Thames Tug Cullamix

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Thames Tug Cullamix

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5 December 2016 at 16:17 #68916
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Started this build back in the summer, I'm approaching the "take it off" the board stage always exciting to get on with the upper works, just fitting the waggle & wirly bits, did cheat and bought a nice brass prop, she is a Myhobbystore plan by Bernard Reeve draughted back in the 1940's, will try to make all the fitting from scratch from the scrap box Can't seem to get the photos in the right order ! more in my album.

Regards Ray
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5 December 2016 at 16:17 #7085
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
5 December 2016 at 17:44 #68923
Banjoman
Participant
@banjoman
That is a very pretty looking hull, Ray! Please keep us posted on your progress!

Mattias
6 December 2016 at 13:22 #68934
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Last night silver soldered the rudder stock and bottom pintle to the blade, and made a start on the cradle/stand for her to sit in, the card packers are to allow room for some felt for a soft berth.

Regards Ray
6 December 2016 at 14:03 #68937
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
As my boats are now all boxed up, I am leaning towards foam to sit the boats on with wedges and/or side pieces to keep the boat upright. This has the advantage of cushioning the boat against knocks, low weight and ease of fitment.

Hull very nice. Ray, indeed.

Ashley
6 December 2016 at 14:14 #68938
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Thanks Ashley

Making the cradle so she sits at the same datum for drawing the waterline, 3/16" balsa planking which is easy and will have lightweight glasscloth and waterbased resin on the outside and heavy duty glasscloth and polyester resin inside as the weight of the battery and ballast will be considerable

Regards Ray
12 December 2016 at 12:20 #68994
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Cullamix released from her building board in the cradle with the general arrangement drawing, fibre glassing the inside next, happy days

Regards Ray
12 December 2016 at 16:02 #68999
Bob Abell 2
Participant
@bobabell2
Hi there, Ray

I notice you've also got a RH prop

Bob
12 December 2016 at 16:06 #69000
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi Bob

Yes I heard they were all the rage these days, so I had to keep up

If it falls off in the bath I'll cross drill it, hows the Mist progressing ? no new lately

Regards Ray
12 December 2016 at 16:45 #69001
Bob Abell 2
Participant
@bobabell2
Hi Ray

The Mist is beginning to clear now

Have had a few distractions lately which upset the build somewhat

I'm sanding the unpainted side of the hull, at the moment…….In fits and starts

All the best for Christmas btw

Bob
12 December 2016 at 16:58 #69002
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Thanks Bob

Ditto from down south, we finish for Christmas next Wednesday on holiday till the new year should get some serious building done with luck.

Best Regards Ray
19 December 2016 at 11:10 #69072
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Cut some woven glass cloth to fit the spaces between the bulkheads, polyester resin applied in the shed because of the fumes, warmed it up with a convector heater to aid the curing, a really messy business wetting out the cloth, the excess runs into the bilges and adds strength to the base of the hull and motor mounting blocks. Thought I'd give the inside a couple of coats of red enamel before I start on the deck and bulwarks as it's Christmas (Still in the wrong order but wot the heck)

Regards Ray
21 December 2016 at 08:25 #69093
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

My last post before the big building session called the Christmas break, well with the bulkheads trimmed the hull access hatch sides are installed departed from the method on the plans to form an upstand to prevent water on the deck entering the hull, this also strengthens the opening and gives a line for the camber to the main fore deck and side decks. The next stage will be what I'd call in building terminology the Firring pieces to produce the deck camber. I have trial fitted the geared Decaperm for motive power. Lets see how far I get by New Year. Best regards for Christmas Ray W
21 December 2016 at 09:36 #69094
Bob Abell 2
Participant
@bobabell2
Nice build Ray

Can`t understand why your pictures are out of sync though?

In case you are wondering…….I`m back in action on the Silver Mist again

Christmas greetings to you and yours

Bob
3 January 2017 at 09:43 #69274
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Good holiday break, deck on and the basic superstructure built insitu all good, bracing my self the hardest part which is the woodwork to form the bulwarks, did drift onto my other ongoing project MTB 71 which I'm getting ready for the 2017 season. Happy New Year My now trade mark pics in the wrong order !

Regards Ray
3 January 2017 at 16:26 #69284
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
Ray. Like the MTB. It strikes me that you could always see the diagonal planking in these boats…are you leaving "just a hint of" or sanding for England?

Like the Red paint on `T other. What a difference it makes, a coat of paint hiding all the untidiness.

Ashley
3 January 2017 at 16:42 #69289
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi Ashley

The MTB will be blown over with some grey & black below the waterline leaving the planks on show, the double diagonal planking is in 1/64 miralite ply I did the outer layer the wrong direction Oops ! well you live and learn. I'm tempted to build the next one twice the size 1" to the foot at 71" I've really enjoyed this 30" version. The torpedo tubes and depth charges are 3/4" diameter aluminium tube salvaged from a folding deck chair.

Regards Ray
3 January 2017 at 16:51 #69291
ashley needham
Participant
@ashleyneedham69188
NEVER throw away tubular furniture without checking for tube usefulness!!!

I would not have noticed the planking error I must say.

Yes build a big `un and we can all give ~~conflicting advice~~ alternative views on what combination of brushless motor/battery to use!!

