Plans for Wide-A-Wake Steam launch?

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Are these still sold somewhere?

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello all,

My copy of the MB Winter Special finally arrived yesterday! Due to a recent wild cat strike at the Post Office sorting centers here in Belgium, it took longer than usual to reach me) … but at least it turned up in the end …

Anyway, I noticed with some interest the mention in passing by Richard Simpson, in his So You want To Buy Some Steam Plant article, of plans for a clinker built steam launch called Wide-A-Wake, and more specifically the statement that these plans are supposedly still available.

I have now googled fairly extensively, and also had a thorough look through the websites of my usual suppliers, but, alack and alas!, cannot find anyone beyond eBay that seems to sell these plans.

My question is thus quite simple: does anyone here on the forum know where (other than eBay) one could get hold of these plans?

Many thanks in advance!

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 11/11/2015 07:36:20

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

Haven't located the plans, but the magazine article was in the March and April 1972 Model Boats magazine. Both magazines are currently on sale by the Magazine Exchange.

**LINK**

**LINK**

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Thank you very much indeed, Tony; those two issues have now been snapped up by yours truly!

I'm thus still looking for the plans, so will add what I should perhaps have written above, namely that if anyone here has them in at least decentish nick, and would be willing to part with them, I'd be happy to buy them that way, too.

/Mattias

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

By-the-bye, speaking of MB back issues, I'm also looking for the June and July 1981 issues (alas not available from the Magazine Exchange just now), including the free plan of the steam launch Nina that came with the June issue.

I built that model back then at the age of 16, and still have it; it is actually the only one of the models I built in my teens to have survived to this day, and I have been thinking about either renovating it, or making a new one to fit around the 1981 vintage USE steam plant that still sits in the model …

Although I would prefer copies that came with the plan, I would also be interested in acquiring just the magazines, as the plans can be bought from for example My Hobbystore.

/Mattias

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

I too was surprised at the mention of the availablity of the Wide A Wake plans. I bought the copies of Model Boats at the time and was living in a bedsit as a student, so not much chance of model boat building, but I fell in love with the design. I have never seen copies of the plans except those published in the magazine but, if I remember rightly, there was a table of offsets in the article and it wouldn't be too difficult to draw up the mould shapes from them. You could also enlarge the plans from the magazine, although not ideal as the lines would come out a bit thick.

It would be interesting to know if the plans were ever produced full size. By the way, Vic Smeed drew a similar launch called River Queen ( I think) and that would make a more manageable model as Wide A Wake was about 50'' I think.

Ian

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello Ian,

Many thanks for your comments! I continued my searches yesterday, and in the end the only source these threw up was a chap in Canada with a storefront on eBay, who sells a cd with digitised versions of the plans, including what he lists as two full-size plans to print out at 56" x 30", i.e. what would be large enough sheets to take a full-scale drawing of a 50" launch … here is alink, anyway, to his eBay listing: **LINK**

As the price is not exorbitant (with p&p it came to just under 14 USD) I have decided to take a chance, and have ordered a CD from him, on which I'll be happy to report back when (I won't say if) I get it if anyone would be interested …

/Mattias

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

I forgot to say that my research yesterday dug up one more intersting piece of information, namely that "H. Croker of South Australia" was called Herbert Croker, and that at least part of his model collection ended up at the South Australian Maritime Museum (**LINK**) on whose website one also finds this short biography:

"Herbert Croker (1900-1980) was born in Waterford, Ireland. He spent 25 years at sea serving on whalers, tankers, tramps, cargo and passenger ships. Croker migrated to Australia with his wife in 1940 and began model making in 1961. In 1963 he won two gold medals and a bronze at the Royal Adelaide Industrial exhibition. Croker carefully researched all his models which were based on boats he had sailed or knew well. Almost all of them were working models – powered by steam, electricity or wind."

If the Canadian CD mentioned above doesn't turn out useful it might thus be worth one's while to get in touch with the SAMM to see if they happen to have not only Herbert Croker's models but also his papers …

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 12/11/2015 08:54:08

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Ye plot thickens!

Zooming in on the thumbnail images on eBay shows that the plans were produced in 1972 by a steam enthusiast magazine called Light Steam Power (**LINK**) that was published from Kirk Michael on the Isle of Man.

