Fairey Fisherman 27 Motor Sailer

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Chris,

What a pretty little craft she is becoming, the joy of creating a one off which can’t really be appreciated by any one who has’nt done one, I have just had a result with selling my F T Everard Simplicity coaster to a pub next to the old Everard yard in Greenhithe on the banks of the Thames for display 🙂

Regards  Ray

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Yes, building a one-off certainly adds to the satisfaction of building Ray and this is my third with the River Cruiser and Faun. Fourth in fact if you include my Huntress Long Cabin with its stern-drive.

My next two projects are one-offs as well, one being the water-jet build and the other the outboard build.

Good result with the coaster – is that a pub you use?

Chris

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Chris,

I seldom go to the pub these days, unless we are away for the weekend, Lager at our local is £7.80 a pint 🙁 I can get 3 large bottles of Peroni at the local Waitrose for £6.50 🙂 or 1 big bottle of San Miguel for £1.99 at Lidl.

No wonder the pub’s are closing at such an alarming rate !!

Regards  Ray

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Last year I met up with a friend from the States in London who was passing through and overnighting and I hadn’t seen for around nine years.  I collected another friend on the way down and we eventually met up with him at his hotel just off Hyde Park.  We walked until we found a pub and settled down for a long catch up and reminisce on old times.

The beer, bitter, was £8.00 per pint.  Due to my medication I only had one and then went onto orange juice.  They were £4.00 for a half.  We decided we might as well eat there as none of us could be bothered moving so we had a pie and mash, nothing else, no veg, no gravy, nothing but a pie and mash, for £20.00.  What really surprised me though was the fact that the place was busy all evening.  Obviously no cost of living concerns there then!

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

It’s a bit less expensive outside the M25, but in my part of Surrey the eateries tend to be ‘Gastropubs’ and fish and chips are typically £20 or even more. A lot cheaper down on our nearest coast place at Littlehampton, an hour’s drive. Lots of sea air and an interesting harbour on the river Arun. My elder daughter bought a house there last year which adds to the attraction. The Arun is the fastest flowing river in England and watching the tide flooding in is impressive.

Colin

Colin

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

I don’t know exactly how much beer is around here in Warwickshire as it’s usually part of a round and I don’t frequent pubs as much as I used to but it’s certainly cheaper than what you guys are paying!

I hadn’t got enough bass strip for the rear cabin roof so had to order from SLEC along with other materials to replenish stocks for my future projects.

Duly arrived and so I formed the roof. Needs another brace for the underside and sanding ready for lightweight cloth later.

 

 

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hi Chris

Your Fisherman’s true character is emerging.  It really does look the business.

Tim R

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Thanks Tim. I really like my classic Fairey builds but I’m loving this one being so different and with the challenges it brings.

Chris

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Little bit more progress. Introducing some mahogany into the build now having made and glued in place the cabin wings into the cockpit. There is a timber “windscreen” to be made which will be fitted to the cabin roof so that the roof can be removed.

Having made a cardboard and ply template I cut the floor out of laser etched ply planking so that I could progress other parts of the build. When finished I may replace it with planking as it looks better but I’ve used it on other builds so maybe not! Also made the engine cover in mahogany.

Just printed the rudder out (extended it lower) so that I can start making it and working out how to mount the servo for it.

Chris

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hi Chris

The mahogany really starts to bring the boat to life.

Have you got mini-servos.  You wont need the torque of a standard sized servo for the rudder as it will never be heavily loaded.  Gives you a bit more wriggle room.

Another one I can’t wait to see on the water.

Tim R

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Hi Tim – first thoughts were to use a low-profile standard servo but even that is going to be a challenge to fit so if a mini-servo will do the trick then that will be great. As you say it won’t be heavily loaded by power or sail. I’ve used them in my River Cruiser and Faun builds and have some of them in stock. But I’m going to look at aircraft wing servos as well as mounting will be easier – actually I wish I’d known about them sooner as they would have been better in some of my previous builds, especially the Faun!

