Scottish Maid by mrangus - Artesania Latina - first build

[mrangus]

Made some minor progress.

 

Also prepped the cane for making the mast hoops. I saw an example of how cane for chairs can be used and thought I'd give it a try. I don't like the metal hoops the kit provided, and I purchased some from Blue Jacket but don't like them either. So... on to the third idea. Soaked a strip for a few hours, and then wrapped tightly around the reeds I collected for attempt #1. Will let dry for a day.

[Jack12477]

Blocks look good, Robb. What type of reed are you using? Is that bamboo or some local reed?

[mrangus]

Thanks Jack. For the intial idea of creating mast hoops I came up with the idea when walking my dog by the river. The reeds there looked to be about the size of the hoops so I gathered a few and brought them back to try. They *almost* worked - but there were two issues. First, the reeds were very brittle and difficult to cut by hand, they kept splintering, especially with the narrow cuts I was trying to make. Second, the reeds were just a wee bit small - the end rings could get around the masts, but too snug for a hoop, and trying to sand/file the inside was not working.

 

The second try was ordering some, and I was not satisfied with what came. So the third try is coming along well. I have created a few hoops that I'm satisfied with, so I will go into production mode this weekend time permitting (I'm playing in a chess tournament on Saturday and daughter birthday party Sunday) it turns out that the pen cap is the right size for the hoops, so I'll need to gather a number of pens for this effort. The ship plans show 10 hoops for one mast and 8 for another (Jesse, did you find that worked for you?)

 

I also finished the last of the mast blocks - so this is really exciting! I have almost all the pieces together for the masts to be hoisted so that means I'll be able to begin on the standing rigging. Yikes! That's where I'm really in the dark. I am planning on following Chuck's practicum (loosely) in getting the masts secured and then proceed with shrouds. The one concern I want to keep aware of is how to avoid rigging getting loose from pulling and adjustments. That's my biggest concern with the shrouds.

 

 

[GuntherMT]

 The one concern I want to keep aware of is how to avoid rigging getting loose from pulling and adjustments. That's my biggest concern with the shrouds.

 

You'll find that in many cases (especially the lanyards for the shrouds) that the simple act of threading them through the dead-eyes or blocks will make them pretty easy to keep taught.  When I'm working on the rigging and want to hold a line in place temporarily I just use a small alligator clamp and clamp the end off to some piece of rigging that's handy in the direction I want it to go (more often then not that means clamping it back to itself).

 

Once I'm happy with the alignment of everything, I'll seize the line in place, and then remove the alligator clamp and trim the excess.

[mattsayers148]

Looks great Robb, and very inventive! I would suggest to add your hoop process in CaptainSteve's Kit Bashers Guide.

 

I've worked with bamboo quite a bit, so I'm going to attempt making my rings using black bamboo.

[Jack12477]

Robb, that's for the explanation. I like the way your hoops came out. I'll have to remember this for my next model.

[mrangus]

Thanks gents, I cannot take credit for the idea as it's all been done before... Scoot deserves all the credit, I will add to his comment.

 

I'm trying to guesstimate how thick the bands should be. I've sanded down (the material sands very easily) to current pic, and looking at some real images and eyeballing, I think I have to narrow a bit further but not too much.

[JesseLee]

Robb, as for the number of bands I found that different builds had different numbers. So few records I think AL just guessed & whatever you decide to do will be fine. I saw one build that had 10 - 11 for each mast.  I somehow ended up with 11 for one mast & 8 for the other. I cannot remember for the life of me why. Most of the details of the Scottish Maid are not really known because all the records were in one place & destroyed in a fire a long time ago in England.

[mrangus]

I think they're too big. inside diameter is ~9.5mm whereas mast is 6mm at base tapered to 4mm at crosstrees. I think they should be ~8mm inner diameter? Thoughts? I don't want to glue the boom support before I get these right.

[donrobinson]

Might be a little big, I don't think it will be all that noticeable though.

  If you feel you need to refine them more,try taking a piece of your dowel(6mm) then get some planking(,5 -1mm thick) cut this into 1mm wide strips(length is up to you) glue these strips onto the dowel. Now wrap your bamboo over this and that should give you a better diameter, or at least one that you can control or change. Plus you are freeing up a pen

[dgbot]

Angus, your hoops look the proper dimension. They are loose for a reason. To go over any obstruction and to make it easier for the sail to be raised or liwered. I would leave well enough alone.

David B

[Jack12477]

Angus, I have to agree with Dave. The hoops I've seen on our 19th century ice yachts all have a lot of play between the hoop and the mast. Yours look fine.

[JesseLee]

They look ok to me too. Remember they need to be big enough for the sail material to take up its space & still be loose enough to easily slide up & down the mast.

[GuntherMT]

I think they are probably a little large, but without any context to compare them to, I doubt that anyone would notice or think they were out of place.

 

Of course the only thing I have to compare to myself is the AVS.  Here are a couple shots of the hoop size on the plans, and how they look on the ship.  These are the kit hoops.

 

[mrangus]

Don, Dave, Jack, Jesse, Brian and George - thanks for the input! I am convinced they are a little on the large size so I've rebuilt them on a slightly smaller scale - plus I changed my approach to the gluing which I've detailed below in a few pics.

