Nineteenth Century New Bedford Whaleboat - Amati - 1/16 - Build Stalled Indefinitely

[Bertie McBoatface]

It's also taken me many days to work out that this 'spacer' isn't a part of the boat but a late addition to the building jig. It's more of  location guide than a spacer as it ensures that the frames are bent correctly so that they will align with the gunwales. 

 

These instruction 'failings' are now a big part of the fun for me. Retranslating, trying to get inside the designer's mind, application of engineering logic, research of boatbuilding methods (full size), learning nautical English as well as nautical Italian and Spanish are all fascinating tools for solving a boat build.

 

I say this my brave boys, not to show off but to encourage you all to hop aboard a wooden boat kit and sail into the sunset. ⛵

[bissyboat]

Coming along nicely at your shipyard. ⚓👍

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 hours ago, bissyboat said:

Coming along nicely at your shipyard. ⚓👍

 Actually, no it isn't. Bending those 2x2mm frames is a pig of a job. 😠 Fortunately there's only 48 of them. 😱

[Bertie McBoatface]

Edit: Photo based post which made no sense once the photos were lost.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Edit: Photo based post which made no sense once the photos were lost.

[Bertie McBoatface]

Yesterday I was using the bending iron too hot, which was burning and damaging the outside of the wood, which was making me rush, which made me press too hard, which damaged the wood further and led to breakages.

 

Today I cooled the iron by dipping it in a jar of water from time to time so I had no charring and the heat could slowly penetrate the full thickness of the wood, which softened it all the way through, which meant I could gently and slowly apply the right amount of pressure to get the correct bends (near enough). 

 

'Cause it needs time
My fingers are burnt, have no mending
So while I'm still bending
I just gotta have a little patience
 

[dnl42]

Glad you were able find a way forward!

 

I was going to suggest soaking longer to ensure the wood is thoroughly wet. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

5 hours ago, dnl42 said:

Glad you were able find a way forward!

 

I was going to suggest soaking longer to ensure the wood is thoroughly wet. 

 

Thanks. I tried that too. It didn't seem to make a difference, maybe because this wood is so hard? I am now re-wetting it frequently though as an anti-charring measure. I forgot to mention that. 

[Bertie McBoatface]

It's Monday and I'm back at the bench about to restart the fitting of the ribs. I thought I could stand a bit of ribbing but this is beyond a joke! (Boom! Boom!)

[danbuoy]

3 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

It's Monday and I'm back at the bench about to restart the fitting of the ribs. I thought I could stand a bit of ribbing but this is beyond a joke! (Boom! Boom!)

Will you have any spare??

[Bertie McBoatface]

1 hour ago, danbuoy said:

Will you have any spare??

 

It's not impossible that I'll use up all of my 2x2mm timber on the ribs and have none left for whatever else it is needed. I may even run out before the ribs are all done.

 

But fear not brave boys, for I have a table saw and copious amounts of timber of all kinds and hues are available not twenty minutes drive from where I sit. Yes, I am blessed to live within a dog walk of The Exotic Hardwoods Company, https://exotichardwoodsukltd.com/

 

If you need wood, give them a call. It's a family business and they all know almost everything about woods and their uses. It's about time I revisited their barn for a ferkle about and to find a nice base or two for my current WIPs. All they have asked of me in exchange for their expertise, their willingness to cut pieces to a size suitable for my hobby saw, and their wood (apart from some money) is that I take my boats in so they can see where the wood ends up. They don't even want much money because for my purposes, the off-cut bin is the usual place where I find my treasure.

 

I have no connection with the company apart from a love of the wood.

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 1/27/2023 at 2:16 AM, dnl42 said:

I was going to suggest soaking longer to ensure the wood is thoroughly wet. 

 

Despite my initial scepticism, today I soaked my five remaining ribs in barbeque sauce water for about six hours instead of 30 minutes. Hardwood or not, the 2x2mm 'baulks of timber' did take up a lot of water and they were lots easier to work - thanks Dan!

 

YThe ribbing is far from perfect but since the strips are CA'ed on, I'm not going to risk tearing them off for a do-over. I think they will be adequate. 

 

The CA seems to be strongly bonded but I still don't trust it over time so I've iced the entire thing with wood glue, pushing it into all of the cracks between ribs and planks and between the planks themselves too. 

 

Tomorrow I'll start on the stbd side. I'll have the technique down pat so you can expect an immaculate result before the end of the week. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 

 

Seriously, the end of the week is the end of the first quarter of the GB time period and I haven't really got far, have I? Even allowing for the odd few other components that I've done, I don't think I'm a quarter of the way through my build - and don't forget the other tiny boat. What on earth, or water, had been distracting me and occupying so much of my time?  It's a mystery and one that didn't start with the Big Bang. Hint: it started on January 11th when the press gang PM'ed me. 🙂

 

This was always going to be difficult to finish on time but now I'm really getting worried, especially since I am pledged to build a Gecko (IE ten thousand tiny parts!!!) Sawn Off Daimler scout car in the Recce GB AND a honking great Faun tank transporter by Trumpeter, in the TLC GB. Both of those GBs start before this one finishes.😱

 

I'll have to do a better job of managing my time, that's all. 

 

One thing that will help is that I'm now on the last few pages of Melville's Moby Dick. I've mentioned that it's my third reading of this big book and it's the first time I've enjoyed it and I even understand some of it now. It's made me laugh a a bit, smile a lot, and look things up very often. And the slow build up to the ending has been terrific. I've spent much of the last couple of days in the Pacific under the command of a lunatic whom I'm still unsure is the bad guy or the good guy. Melville is so equivocal, dammit! 