These days, it seems all copyrights to the LSP publications rest with the Steam Car Association (**LINK**) so I shall try to get in touch with them to see if the Wide-A-Wake plans might be available from them; if so, I shall compensate for having ordered what amounts to a pirate copy off eBay by buying a set from them, too.

/Mattias

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Hi Mattias,

Now that you mention it I have seen that CD on ebay and I also remember seeing a full size Wide A Wake in the Steamboat register (early nineties) which was a register of boats belonging to members of the Steamboat Association.

Herbert Croker also built a delightful model of Joshua Slocum's Spray at 1:12 I think. It was in Model Boats sometime in the seventies – again not sure as I'm working from memory but I have the copy. It had a photo on the front with a very young looking Slocum-an action man type figure- and he had modelled the cabin interior with Slocum's tin clock, belt and gun if I remember correctly. It would be wonderful to see those models in the flesh so to speak.

When I get time I'll have a look throught the links you provide. It would be great to see another Wide A Wake take shape- I'll never do it although it was always a dream.

Ian

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello Ian,

Well, if I manage to get my hands on a set of usable plans, a Wide-A-Wake build will definitely be on my to-do list; however not straight away, as there are already two other builds waiting in the wings for me to get on with sometime next year, once we've done up our living room and I have sorted out a few other odd jobs around the house. So if the forum, and you, and I are still all around in, say, four or five years from now, there just might be a build log from me here on the subject in question …

In the meantime, here is a fairly recent (and detailed) Wide-A-Wake build log that I found during my Internet researches the other day, on which you might like to feast your eyes: **LINK**

/Mattias

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Hello Mattias,

I'm planning to be around in four or five years but one never knows! I had a quick look at the Wide a Wake build log, which I had never come across and what fabulous work. I shall have a more detailed 'drool' at some stage- thanks for the link.

Ian

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

Like Ian, I had a look at the stunning workmanship, in the link provided, for the build of Wide a Wake. If I was the builder I would hate to see all the beautiful woodwork and varnishing be slowly ruined by the steam plant installation. Over time, the heat and oil would take its toll of such a beautiful model. My thoughts would be to either install a dummy steam plant (electric powered), or if steam is a must, use Ian's suggestion of River Queen, but use the GRP hull from Kingston Mouldings.

**LINK**

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Well, yesterday the CD with the plans arrived from Canada, and I'm delighted to report that the contents were just as advertised, including full size tif images that I will be able to get printed out in A0 format by a professional photo copy firm.

As for steam or no steam, for my part and if (when) I get around to trying my hand at this model, it would most definitely be built for steam propulsion; any adverse long term effects on the woodwork would in my eyes be only so much patina and added authenticity …

And in any case, even if I were to build a River Queen instead (for reasons of size perhaps), I would not wish to do so with a GRP hull, as one of the main attractions for me with the Wide-A-Wake is the practically-the-same-as-full-size-practice clinker construction of the hull.

But we'll see about that when I get there, probably some four or five years down the road …

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 25/11/2015 09:42:17

Edited By Banjoman on 25/11/2015 09:42:59

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Hi Mattias,

Glad the plans worked out. The River Queen plans are very comprehensive as you'd expect from Vic Smeed, even giving alternative underwater shapes at the stern to take account of differing skills. The GRP hull is very nice- a friend of mine did one, but I know what you mean about a timber hull.

If you aren't aware, John Leather wrote a very good book about clinker boat building called just that, and Eric Mckee did a short book called Clench Lap or Clinker with a great description of spiling planks- it used to be sold in the the shop at the NMM. The Leather book's ISBN is 0-229-11818-6 and the McKee book was published by the NMM in 1972.

Good luck with the build whenever you get to it.

Ian

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello Ian,

Warmest thanks for your tips on further reading! I managed to find and have ordered copies of both books — one new, one second hand!

And please don't get me wrong — I have no objections as such to (ready-made) GRP hulls; on the contrary I like them very much! It is more a matter of this specific build, where part of the challenge (and thus the fun) would be the clinker build. To be precise, this is very much how I like to approach my projects, namely for each to be sufficiently different from previous ones that there will be a (not-too-high) number of new aspects to attempt to master. And for Wide-A-wake, those would be steam and the clinker build.

