new build

[Ralph PinchParticipant @ralphpinch41762]

Thats going to be one hell of a model, you could use it as a ferry on the billabong, errrr are they called that in New Zealand? lol.

Looking forward to the next instalment.

Ralph.

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Good morning all

Hi Andy, thanks for dropping in. The boat will be transported on a household trailer, with an extension draw bar bolted on. She will be light enough for my little car to tow happily. Ian is quite right, the crew will be life sized and mostly human! (although I've had quite a lot of fun figuring out how to RC her, I think it could be done quite simply)

As to whether she is a model or not, depends on how one looks at it. As stated earlier, she is a 2/3 size of a 30 footer, so in that sense she is a scale model. On the other hand she is 20 feet long……(incidentally, the boat poking its nose out from behind the shed is a stand off scale 'model' (?) of a 12metre yacht, she is 12 feet long….)

Hi Ralph. Thanks for the encouragement. Actually billabong is an Australian term. We're not that imaginative, we just have bogs and swamps!

Any way on with the build

Managed to get a bit done today, and now have something quite boat like.

Went together not too badly, The transom tacked on, the midships and one bow frame were tacked in. The slots for the plank keel cut in the frames with a coping saw, and the plank keel laid in. This ensures that the boat is straight! The other frames are then fitted. Most went in fine, one was miles out, got something awfully wrong there! The bevels were bang on, didn't need to alter one.

Once happy, the frames were removed one at a time, and glued and nailed in. The trick with nailing into the edge of sheet ply is to put the nails in at alternating angles.

This improves there holding power and prevents the plies splitting apart.

The same trick applies to nailing the keel to the frames

Again this gives the nails good holding power, and keeps the heads on the centre line of the keel, out of the planes way.

more soon….

Aj

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Nails not screws ???

Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Amy J……..Such a fascinating rough and ready construction!……..But well made, I hasten to add

Will you be smartening up the craft somehow?

What does the Cabin Cruiser look like, that this build is a part payment for?

Just curious…..lol

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Bob. AmyJ will be painting the vessel (presumably) and it will look fantastic.

A teacher at my primary school once told me a lick of paint would not hide the bad workmanship (I was attempting to make a balsa plane, not a kit, but from the supplied small bits of wood). I thought on this and believed it until I re-started making model boats and I know it is just not true. It is of course the right thing to say to small boys.. Filler and paint will hide any amount of bad workmanship, not that I use much filler and paint of course….

Ashley

ps I am not alluding that Amyj`s boat is bad workmanship obviously, but once sanded and painted the rough and ready construction will be but a memory.

AmyJ…glue?? own recipie??

[Diede van AbsParticipant @diedevanabs87670]

Paint? That would be a bloody shame of the boat.

I call for a tender caring sanding treatment and numerous coats of high gloss clear…

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello all, thanks for the interest.

Hi Diede. The ply is not up to varnishing standard, so will be painted. There will be plenty of varnised trim though. My intention is to finish her to the same standard as my "Birthday Boat"

Hi Ashley. No real need for screws, nails are ample. You are right about paint and filler. I've had the dubious pleasure of working on a couple of these so called "super yachts" the amount of filler is staggering…..

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

There you go Bob, one cabin cruiser.

Right back to the new girl…

Turned around, and the stem in.

The slope of the stem is important in a flared bow hard chine boat, as it takes the twist out of the bottom panels, where they land on the stem. Even more so on this boat, as the bottom will be 1/2" ply.

The construction is rough and ready, Bob, but as you say, she will be well built and will look respectable enough when done.

Ashely, the glue is my own recipe, all though no doubt it has been done before. 90% acetone,10% petrol with enough expanded polystyrene dissolved in to make a syrup. Waterproof, and stronger than the wood, in a smooth and well fitting, well clamped joint. Thickened with slaked lime, or better still. finely ground bone, it makes a filler every bit as good as the commercial polyester stuff. (though slower drying).

Amy jane

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello again.

The next step was to rip up the chine logs. As I have plenty of long 1/2" thick pine planks, they were put through the precision saw bench.

and stored in the over head storage bin…

(which I can just reach by standing on the boot of the Mercedes…)

The chine log will be two layers of the 1/2", will bring the chine up to 1 1/2" once beveled, which will make a good gluing area. Two sort bits were glued together for to use as a pattern for cutting the slots in the frames.

The butt straps were then marked,

and cut to length. Because the side / bottom joint has to change from a lap to a but joint at the bow, the side was planed down fair.

These are the tools that I made years ago for the job.

The plane allows me to plane hard up against the frames. The blade is made from an old file, sawn and ground to shape.

First chine log in.

I tack the logs in first, then roughly fair them up, then go back and nail them in properly. (It's easier to clean glue off the plane, than pull out nails put in the wrong place!)

second layer in.

