Hello all

Well my new build is under way, a 1/10 scale Matinicus Island Square Sterned Hampton Boat. This is a small, (23' open fishing boat popular in the Casco bay area of Maine USA around 1880s. My model will be of one that has been converted to a motor pleasure boat.

The hull shape of these boats is quite remarkable for a boat of their time. They have a very long wall sided bow, with the maximun beam well aft, and a very flat run and hard turn to the bilge. The transom has a strong tumble home, which is carried well forward.

The lines plans below was taken from a boat built at Orrs Island Maine, around 1900, and is a more extreme model of the type. She was strip planked, which is about the only way to single skin plank a boat of this shape.

These hulls were popular in the early days of power, as they drove very easily.

The model will be 29" long by about 7" beam and displace 6 or 7 pounds. Power will be a brushed motor, with a reduction drive and a large flat pitched prop, I want good static thrust, rather than speed. My plan is to simulate what such a boat would be like on the open North Atlantic. The Estuary where I do my boating can get quite rough, and it is my intention to get this little boat out in it! To this end I have deepened the hull slightly and set the prop well in board, for to keep it in solid water.

Construction will be polystyrene (I have an awful lot of it) with a plastic skin.

Edited By Amy jane September on 28/09/2014 09:55:36

Frame work, 1/4" ply

Prop tube and shaft is two bits of antenna tube with headless bolts epoxied in each end

Amy jane

Thanks for that Dave.

I have spent a bit of time in Maine, and enjoyed watching the full sized lobster boats. Camden Harbour is quite a sight! A few of the old timers have survived, Fishing schooners, Friendship sloops, Pea Pods, Banks Dories, and the like.

Thanks also for the details of your model set up, You have a lot more power than I am planning on. I have a fairly mild 380(ish) motor, running a 2:1 reduction and a 40- 45mm 3 blade in mind, running on 6 cells ni cad. My hull will require a lot less power than yours though.

Aj

Here you go Ashley

the hardboard canoe

On with the model,,,

The hull has been sanded to the final shape and the first skin added.

The skin is a bit of old bed sheet, cut on the bias, so that it drapes well around the compound curves. It is glued on with home made casein glue, ( heat some skim milk with vinegar to curdle it. Collect the curds and put the in the blender with a pinch of baking soda and water and blend, adding enough water to make a PVA like glue), This dries to a hard plastic skin, but is not water proof. Once dry, it is sanded and a second layer added. Whilst the casein is not even a little bit water proof, it is petrol proof. The "liquid plastic" I use is nothing more than all my polystyrene waste dissolved in petrol. When this dries a hard and completely waterproof skin is formed. The next step is to put another layer of cloth on, but this time with the liquid plastic, to form the final waterproof skin.

Ok, so I hear you ask, Why don't she just use epoxy and be done with? The cheapest epoxy I can get is $100 a gallon, and I might just want to build a REALLY BIG model by this method, due the fact I have a REALLY BIG block of polystyrene!

Some more piccies

Amy jane

Hi Michael, Thanks for the nice comments.

Ashley, That bench is 30' long and 4' wide, so a carrier deck indeed!