Rudder blade is mahogany like the full-size boat with ply each side. I haven’t glued it yet as I’ve ordered some more glue. I glued some mahogany to ply a little while as a test using aliphatic glue and despite weighing it down it curved like a banana! The ply was only to one side though. Trouble is with aliphatic is that it’s very wet and after the initial grab it takes a long time to dry. I’ve had problems with it causing warping/distortion in the past. I now use cyano (now that odourless is available) a lot more and don’t have any problems in similar situations as it dries so fast. Obviously I need something a bit slower for the rudder lamination!

As you can see I’ve increased the depth of the rudder a bit as is good practice for a sailing model – I’ve always got the motor if extra help is needed!

Chris

 

 

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

I ordered some good old Evostick in the end to stick the parts of the rudder together and it did the job just fine and I have another job for that shortly.

A Hitec wing servo has also arrived and I think that will work well for the rudder. It’s only 10mm thick and with some surgery to the stern it should fit nicely. I’ll most likely have to have a bit of boxing to accommodate the swing of the servo arm but I can live with that. Before proceeding with that I’ve ordered some bits and pieces to make the rudder hinges.

Before starting the superstructure I should really have painted the hull but it’s not my favourite job and I wanted to progress the building so left it. But I need to do it now to avoid any damage and make it anymore awkward than it already is. So to do this I’m dealing with the decking so that the rubbing strips can be fitted. Decking is going to be painted ply so I’m forming the camber for it at the bow with a central bass strip to give the height and angle with layers of balsa sheet each side.

Preliminary sanding has been carried out and I will do a bit of filling ready for the ply which will be glued with the aforementioned Evostick. Ply will then be fixed to the deck sides and stern.

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Talk about curvy, hardly a straight line anywhere!

Have you ever considered using “snakes” to drive rudders.  These can take up quite a bit of bend which means that you might be able to mount the servo under the side decks and still be accessible under the main hatch.

Both Wild Duck and Eventide have snakes and eventide has a bell crank to get a 90 degree angle onto the tiller arm.

Tim R

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

I know Tim, it doesn’t make anything easy!

I’ve used snakes in my Huntress stern-drive and so I have considered them but due to the curve of the stern I couldn’t see it working and even with them being able to turn quite sharply I’d have to approach the stern from quite far out. I’ll have another look though as I do have a snake that’s more flexible than the one in the Huntress.

Also considered bell-cranks but again the curved stern makes it difficult and I don’t think I’d get the one operating the rudder rod to sit any tighter than the servo, so I may as well stick with the less complicated option.

About the worst situation you can get really, curved stern, seating right at the back and hardly any deck to position things under! With the rest of the boat I’ve got loads of room to fit things in.

Chris

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Just to throw another thought into the mix to further muddy the water, I had exactly the same set of challenges when it came to controlling the steering on the Billing Boats African Queen model.  So I mounted the steering servo right up front where I had some space and ran fishing line from the servo horn back to connect to either side of the tiller arm through some copper pipe.  The copper pipe was simply bent to shape and held in place by embedding it in epoxy.  You can see the ends of the copper tube protruding up the bulwarks either side of the tiller.  Both ends of the fishing line are tied to an eyelet below the tiller.

 

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Pah Richard, that’s easy peasy you’ve got a square transom and a tiller! Seriously, that was a good solution and nicely done and would have worked well in my Faun build – though I had to form some boxing anyway for the battery though it could have been smaller.

Main difficulty for me is the round stern with the addition of the horn on the rudder rather than a tiller. I’ve had another look with a snake but even using a thin cable type the bend required precludes it from working.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Been delayed in posting as had problems with adding to my own post again and my last post wasn’t showing for some reason.