 

I came up with a good process to create the hoops. after cutting the wound cane to have about 1/4 of the diameter overlap, I filed down one of the ends to taper the end. This will bet the inside overlap. Then I put a piece of tape on about half the hoop, with extra hanging off the end that will be the outside overlap. I put glue (wood glue) on the overlap and use the tape to pull tight (forming a nicer hoop than using the clothes pins) and wrap around.

 

I made another 22 hoops hopefully that will be enough.

 

[GuntherMT]

Excellent idea, and it certainly sounds like it should work well.

[UpstateNY]

Nice modification...looking forward to seeing them finished on your build.

 

Thanks for sharing your idea of using cane to make the hoops as well!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[mrangus]

ok so I've updated, I like and I glued the boom support on - so the mast hoops are here to stay.

I also made them thinner - doing some math at 50:1, I thought they need to be approx. 1.5mm which looks good.

 

Next is foremast and then I can finally get going on rigging! do I glue the masts down? Epoxy?

 

also I'm contemplating sails, but I want to show rigging - is furling sails easy/hard and worth it?

[GLakie]

I wouldn't use epoxy on the masts because if they have to be removed for whatever reason down the road, you'll have a lot of trouble. Some guys don't use glue at all, so if you have a nice tight fit, I'd leave it unglued, allowing for future adjustment if needed. Furled sails or full sails will both be, lets say not exactly easy, but furled would give you a better view of the rigging if that's how you want to show her. I'd spend a lot of time just reading ahead and going over the steps you'll be going through, because it requires some planning in advance for the order of the lines. You won't want to rig yourself into a corner, making it difficult to run another line when the one you put up earlier is in the way. If that all makes any sense. 

[Cabbie]

On my Swift the mast holes were to big, so I cut some fine wedges to put around

the mast, then the mast hole collars covered the hole, worked well to line the masts up.

 Chris

[JesseLee]

Like George said, some don't glue them. I think this is so if you don't get them lined up perfectly you can pull it one way or another with rigging such as shroud lines and such. I have always glued mine but as George said again I wouldn't epoxy them just in case you have to undo it for some reason like not being lined up right after the glue dries. Full sails hide more rigging & blocks more open views of the deck from certain angles. No sails or furled sails show more of your other work. It a personal preference. I think with furled sails you kind of get the best of both worlds.

Edited August 31, 2015 by JesseLee

[UpstateNY]

In case it helps you out on the masts, I am using some pins made from nails with their heads cut off to help hold my mast alignment as the glue dries.

 

I predrilled the holes into my frames early on in my build, but you may still be able to drill these holes if your frames aren't too far below the deck.

 

Just a thought to add to those from George, Jesse and Chris.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[mattsayers148]

The anticipation! Your mast rings look really awesome! Those vid links for seizing blocks also have links for making furled sails. The show you a simple way to furl with just a partial sail. I think in here some guy's have done this as well. Good luck.

[dgbot]

I have never glued my masts.  This way I can make adjustments as needed.  The shrouds will keep the mast down.  Mkes it esier to replase if you have an accident.

David B

[GuntherMT]

I glued the masts on the Carmen (first build), but on the AVS the mast is held only by the rigging, and I see no reason to glue it, since there is no way for it to come loose without the rigging all being ripped out, at which point there is a disaster afoot that glue wouldn't have helped with!

[mrangus]

Very helpful everyone! Thank you all for the practical insight! I'm convinced now that I don't need to glue - use the rigging as it should be to hold the masts proper.

 

I've run into another small issue - the belay ring that goes on the main mast snapped when I was drilling the belay holes. Cheap wood... I'm going to use pear and also make just a wee bit wider. But my issue is - how do I create the round ring? A hole drill? is there another way? all I have for power tools are standard garage stuff plus dremel. Sanding down a circle by hand seems a bit precarious but may have to go for it if I can't think of another way. Looking for ideas to supplement my own.....

[GLakie]

If you have a lathe or some way to center the drill on a home-made dowel ( reason for home-made is the grain on a regular dowel goes the wrong way), you could just drill out a dowel and shape it for rings.

[mattsayers148]

Hey Robb. One method I use a lot is laminating. If you start out as you did with the mast rings, only to mast diameter, just don't stop. Wrap it around as many times as you need, plus a bit more, then use your choice of glue.

 

To keep them flat you can drill a hole in a piece of scrap and put a short piece of mast material. You can use wax paper or just wax everything before glueing. In a case this small, I would use CA because it will harden the material preventing it from breaking too easily. Strength will also come from the grain being circular and having dissimilar fracture points(like plywood). The CA also lets you to be able to work the piece within minutes, whereas wood glue will have to dry.

 

I can attest that this works well since I use 0,5mm sheets to make just about anything. Look close at my masts, they are laminated. It also is great to use on anything with a radius since you're bending very thin pieces. So there's my two cents for the day, hope this is helpful.

[mrangus]

Thanks George and Matt for the helpful advice. For the foremast pin ring I decided to construct by hand - and while it's not mill-perfect, I'm happy enough with it. Looks good now on the ship...

 

I took my round file and put into the Poor Man's Lathe to use as a sander for the inside of the ring and it worked great! Was able to shape the contours to the mast pretty quickly.  I took a picture...

 

So now the masts are on!! I get to finally start the real rigging process. Yikes.

 

One last point/question. I ordered some of Chuck's cleats and was thinking of using them instead of the bolt rings for securing rope to the ship. There are several locations on the ship (deck, gunwale) where they just use a bolt, and I think a cleat would be more appropriate. Thoughts?

[mrangus]

And here are a couple of pictures of the masts on the boat...