Aj

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

An excellent post, Amy

You are a true boat builder, without a doubt!

Credits due, where credits due…..So they say

I like the sound of your home made glue too

Bob

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Why thank you Bob. You are a true gentleman, for sure.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

AmyJ. Struggling to see the precision saw bench in the photo. Does it sit on the rough old table centre shot?

Ashley

[IAN_IParticipant @ian_i]

Hi AJ…

What a good looking build, it looks similar to the re builds they are up to in the Windermere lake district.

Also making your own brew of Glue, never ending skills.

Great work and good to see, thanks..

By the way… the radio control….?

Is that you behind the tiller….lol

Ian

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hi Ashley, Upside down skill saw, string tied around trigger.

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Good evening Ian.

Thanks for the praise!

Yes. (I shall have a good play with this one before I hand her over to her new owner, builders prerogative and all…)

Aj

[Mike PrenticeParticipant @mikeprentice83334]

Hi Amy.

Making your own woodworking tools. Now that is something.

I think we all secretly wish we could build a boat like you do.

AS others have said , Great work.

Mike.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

AmyJ. Talking of precision equipment (and you know I was only joking) My dad made a circular saw bench using bearing posts to support the blade, and an industrial 240V motor, drive via a rubber belt. Fearsome thing. I used it quite a bit, the table (and basement) were quite big and so I could cut up sheets of 4X8 easily.

The saw fence was simply clamped at either side of the table having measured up both sides of the blade to get the fence parallel with the blade and the correct distance away.

Oddly enough i bought a Machine mart bench saw (and a stand for it ) some years ago but the fence and its markings are rubbish, so resort to the tape measure all the time. I miss the size of table as well, but I just dont have the room.

Sheets of 4×8 I usually lay on the lawn supported by bits of 2×2 or whathaveyou and again clamp a long runner to the appropriate marks and use a hand held jobbie.

You build big boats like I build my models, a quick sketch and then on with the saw-work. I think it comes of having the finished product in your minds-eye and just knowing what to do to get there. I could never build to a plan.

None of my creations have a plan. I would not dare to show anyone the "plans" I work to, they would larf. Glimpses can be seen in the article photos now and then, I obviously do not bribe the editor sufficiently to keep them hidden.

Ashley

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Posted by Mike Prentice on 06/09/2015 22:31:51:

Hi Amy.

Making your own woodworking tools. Now that is something.

I think we all secretly wish we could build a boat like you do.

AS others have said , Great work.

Mike.

Hi Mike

Thanks for dropping in.

To tell you the truth, model boats are far harder to build than the big ones! If one can build a little'n, one can build a big'n!

I find the whole black smithing thing fascinating, It's like a kind on magic, to take a hard file and make it soft enough to hack saw, then make it hard enough again to use as a plane blade….

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hi Ashley.

Aint improvisation a great thing? A few bits of wood, a piece of string…..

Yes, I build very much as you describe, just enough on paper to get things under way.

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hi all

Managed to get a few hours in today. Because a boat with little rocker and a shallow v bottom is an inherently weak shape, I need to reinforce the keel. The normal method is to put small vertical posts between the underside of the thwarts and the top of the keel, so one supports 'tuther. This boat isn't having thwarts, so a different approach is needed. I've put a keelson in, which sandwiches the frames between it's self and the keel.

I will then (when I bring some ply back from work) put vertical shear webs between the keelson and keel, on one side only, but alternating sides between the frame bays. This will make a strong, light and stiff keel.

keelson attachment at stem

The bottom stringers, of 2"x1" pine are marked and notched to the frames. I will install them permanently once the keel shear webs are on.

Here are a couple of my mistakes

This frame wasn't quite right, so I had to glue on a couple of strips and plane them down.

I got a bit trigger happy with the electric planer, and cut off 1/8" too much, so had to glue a bit in….

Amy j

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Electric planer….ELECTRIC PLANER. Ye gods woman…whatever next. I suppose you will using electric drills! soon..

The "cut to fit" method is my fave, works every time

Ashley

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Oh dear Ashley, and there was me thinking that your technique was to stick it on and trim round the edges….

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Wellll I do sometimes….

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

In fact, this is what I did for the veneering on proj no3, as its all angles. The veneer was cut oversize, glued, trimmed and sanded to the angles and then the next bit stuck on. Perfect joints, overlaps so there is no ply showing. The way to go.

Ashley

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Posted by ashley needham on 12/09/2015 14:16:56:

Electric planer….ELECTRIC PLANER. Ye gods woman…whatever next. I suppose you will using electric drills! soon..

The "cut to fit" method is my fave, works every time

Ashley

My work shop technology is exceeded only by the quality of my building materials……

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