigging, and post them to this thread. It will certainly be helpful to other people who want to use my build to help with theirs, if they ever build Annie as well.

[Jasco]

I'm new to the forum, but not modelling. The Sanbagger "Cruiser" was my first scratch built model. Beautiful lines, easy to understand rigging. Mine was built with a solid hull, though. I'm enjoying watching your build. I wish there were somewhere I could get laser cutting done cheap.

[altalena18]

Wow, I'd love to see some photos of your model! when I first started doing research, I found almost nothing on the Internet about sandbaggers, and I'm surprised that so many people even know what type of boat it is. Laser cutting wood should be pretty cheap. I paid about $40 for lasercutting.

[altalena18]

So here are some updates. I've installed more bulkheads, and reinforced them with wood to strengthen them. The bulkheads where the open deck is are particularly delicate, and I'm hoping this will help strengthen them and prevent them from cracking.

[Jim Lad]

That reinforcing should really help to keep it all together.

 

John

[Jasco]

I'd love to post pics of my sandbags on your thread. I need to get some digital shots, though. I built it before the advent of digital cameras and never took any more pics!

[altalena18]

Do you still have the model lying around?

[Jasco]

Oh, absolutely!  I took the boat down from it's perch in the living room last night, did some minor repairs and started to clean it. I never built a case for it and the dust bunnies have gotten pretty noticeable.

Oddly, I got the inspiration for the model from a NRG Journal piece over 20 years ago. I just haven't had the chance to dig through my own archives to find the source material I used.  I know I found the books with the lines in it, drafted my own plans and used photos in books and magazines for the detail work.  I just have to dig out what they were. My model was built before the internet and about the time Mark Zuckerberg was hitting middle school, so all of the research was as gratifying and effort-intensive as the actual build.  I'll get some photos this evening and post them.  

You're in Israel, so you're 8 hours ahead of me. (I'm near Chicago). 

[altalena18]

I've almost completed installing all the bulkheads. Eventually I'll get to sanding and fairing everything, but first I had to straighten out the hull. Even though I'd steamed and pressed the keel TWICE and let it dry in between two glass shelves, it still managed to warp. I'm pretty sure I've got it straight now but we'll see...

[johncole]

Eitan,

I'm following your build closely, it's looking great.

Still awaiting a response from Mystic...

John

[altalena18]

Hi all! I have just completed a very stressful and delicate operation on the model- I have cut out the boat's backbone in order to have a slot for the daggerboard! 

[Jasco]

Here are some shots of my sandbagger.  Solid hull, all rigging and most gear handmade.  I bought a couple of turnbuckles, 2 mast bands, and various thimbles and eyes from Bluejacket.

I think the scale was 1/32"=1"

 

 

 

 

[altalena18]

Wow, Jasco, that is mindblowing and inspiring. I hope mine looks a tenth as good!

[altalena18]

Although luckily I don't have to buy turnbuckles, Annie has deadeyes

[Jasco]

My shrouds are cable and held tight with simulated turnbuckles, but the mast band at the head of the mast keeps slipping down so the shrouds keep loosening up.  Still, she doesn't look too bad after 23 years.

The hull is basswood, the deck, and cockpit coaming is apple (I cut the branches off the apple tree myself!), mast, spars and seats are walnut and the cockpit ceiling is cedar and pine.

I look forward to seeing you plank your hull.  I've never had the intestinal fortitude to even attempt planking a hull.  After years of building balsa model airplanes I know how easy it is to pull a structure out of line with a plank and I'm always wary of getting myself into projects that I will abandon because they are not living up to my expectations. I started the Digital Navy's V108 torpedo boat card model 4 times before I produced something I liked.

I'll dig around in my files to find what resources I used that you might find helpful.

Great boat!

[altalena18]

Thanks, anything helps. Honestly in my opinion, if you plank a solid hull, or, as I do, use a lot of wood as filler in between bulkheads, planking is not that difficult a chore. I planked my Fair American pretty easily, although all the work is now hidden under copper plates and paint!

[Jasco]

I'm currently framing a Virginia Sloop from the book by Clay Feldman and just now fairing the bulkheads and fitting them to the keel.  I'll have to consider using blocks of wood between the bulkheads.  What are you using? Basswood? Balsa?

[altalena18]

I used basswood stock from the hobby shop on Annie, and balsa on Fair American. I think basswood works better because it's easier to carve and not as soft, and the best thing is to find or cut billets that match the width between your bulkheads, so that they come out decently exact and don't warp the hull. Even still, it takes a lot of work and a sharp eye to ensure that everything is straight and plumb!

[michael mott]

She is coming along very well Altalena.

Jasco that is a great looking model.

 

Michael

[Jasco]

The model I used for my inspiration was presented in the NRG Journal March, 1986 by Rob Napier.  He cites a number of sources which I obtained from the library (remember-no internet back then!) to draw up my plans.  Lots of pictures in the books and the Journal to help with the rigging. These are beautiful boats and makes me want to build a full size one to sail on the lake in Wisconsin.

[altalena18]

Wow Jasco, I hope you realize that your magazine is 2 months older than I am... And if you ever build a full-sized sandbagger, you'll probably need an enourmous crew, what with all that sail area and that puny hull!

[Jasco]

To be fair, I didn't build the model until 1990, so you were about as old as I was when I got my first exacto-knife cut! But of course that was before men stepped on the moon!

If memory serves, I think there were only 2 or 4  crewmen allowed for racing.  There was a sail handler and a helmsman and 2 men to move the sandbags from one side of the boat to the other to balance the enormous rig. (Hence the Sandbagger moniker)

 

Now if you'll excuse me I've gotta go take Geritol or Centrum Silver or something!

[altalena18]

Haha that's really something! I still wonder how only 4 men could handle such an enormous sail in any kind of wind though. 

 

Anyhow everyone, here's today's progress. I've made a hinge for the dagger board by drilling through 2 pieces of wood and putting a short length of brass tube in between with the board in the middle. I think I might have installed it too early though, because i've just realized that I've forgotten to install all the daggerboard's fittings! oops...

[altalena18]

Here are some pics with the keel and the floor dry-fitted, showing the daggerboard going smoothly through all the parts.

[Jasco]

That's good progress.  Looks great, too.  You are lucky to have enough time to get so much accomplished! 

[altalena18]

Well I don't know how much time I do have, I guess that's what weekends are for. Buildin the model helps me relax, so I try to put in an hour or two as well in the evenings after work... Anyhow, anyone have any ideas for making that ratchet?