24' exploration gaff-rigged ketch by vaddoc - FINISHED -Scale 1:12, a Tad Roberts design

[Omega1234]

Beautiful work as always, Vaddoc. If I were you, I'd be tempted to post photos of the finished boat on Tad's FaceBook page. I'm sure he'd be pretty pleased with your boat.

 

All the best

 

Patrick

[captainbob]

Sail cloth is sometimes hard to find for scratch built boats.  I first go to the thrift stores and look through the shirts and dresses, table clothe and such.  If I do not find a fabric I like I go to the fabric store and walk through the many rolls of cloth they have.  If you look long enough you will find what you want.

 

Bob

[vaddoc]

That's an excellent suggestion Patrick, I will need some better quality pictures though than my usual terrible phone ones!

Bob, that's really helpful. I will visit a couple of charity shops this weekend. I did ask the admiral to have a look at her dresses but sadly she would not cooperate.

Regards

Vaddoc

[vaddoc]

The search for the sail material was put on hold as other projects kept me busy.

My homemade disk sander died as the (very) old drill gave up the ghost. I tried to fix it but finally I ordered a new very cheap drill to take its place.

 

I also realised that I need lots of cleats so I made some. Again the internet provided all necessary info.

 

 

 

The next photo shows the pattern I made above and a cleat still needing some sanding below

 

 

I temporarily fitted everything on the boat to see how things would work and a lot of problems became immediately apparent. The main mast boom is too long and catches the mizzen shrouds, the intended spots for the pinrails are wrong as the lines are in the way of the boom etc. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo at the time but the next pic shows most of the mock rigging still in place.

 

 

I was however very unhappy with the ropes. For the last few days I have been trying to make a ropewalk, mostly motivated by the wonderful ropes Michael made for his Bristol Cutter. I used mostly scrap material so the end result looks horrible but I must say, works brilliantly! I made just a length of rope but it came out beautiful, much better than the (expensive) shop rope. The admiral was very impressed!

 

 

My rope is on the left and the shop one on the right

 

 

and a short video of the machine

 

 

So now I have lots of rope to make which will take some time. Also, all the shrouds etc need to be redone, shame really as many hours of work goes to waste. 

[druxey]

Hey, if it works.... It doesn't have to look beautiful as well! Your home made line looks very nice. I assume you intended to make it left hand lay.

[michael mott]

Great progress Vaddoc, now that you have ventured into the rope making part, there are no end of possibilities for your rigging, Druxey's comment about the lay of the rope, is something you might want to look into a little. Your comments about the positions of the belay pins, and the details like the length of the main boom and gaff jaws are all things that from my own experience with sailing my yawl, are things that sort themselves out pretty quickly when you are dealing with the wind. 

 

Your machine looks fine, and after a while there will be tweaks that you will decide to make to suit how you work and what you want to do, it is the nature of the beast.

 

Michael

[Mark Pearse]

Hi Vaddoc

 

very nice, she looks absolutely lovely.

 

One small technical point, but my option only - I see that you have reduced the tackle on the forestay, giving a smaller ratio. I think that this is probably more likely than the earlier photo that seemed to have 4:1 ratio or so. With this sort of rig you take up the slack in the forestay & not tighten it a lot, the forestay tensioning is done by the mainsail pulling back against the forestay. You shouldn't tension the forestay because the load pulling aft from the mainsail would vary a lot depending on the angle of sailing, even in a constant breeze. 

 

Mark

[vaddoc]

Dear all thank you for the comments and likes.

Druxey and Michael, indeed that line was intended to be left hand as it was just a test line. However only now, after spending a couple of days rope walking I realise the difference. A left hand layed strand is stiff and rigid but the right hand rope is much more pliable.

Mark, I think you mean that the forestay should not get tensioned too much. I googled "forestay tensioning" and it appears to be a true art obscure to the majority of sailors. It also seems that most people go for "reasonably tight" to get round this. The next photo is a close up of the forestay tackle, I copied this of actual rigging set ups I found on the net. I think that with a pair of wooden hearts it will be difficult to put a lot of tension, as a turnbuckle would.

 

 

 

I experimented a lot and I think I have standardised my rope making technique. I used the length of my garage and was able to produce 2.5 m long strands. The problem is that even using the finest 100 weight thread, it produces a rather substantial rope. It is likely that for some applications were a thin rope is needed a strand may need to be used.

In the next photo, the upper row are strands and the bottom one ropes. I used almost every thread I had experimenting. I also tried to make a cored rope but I just can't see how this could be done with this setting.

