Goodwin Sands Lightship

[redpmgParticipant @redpmg]

Can anyone confirm that the Trinity House lightships were based on the whale catchers. Looking at the Kit from Russia (old Frog kit) and the pictures of the whale catchers like the Southern series the difference in the hulls appears to be less flare at the bows and of course no propulsion. A minor difference also in the anchor housing on the lightship. Other than that they appear to be the same.The superstructure apart from the light and harpoon gun & walkway is pretty much the same Fond of plastic conversions so would like to turn this one into a whale catcher.

[redpmgParticipant @redpmg]

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

I expect that, since Trinity House was operating lightships for a long time, they used several designs of hull. No doubt a whale catcher hull would be a good start.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

no, sorry, definitely not…….although they had similar shaped bows the rest of the hulls were completely different.

most lightships were not even engine, and up until the 1920s most were built from timber.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

As Neil says, the two types were very different. If you look at the photos of Calshot Spit out of the water here you can see that the vessel has a very tubby hull to maximise buoyancy and internal space and to support the topweight of the lantern. If you Google photos of whalecatchers it is evident that they are built for speed with high focsles.

Graupner used to market their Rau kit here but it is no longer on sale for obvious reasons.

Colin

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Many year ago I used to sail with my Dad on the Solent. Going back far enough, the light ship used to be manned. All the boats going passed used to wave and usually get a wave back. Later on when the Solent became really busy with yachts I bet the lightship keepers asked to be taken ashore from being fed up with waving!

In a gale I have seen the Calshot Spit light vessel almost bury it bow in a big wave and that was in the relatively sheltered Solent. Imagine what it must have been like in exposed areas in the Channel and North Sea. The high bow was designed to keep the water off the deck as much as possible. They didn't have the option of running for shelter.

Trinity House, a bit like the RNLI have their own designs for specialist purposes so especially when the ship started to be built of iron and steel they would not have converted from other types. Like Colin said, they are not designed for speed and in normal use only have to go as fast as the tide!

Tim R

[Mark Jarvis 2Participant @markjarvis2]

Hi Colin, followed your lead to the photos, any idea why it shows the ship with a rudder??

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Hello Mark

The rudder was used when towing the ships out to their stations. Otherwise, with their tubby shapes they would tend to yaw all over the place.

Tim R

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Some comments on rudders here as well.

**LINK**

Colin

[redpmgParticipant @redpmg]

Thanks for all the input . forget that one then . decided to build R2 instead. Setting up cutfiles for our work laser, balsa is so easy to use but expensive and difficult to find in SA . One stocks up when possible. Get envious when I see whats easily obtainable in the UK. Stocked up well on bits when I was there. Even Model Boats is unobtainable here now other than by subscription.

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