No filling was required to the bow in the end after more sanding, and the ply deck was cut out and glued in place with Evostik as mentioned before. Evostik had become a bit of a forgotten glue for me really. I had some before but it was in a tube (as may households tended to have) and not ideal for spreading over flat surfaces. But this time I bought a tin and using a disposable brush it was easy to apply over the sub-base. No panic about running out of time and the strong instant grab meant that even the curved ply didn’t need any tape or elastic bands etc. Ok you have to be sure about placement but other than that it’s brilliant and I’ve been using it on other parts.

I did use Bostik contact adhesive on at least one Fairey hull, but that was out of a tube and a bit of a pain to apply. That was after the nightmare of using aliphatic glue which was always a favourite. Being so wet it caused the ply to warp and was difficult to secure in place with tape etc. which resulted in uneveness and lack of adhesion in places which meant a follow up with cyano. Never again!

Anyway I digress! Some small additional pieces of timber were then glued in place alongside the frames to support the side decking at the joints with the bow and stern and then a cardboard template was made. Ply was cut out and the inside face sanding to ensure a good fit against the cabin. Flipped it over and it was a good fit for the decking on the other side so I just drew around it onto the ply. Both pieces were then glued in place.

I’d sanded the outside edge of the bow (Tim’s favourite job, edge sanding ply!) with a PermaGrit block before fitting the side decks and so did these before fitting the stern decking. Again a cardboard template was made for this and flipped over for the other side. Once the decking was glued in place the outside edge was sanded down. The inside edge was trickier and I’d allowed more waste so I resorted to my Proxxon multi-tool fitted with a PermaGrit grinding wheel to cut close to the line and then finished off with curved and round files.

The ply was 2mm birch faced so nice and solid!

 

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Chris,

She’s coming on well 🙂 yes contact adhesive has it’s use’s alright, I hope your doing Mahogany rubbing strips round the Gunwhale ? have you chosen a colour scheme yet ? The rig is getting closer !!

Regards  Ray

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Mahogany, of course, shall be doing that soon.

Pretty much decided on colours. Usual blue and white – white hull, deck and roofs and blue cabin sides and varnished mahogany in places including the keel.

Yes, the rig is getting closer! I’ll try it on the water before then though.

Chris

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Rubbing strips fitted. Some filling to the main cabin roof and sanded down and P38 applied to minor gaps where the bilge keels meet the hull. Hull given a good sanding prior to some more coats of Eze-Kote and sharp edges taken off the keel.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Good call on another thread Ray for using a rudder spindle rather than pintles etc.

I’ve used one hole stantions with a 2mm bore glued into the rudder and post and threaded the spindle at one end to take a domed nut. I may add some fake straps when detailing later. Just got to make a brass rudder horn and I can then start sorting out the servo and linkage.

Chris

 

[mick eastParticipant @mickeast46851]

Here in the antipodes a pint of great northen( best bitter) is $8 AU equivalent to 4 pounds stirling

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

And here is the rudder horn made from 1mm thick brass sheet.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Horn has been bolted to the rudder using M1.6 brass hex bolts, washers and domed nuts which were perfect for the job.

An oval hole was cut through the stern for the linkage and once all assembled operation was checked by piggybacking off Faun.

Will now continue with the cockpit area.

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Chris, lovely neat job, as always.  Just another thought that may be of interest.  I did a similar arrangement with my workboat and was always concerned that breaching the hull below the bulwark was going against common sense from a watertight integrity point of view.  I decided in the end that there was still enough freeboard for a wide reasonably sized model and the few times it has been on the water has proved this to be the case.

 

In the case of a model being capable of sailing as well, such as yours, the thought of a breach in the hull might be a bit more of a concern.  A sudden gust of wind may heel the model over enough to bring the linkage opening dangerously close to the water.  Just a thought therefore is a solution created by Paul Freshney on his beautifully built torpedo boat.  This used a similar linkage but the freeboard became very low so he passed the linkage through a piece of plastic tube and sealed the inside end with a model submarine servo linkage rubber boot.

 

 

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