New to GRP

[Mike King 3Participant @mikeking3]

Hello All ,

I have been involved in modelling on and off for a number of years . I am in the process of finishing off a small plank on bulkhead boat at present ( AL Marie-Jeanne ) . After this I would like to move onto making a larger model Sailing only/ decorative Schooner type model . In the process of looking around I noticed on MB forum a GRP model schooner "Moonbeam" from Metcalf Mouldings . As I have never made a moulded hull boat before , I would like to know if the hull can be covered with wood planking ? is this practical for a GRP HULL ? Any other tips would be appreciated regarding GRP .

Thanks

Mike

[Mike King 3Participant @mikeking3]

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hello Mike,

That would be an interesting approach? but a very expensive former to plank over, most people build plank on frame and glass cloth that, still what ever floats your Moonbeam

As Mattias says Dave still advertise's in Model Boats Magazine.

Regards Ray

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hi Mike,

Short answer: no, not really.

Longer answer: well, it depends. Most things can be done if one really wants to do them. However, covering a GRP hull with wood planking would, to my mind, rather defeat the purpose. When it come to kits, there are several reasons why a GRP hull might be chosen over a planked one. GRP allows the kit producer to furnish a ready-made basic hull to the customer, and one that can be produced over and over from the same moulds. Also, when appropriate the hull can come with a lot of surface detailing, such as rivets, plate lines, rubbing strakes, planking etc., or inversely, be made slick and smooth if it is that sort of a hull.

In any case, at least part of the interest for the builder of such a kit is that it saves a considerable amount of work and thus time. For some, this makes a GRP-hulled kit more interesting, while others finds it less so; yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choices …

So while some GRP hulls will need some detail added to the outside of the hull — chines for example, or rubbing strakes — I've not yet seen one that was intended to serve as just a base for a complete, external planking of the hull. I would even go so far as to say that I would consider it inadvisable, compared to a conventional plank-on-frame planked hull, as it would be rather more difficult to fasten the planking except with some quite strong and properly waterproof glue — epoxy comes to mind — which would take a long time, and be both pernickety and potentially messy.

Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 16/09/2019 08:58:12

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

As said above, sheathing a GRP hull with wood would be a bit pointless really. It is virtually impossible to get a chemical bond with conventional adhesives to a GRP gelcoat so you would have to roughen the surface all over to try and get a mechanical bond which, as Mattias says, would need to be epoxy. As well as being a messy process you would inevitably get traces of cured glue on the outside of the planks and along the joins and this would be harder than the wood so rubbing down would be uneven. In short you'd end up witjh a much inferior hull to the nice shiny one you started with!

If you really want a wood hull then it would be best to build plank on frame from suitable plans.

It is of course possible to enhance a GRP hull as Mattias says, by adding trim such as, for example, a mahogany stripwood gunwhale etc.

Colin

Edited By Colin Bishop on 16/09/2019 09:56:04

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Mike

Can I ask the question why you would want to sheathe a GRP hull with wood?

Tim R

[Mike King 3Participant @mikeking3]

Thanks for your replies to my question . I probably didn't think the build out enough and good question from Tim R , "Why would I want to sheathe a GRP HULL ". Youre right, it would be better off painted as it was intended for . It was just , originally I planned to build a POB schooner and leave it in its natural wood state , so I was just confusing the issue .

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Mike

Maybe your original plan to build a planked model is where your heart is.

Tim R

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Mike,

How about Argus MM 405 schooner from the SARIK plans range 30" X 8" looks good to me 😀

regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 16/09/2019 22:32:09

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Mike,

If you'd be happy to scratch build from plans, rather than from a kit, Harold A. Underhill's excellent plans for various schooners are available from Brown, Son & Ferguson (**LINK**). If you put "schooner" into the search box on their website, you'll get the full list. Please note that most of these are multi-sheet plans that are sold as individual sheets.

It should perhaps also be noted that Dave Metcalf's Moonbeam is not really a schooner, but yacht rigged; this does of course not detract from its attractiveness in its own right, but if you explicitly wish to build a schooner, it doesn't quite qualify as such.

Mattias

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Advance apologies to Banjoman for the pedant in me but Moonbeam is classified as a topsail gaff cutter. IE the mainsail is gaff rigged with a topsail set above. It has two headsails with the outer one called the jib and the inner is called a staysail making it a cutter. This was a classic rig for yachts.

A yacht can also be rigged as a schooner and many are to this day.

Tim R

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Tim,

No need to apologise — you are of course quite correct! Yachts can be rigged in many different ways (or not at all, if they are motor yachts), including as a schooner. The OED defines a yacht as

" […] a vessel, usually light and comparatively small, propelled by motive power other than oars, and used for pleasure excursions, cruising, etc., and now esp. one built and rigged for racing".

So while I would certainly say that Moonbeam is a (model of a) yacht (or rather, a replica of a pond yacht, which in its turn would have been a model of a yacht), to call her "yacht rigged", as I did, is fairly meaningless. I was in a bit of a hurry, and, well, nuff said. Mea culpa, and all that. But at least, she is not a schooner-rigged yacht, which was the point I was really trying to make

So thank you very much, Tim, for letting the pedant in you out!

Mattias

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Nice reply Mattias

Tim R

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