 

 

 

The admiral was rather impressed and I order some silk thread to make some nice cords for her necklaces and pedants!

[Mark Pearse]

thanks, that's clear; & those ropes are beautiful

MP

[vaddoc]

Little progress made, partly due to my daughters tonsillitis and partly due to many silly mistakes.

The new ropes are a joy to work with. I am still waiting for a variety of threads as I need various rope sizes but at least I could finish the standing rigging. Splicing is very satisfying now.

 

 

 

I also replaced the ropes in all the blocks and used Tang oil. They look now much nicer

 

 

The new shrouds compared to the old ones are way better

 

 

 

And of course the standing rigging has to come down once more as the forestay is in the wrong place, it should have been tied to the upper hole.

 

 

All done! I must admit there is quite a bit of tension in that forestay!

 

 

The deadeyes look good 

 

 

The forestay is served throughout its length as the jib rings will run along it

 

 

I also made a few pulley blocks, for the jib sheet and the stern traveler

 

 

 

I then took a break from boat building and made a rifle. After all this is an exploration ketch so one needs to be prepared. Oiled walnut stock, stainless barrel, even glass bedding (I used epoxy to glue the barrel)!

 

 

The figure is roughly 1:12 scale. In the background the blocks for the rope traveller can be seen.

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Vaddoc

 

Wow!!!! I love all the rigging ropes and blocks that you've done. They look great. The rifle is also a masterful stroke that adds heaps of realism.

 

Sorry about your daughter's tonsilitis, but I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

Edited December 23, 2015 by Omega1234

[vaddoc]

Sorry about your daufghter's tonsilitis, but I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

 

Mary Christmas Patrick, happiness and prosperity in a stone-free 2016!

[Omega1234]

Thanks Vaddoc. Yes...stone free would be a blessing. So far, so good!

[vaddoc]

Some more work got done and I am a little closer to finishing.

 

I made some nice bow chocks

 

 

And I glued all the fittings I have made so far to the boat. I am still waiting for threads to make more ropes and still have no sail fabric so I used plain thread to simulate the running rigging. I also made fittings for the centreboard ropes and the downhaul for the main mast boom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made an axe which needs gluing and blackening 

 

 

I also decided to address a critical issue. I had to make a rum barrel! There will be no shortage of grog on my boat!

 

Barrel making generated intense work over three days. I used some leftover wood from a cheap curtain rail and the first attempt was rather terrible.

 

 

 

 

I tried again this time doing things properly. I sanded the core wood, divided the circumference into sections, sanded and glued every other plank and carefully prepared all of the remaining planks to fit their spaces using walnut this time instead of cheap birch. I cut semi-circular pieces of copper sheet to create the hoops and soldered and epoxied everything in place.

 

 

 

Despite all this, the new barrel does not look much better than the previous one! The new one is on the left.

 

 

Anyway, I am waiting for some LOS to blacken the copper.

 

[Seventynet]

What a pleasure to review your build log Vaddoc. Truely beautiful and inspirational work.

 

Best, Ian

[michael mott]

She is looking great Vaddoc, nice work on all the rigging fittings, i like the chocks, what type of wood did you use?

 

Michael

[vaddoc]

Thank you Ian and Michael, much appreciated.

Michael, the wood is swiss pear with a coat of Tung oil.

[michael mott]

Thanks Vaddoc.

 

Michael

[Omega1234]

Hi Vaddoc

 

Love your rigging. Love your axe. Love your barrel.

 

What more can I say, except that she's a beauty!!!

 

Well done.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[vaddoc]

Dear all

I had very little time to work on the boat but I managed to complete the oars. This actually has been a problem I was considering for a very long time and only recently I came up with a solution.

As I need six oars, they have to be identical so I had to use a standardised and reproducible method of construction. The curved oars I made initially are totally inappropriate for this boat, as only Hercules could row for more than 10 min without reaching for the rum barrel. I really did not want to order new wood so I had to use my inventory of pear wood left overs. Also, the correct calculated length just looked too long and I shortened it a bit. So here it goes:

 

First, I designed the oar in 2D, made several copies and glued on a 2 mm pear sheet. The oar will initially be 6x6 mm wide tapering towards the blade.

 

 

All were cut as close to the line as possible to minimise the considerable amount of sanding

 

 

Sanding completed and two more pieces added on each side. Each piece will be a laminate of two strips 6x1 mm but not to the handle where only one 1mm strip is needed on each side.