Ashley
23 January 2017 at 10:50 #69557
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Back onto the bulwarks of Cullamix which will be a combination of the heights & raking angle taken from the drawing and cutting a tacking 1/16" ply rail and supports before the 1/32" ply sheeting. Once this is complete I have decided to use the lightweight glass cloth and West epoxy to finish of the hull. Followed by the 1/2 round rubbing strip form obechi strip.

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 23/01/2017 10:52:30
27 January 2017 at 09:32 #69635
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

Progress slow this week as it's been rather brass monkey's in the workshop AKA the garage. No reference on the plans for bulwark supports so I've used small angled supports of 1/16" ply to support the rail super glued in position and eyed through for alignment and tacking the top rail in place. The sheeting is 1/32" ply with the grain running vertical glued & pinned with Gorilla glue. Looking forward to doing the rail round the stern the most attractive part of the tug in my view

Regards Ray
30 January 2017 at 10:39 #69672
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi All

The basic bulwarks complete this weekend which is a big milestone for me, plain sailing with the build from now on, I'm trying to leave room for the steering quadrant under the rear timber grillage with cable steering from a servo under the bridge via the scale deck rollers I have just realised 1 month to the lake at Bluewater re-opening, so I should start preparing this seasons new boats for the water Where did January go ??

Regards Ray
30 January 2017 at 11:30 #69673
Banjoman
Participant
@banjoman
That is looking very good indeed, Ray!

Interesting, too, to note that you plan to set up the rudder control in scale fashion, using cable and rollers. What do you intend to use as cable? Scale steel wire? something else? And how do you intend to adjust the tension?

Mattias
30 January 2017 at 12:11 #69674
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi Mattias

The scale set up is a combination of chains and rods with springs to take shock loads, but to make it practical I'm proposing to use stainless steel plastic coated fishing trace, as it will easily go round the rollers and its easy to crimp the ends and use brass bottlescrews for tension with some dummy springs etc as the drawing. I thought I maybe able to make the tugs steering wheel move with an old sail winch, but maybe I'm dreaming , your yacht is looking great are you making the sails ?

Regards Ray
30 January 2017 at 13:46 #69676
Banjoman
Participant
@banjoman
Hello Ray,

I see what you mean, and that should indeed both work and look more than good enough. A small caveat perhaps, although I'm sure you have already thought about it: those working brass bottlescrews tend to unscrew themselves quite easily, and are likely to need to be secured at the right level of tension. One way might be to get a few miniature nuts to fit whatever thread (M2? M2.5?) they have, unscrew the bottles, put on a nut either end and then screw the bottle back on. As long as you don't need to close the bottlescrews all the way in, once you're happy with the tension you just tighten the added nuts against the bottle ends, and it should all be stable enough. If adjustment is needed afterwards it will be easy enough to ease off on the securing nuts …

As for making the steering wheel move, I'm sure it must be feasible, although it should be remembered that in real life such a wheel would, I think, be quite heavilly geared down (or up, depending on perspective), so that for a rudder movement of maybe 30 degrees, the wheel would need to be turned quite a number of full revolutions.

As I think I've already mentioned here on the forum, my wife and I spent five days on the VIC 32 up in Scotland for my 50th birthday back in 2015 (which, by the way, is when and where my avatar picture was taken), and the VIC 32 had one of those chain-and-roller steering set-ups.

Perhaps a slightly more primitive version, in that I don't think there was much in the way of shock-absorbing springs. As a matter of fact, there was quite an amount of slack in that chain, which the skipper expained was for reasons of both comfort and security for the helm — any pressure or shocks against the rudder could be quite plainly felt through the wheel, and we were all told in no uncertain terms that whenever we felt a wave hit the rudder out in open water, we must immediately take both hands well away off the spokes, as a strong enough wave could easily set the wheel spinning with a force well beyond human strength to control and that could give one a very nasty rap or even break one's hand or arm.

After having had a few waves knock the wheel spinning while I was at the helm, I quite saw what he meant, and the slack in the chain gave us amateurs just enough warning to have time to let go off the wheel.

I dare say, though, that any tug operated by professionals in the (comparatively) narrow and congested waters of the Thames would have had a tighter set up rudder operation, and thus also put those shock absorbers to good use …

Thank you very much, too, for your kind compliments about my Moonbeam build! And yes, I shall most certainly have a go at making the sails myself …

Mattias
30 January 2017 at 14:24 #69677
Ray Wood 3
Participant
@raywood3
Hi Mattias

Good point about the turnbuckles, I've used closed loop controls on RC aeroplanes rudders & elevators and the tension doesn't have to be that great, I'm not sure the steering chains/pulleys are correct as shown on the drawing as most full size tugs seem to have the quadrant behind the rudder stock, as shown it would be a tiller ? and the geometry wouldn't keep the chain at a constant length. But the more models I make I realise the draughtsman/designer may have used artistic licence for the details not recorded. The drawings are at least as old as me (61) and are excellent in detail, the steering wheel would be driven by the sail winch drum separate from the actual steering servo I hope. I had this model in the late 60's which my uncle made but unfortunately it leaked like a sieve as he plated the hull with ply panels which the joints couldn't take the water pressure, I wish I'd kept the folding down funnel he made ! Good luck with the sail making, I've just bought an old Singer sewing machine with that in mind for my sailing barge needs a bigger main to win races

Regards Ray
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