 

As soon as I post this I'm off to read those final pages which have "the horrible texture of a fabric that should be woven of ship's cables and hawsers. A Polar wind blows through it, and birds of prey hover over it". For me, the reading is as much a part of the build as the cutting and sticking and it's a part that has gone very well. I highly recommend the book to anyone with a bit of literary stamina and a good sense of humour.

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

I went all industrial last night and cut the remaining 25 ribs to size ready for the morning. Today I dunked ten of them in the water jar and after walking the dog and doing the shopping, commenced operations. I have to tell you that all ten are formed and fitted already! Unfortunately I have to tell you because my OneDrive has gone very strange and I can't post pictures atm. I dare say it will recover later. 

 

Anyway, in a rush of optimism, I've just thrown the remaining 15 sticks in the water and if the dog will refrain from bringing them back there is a chance that I'll finish the second side in a single day instead of the nine days that I took to work out how to do it. 😆

 

 

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode...

 

(Dum diddle um diddle um diddle um diddle um pum pum pum pum pum pum....)

[Bertie McBoatface]

Yay. I didn't lose all of my photographs from the last eighty weeks!

 

One Drive can be exciting at times. 

 

EDIT: I spoke too soon. The real storage melt down happened later.

 

[TonyOD]

Looks fantastic. And I have a bit of a thing for those packs of coloured Staedtler fineliners. 😍

[Bertie McBoatface]

21 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

Staedtler

 

I love all their stuff. Really good quality. 

[PeterB]

I remember when "Superglue" first became popular somebody at work using it to stick some metal object (forgotten what) to a plaster base of some sort. It worked for a short while and then came apart as the glue had just stuck to the outside layer of the plaster which "peeled off". You can't beat CA for rapid "grab" but it just does not work with some textures/things and I am slightly surprised it works with wood. However, as it is hardwood with a close grain and you have reinforced it with wood glue it will hopefully be OK 🤞. 

 

Pete

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:10 PM, PeterB said:

I am slightly surprised it works with wood

 

Me too. That's why I distrust it so much. Several of todays rib joints have randomly failed after a few minutes and have had to be re-glued. I think that may be a consequence of the prolonged soaking but whatever the reason I was quick to splash on the Evo-Stick wood glue to take over the holding. 

 

I also have emotional problems with superglue. Since it's the old skool-ness of wooden boatbuilding that appeals to me I sometimes think I should have a boiling pot of horse derived glue on hand. But I live in a flat and while the neighbours are very friendly, I don't think they would understand. I'm ok with resin based wood glues but CA is just too 21st century.

 

But whatever the minor problems the glues and the woods and the tools have caused me over the last ten days, I HAVE TRIUMPHED!

 

In a singe day I shaped and fitted all 25 of the stbd side ribs, and with NO breakages. 😊

 

The horrors of the previous nine days of frustration have only boosted my satisfaction at more or less mastering this particular skill, at last. That's the great thing about working with unfamiliar materials. Who needs an 'Out of My Comfort Zone' GB when ALL wooden boats are such trouble for an old 'un like me to learn. 🤣

 

 

[psdavidson]

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, psdavidson said:

 

Is he drying his back with a towel?  😆

[flashlight]

What a good progress now! Congratulations!

[CliffB]

Phew, what a relief. 

[Grandboof]

Keep right on to the end of the road Bertie 

Martin H

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 hours ago, flashlight said:

What a good progress now! Congratulations!

 

It's only having to learn things that slows me down. I have to bear in mind that while I've made thousands of plastic kits over the decades of my life, when I work in wood, I'm a novice again. It's a challenge but that is very stimulating to the old grey cells. 🤓

 

3 hours ago, CliffB said:

Phew, what a relief. 

 

Indeed! Throughout this build there have been occasions when I have told myself "I can't do this, I must go back to plastic". But I'm still here. 😀 

 

1 hour ago, Grandboof said:

Keep right on to the end of the road Bertie 

Martin H

 

It's never a boring one. Around the next bend is the outer planking...

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

The next thing to do is to fit the overlapping or clinker-built planking. This is something new for me. The material to be used is very thin plywood which is something I haven't planked with before. It's flexible and twists well enough for following the lines of the bow and stern, but there's no way to bend it edgewise. Theoretically this shouldn't be a problem because it's laser cut to the shapes required. In practice there will need to be some re-shaping because my work so far will have produced a hull that isn't quite perfect to the drawings. I don't know how I'll do this.

 

Another thing is the plank overlap. That has to be pretty even all the way up the hull so there will be some maths involver. I don't know how I'll do this.

 

Finally, the instructions would have me fit the planks to the ribs, leaving a space exactly wide enough for the stem, sternpost and keel which are to be fitted later. I think that is beyond my abilities. Actually I think it's beyond 99% of modeller's abilities so I don't feel bad about it. I think they ask this because the inner stem and sternpost and the keelson are still (temporarily) nailed to the building jig and the nails block the fitting of those three outer components. 

 

I plan to remove the nails and fit the stem, stern and keel first. Then I'll know where the planks have to fit and each one will be glued to the 'spine' of the boat, making it stronger and stronger. I'll be able to leave the jig inside the boat to support it while I'm forcing planks into place even without the nails because it's a tight fit and I have the jig clamped in a heavy vice with the boat laying over it.

 

If this proves a problem, Plan B is to re-nail the boat to the jig with longer pins through the full depth of the keel which will have a false keel fitted later so I won't even have to fill the holes before I paint it all. I will have to paint these outer planks because the plywood, even if stained, won't be pretty enough to leave visible.

 

I hope I have made this clear for you. I must admit that I've written it out at length mostly for my own benefit. Writing it down forces me to understand the plan and perhaps spot some faults in it. Having it written down will give me something refer back too if I need to think it out again.