Well, we'll hopefully see what happens, eventually …

Again, many thanks for the tips and for the very interesting discussion!

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 27/11/2015 13:31:51

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Well Mattias, you didn't hang about! Glad you found the references useful- they are both excellent books if you are thinking of a clinker built boat.

I think what always put me off- apart from the technical difficulties of clinker building, was the expense of the solid timber stock. The stock will need to be quite wide to accommodate the shape of the planks. I did build a full size dayboat in plywood/epoxy but the shapes of the planks were derived from stringers on the moulds. It worked well but you'd want lovely solid wood in a Wide A Wake model I should think.

I remember seeing Peter Arnots 'Henry' at Cheddar. It was based on the Wide A Wake plan and a wonderful piece of workmanship, but quite a lump of boat at 50''. One of the boats that will always stay in the memory though.

All the best,

Ian

Edited By Ian Gardner on 27/11/2015 18:57:39

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hi Ian,

One of my other passions/hobbies is playing traditional jazz (hence the moniker!), and of course also listening to early jazz and related forms of music. This has, unsurprisingly, led me to build up a reasonable record collection over the years, and I learnt early on in my record buying career that if I saw summat that I wanted, I'd better snap it up there and then, as it might well be gone the next day and be very difficult to find again as both LP and CD reissues of these kind of recordings tend to be produced in quite small runs.

In other words, when I saw that both these books – that I wanted to buy – were available right now, well …

And yes: I had also realized that getting the timber stock will not be a question of just popping down to the local hobby store! A very good friend of mine, though, is a professional luthier in Paris, and I've been thinking that it might do worse than to ask her where she would usually buy her wood from … But that's a matter for later!

Interestingly enough, Herbert Croker in his build articles actually suggests 1/8" marine plywood for the planking!

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 27/11/2015 19:52:43

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Hi Mattias,

Sounds as if you have just the right contacts when you need to source the timber for Wide A Wake.

I too am a musician and play ragtime and country blues on guitar. Until this summer we had a four piece band and were gigging quite a lot but I gave that up and am now working up a repertoire with a three piece outfit- two guitars (sometimes mandolin and banjo) and washboard! Believe it or nor I have started getting the old 'banjer' out again although I am not really a banjo player- I do a sort of old timey thumb lead style- can't frail to save my life but it sounds quite good with the other guitarist. I'm making a new website and when we have some stuff on there I'll give you the link. Presumbly you play with a pick. But I suppose we must remember this is model boat forum!

All the best,

Ian

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello Ian,

Well, whaddaya know!

Yes, I do indeed play with a pick: my weapon of choice is, as is common in the trad jazz camp, the tenor banjo.

Now, if you ask me, discussions of all things banjo are always appropiate, no matter when, where, how or why … For instance it always surprises me when these in equal measure weighty and lofty matters are left out, say, PMQ …

However: yes. This is, after all a model boat forum, so I will not take it further, except to put that most classic of questions: how many banjo players does it take to change a lightbulb? Well, five! One to change the lightbulb, and four to complain that its electric! Or, alternative answer, five! One to change the lightbulb, and four to stand around and say that that's not how Earl would have done it …

/Mattias

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Hi Mattias,

I love banjo jokes and the main reason I play banjo is to torture my audiences with more of them- you will have heard them all but my favourite at the moment… What do you call the blonde on the arm of a banjo player? A tattoo!

What about the guy who left his prized banjo on the back seat of his car. When he returned his heart sank to note that the back window was smashed. As he approached he saw his banjo still on the back seat accompanied by… three others!

All the best,

Ian

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hello Ian,

Who doesn't love banjo jokes?! The one about the smashed car window is one of my favourites, too, as is this one:

You are driving down a narrow country lane, early one morning. At a certain point you come to a fork in the road, with one branch going off to the left, the other one to the right. In the middle of the left-hand branch stands an accordioníst; in the middle of the right-hand one there is a banjoist. You suddenly realise that your brakes no longer work. Which way do you turn?

Answer: Left. Business before pleasure.

Oh dear. And I who said that I'd desist and stick to the boats … Oh well, at least it is my own thread …

/Mattias

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