 

 

These pieces will be sanded to shape when glued to the main shaft but the distal end needs to be shaped beforehand as it will be inaccessible later on

 

 

 

 

Then all get laminated together. I often use for such purposes two MDF pieces from failed attempts at making my disk sander. The pieces are kept flat and compressed.

 

 

All glued ready for sanding. They look identical as well.

 

 

Sanding to shape was done carefully with the disc sander. One of the oars was sanded excessively and got ruined but I did had a spare one. Other than that it worked beautifully. Masking tape was applied over the area that will not be sanded round.

 

 

The handle was sanded square with needle files.

 

 

The handle was covered with masking tape and secured on a drill. 80 grit sand paper takes out a lot of wood easily. The oars were sanded to 400 grit.

 

 

The handles were sanded round and then the blade edges.

 

 

A coat of tung oil finishes the job. All oars are identical and there was minimal wastage of wood. 

 

 

I also worked on the rigging and spend a lot of time experimenting with rope making. I have not yet found sail cloth but I rigged the throat and peak halyards, the boom downhaul, the main sheet and the centreboard ropes. I still need to find a way for the ropes to lay nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

To satisfy all pure modelling hearts please note the rope used has right hand twist. 

 

 

DMC has threads with a left hand twist so quite small diameter right hand strands can be produced. Pricey but very nice stuff.

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hey Vaddoc

 

Good to see you're back. Those oars look great, as does all the other fixtures and fittings you've made.

 

I reckon you must be on the home stretch, by now.

 

All the best!

 

Patrick

Edited February 12, 2016 by Omega1234

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Oh dear I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those deadeyes on the shrouds are upside down. The centerline holes on the upper and lower deadeyes should be the two farthest apart from each other in the vertical plane, you have them 180 degrees rotated the wrong way. Fortunately it would be an easy fix to remove the lanyards, rotate the deadeyes, and re-reeve?

[vaddoc]

Nicely spotted Frankie! The deadeyes were supposed to rotate freely in the brass ring but when I applied the Renaissance wax to protect the brass shine they locked in place! I tried to rotate the ones that are upside down but couldn't. Now that everything is soldered and epoxied, fixing this is a major job. Some times better is the enemy of good...

[vaddoc]

I installed a motor to my ropewalk which made the process much faster and simpler. It is still dead ugly but I can produce 2.5 m of rope in minutes.

 

 

I tried using silk thread but it brakes, a much thicker thread would be needed or maybe multiple threads per station

[Omega1234]

Hi Vaddoc

 

Ugly?? Who cares? It works!!!

 

Nice one.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[BenF89]

... Some times better is the enemy of good...

 

I like that quote - so true. 

[vaddoc]

Dear all

It is getting very difficult to find time to work on the boat but still I got a few more things done. I think the end is very near.

 

First I made quite a lot of rope of different sizes. I thought I had enough but it is amazing how much rope even a small boat like this needs, in the end I had to set everything up again and make more. Also, the standing rigging has come loose, the cotton threads in the ropes have stretched but I decided not to tighten it.

 

 

The search for sail material ended quite easily, I found in a box 3 feet away from my work bench some cloth I had bought a couple of years ago and forgot all about it. I made new sail templates and then spent days trying different ways of making the sails. All failed and I just glued rope to the cloth and cut the sails. It worked ok but I am sure there are better ways of making sails. I then added the running rigging and cheated a bit as I used beads to secure the rope ends. This was much quicker and cleaner than making knots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also finished the rudder and found a realistic solution for the lanyards. The rudder actually works very well and there is good leverage to extend and lift the blade.

 

 

 

The boat is too big for the phone camera to easily cover

 

 

 

 

 

One more new skill I need to master is brass/coper blackening. I thought I had prepared the metal well but obviously this was not the case. The axe came out fine though. I was surprised that the solder did not blacken. All metal was coper and I used gel LoS.

 

 

I would like to make a few more random items to put in and definitely have another go at blackening the barrels. However, the boat is almost complete and definitely needs some short of a stand.

[pete48]

Very Nice Vaddoc, the ropes look great, Beautiful Boat well done

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[michael mott]

Vaddoc great rework of the lines and shrouds, overall it looks very nice indeed, you should be pleased I know I would be.

 

Michael

[Omega1234]

Hi Vaddoc

 

She looks so real, that it's hard to tell that it's a model. The rope work, coupled with the fixtures and fittings, just add so much character to the ship.

 

You've got to be really chuffed!

 

Will you be building a glass case as well?

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

Edited February 25, 2016 by Omega1234