Puffer advice

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Cheers Stephen – I will do that.  There is nice detail on the Caldercraft hull, but just one or two rubbing strakes too many, I think.  Will try to replace one of them anyway with a line of rivets. I will probably return for advice on rivets (I have raised it before on this forum), but believe the received wisdom is to use a cocktail stick and araldite! I will try that first anyway, as there a few ideas on that subject out there!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Puffer starting to come along at last!

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

With apologies for the end on photo of a plan, would appreciate any advice re puffer hatches. Plan mentions making wedge structures (not included in the kit) to hold down hach covers, but am not sure what these actually looked like on ships of this era. Could someone explai to me or show me a photo please? Many thanks!

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

There are slight variations on the theme, mainly regarding the metal brackets.  The basic idea is that the canvas is draped over the hatch with an even amount down all sides.  The edges are placed into the jaws of the metal brackets on the hatch sides.  Steel strongback plates are then placed over the edges of the canvas and sit in around three of the brackets, I have replicated mine with cut strips of Evergreen flat bar and finally the wooden wedges are hammered together in pairs to clamp the strongback against the canvas to hold it firmly down.  That’s why I have a crewmember with a sledge hammer in his hand.

I have scattered my wedges and strongbacks around the deck waiting to be fitted to the canvas cover when the last couple of barrels are stowed on deck and lashed and the canvas cover is fitted.  The wooden wedges are simply cut from soft wood strip lengths and soaked in a heavily watered down enamel wash.

In your case the bracket has a much more substantial support underneath it but the arrangement for holding the canvas will be the same.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

many thanks – very helpful!

 

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Hi again Richard – in terms of the metal handles sticking into the holes at each end of the hatch boards, how do they work? On the real ship are these T-shaped things that screw into holes to keep the boards down? the puffer kit does not supply these so am going to replicate these things in an area of the hatches where tarpaulin is pealed back. thanks

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

The boards simply rest on two stringers at either end and are held in place by their weight and the tarpaulin.  The handles then allow the boards to be lifted off and replaced as required.  I’m sure there are other arrangements of handles but one I do know existed is the one I’ve tried to recreate.  That is a shallow blind hole drilled into the hatch board and then a metal rod with ends bend over at 90 degrees and the ends sharpened, looking exactly like a staple but slightly wider than the hole, is hammered into the board to create the handle.

I made a little jig to clamp in the drill vice that held the hatch boards in place while the end was drilled through.  This ensured that every board end had the hole drilled in exactly the same place.  I then covered the back of the hole with a glued on piece of very thin plasticard.  This was then painted up to match the colour of the wood and disguised with a wash.

Finally another little jig was made out of a piece of copper tube with a plugged end so I could slide a piece of pre-painted Evergreen plastic rod into it and cut the end flush with the end of the copper tube.  This again ensured that the handles all ended up precisely the same length.  These handles were then touched onto a blob of medium cyano and placed across the hand holes.  Finally the handle ends were very carefully painted to cover the exposed cut white rod.  Obviously the handle you can see only simulates the staple shape but I was happy it was close enough to look realistic.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Working on winch/ windlass while varnish on hull sets. Hoping that someone who has experience of working these machines can give me some advice … I am trying to depict this with the anchor chain out of use. Would this simply be lying on deck unengaged, or would it be round a gypsy somewhere? The anchor seems usually  to lie on the side of the deck nearest to camera.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Depending on the size, but certainly a Puffer, I would expect the anchors to be held by a stopper.  Basically the chain comes out of the chain locker, up through a deck penetration, over the chainwheel of the windlass, down through the hawse pipe and connected to the end of the anchor.  The anchor is raised until it locks against the hull striking plates then the stoppers are attached to the chain.  These are typically either two bottle screws attached to a link in the chain by shackles, tightened up to take the weight of the anchor, or a locking plate or rod that swings over a link in the chain as it passes through a guide, which is then held down by a bolt, again locking the chain.

When the stoppers are in place the windlass can be backed off to take the load off it as the stoppers take the weight of the anchor.

When you are going to use the anchor the first job is to take the weight with the windlass, put the windlass brake on, remove the stoppers at which point the anchor is said to be “freed” and ready to drop by simply releasing the windlass brake.  As the chain pays out you should be able to see the white links pass, which donates another fathom of chain.  The bridge will tell the windlass operator how many fathoms of chain to release.

Interestingly the end of the chain is held in the chain locker by the “Bitter End”, which is simply the end of the chain shackled to a doubling plate welded inside the chain locker.  During dry dock the anchor chain will be laid out entirely in the bottom of the dock for cleaning and inspection and repainting the fathom markers.  The shackle at the bitter end has to be disconnected and a wire rope attached to allow the chain to be completely lowered.  It is critical to monitor the state of the brake pads because if the brake pads get worn they over heat and then fail while dropping the anchor so the anchor will go into free fall.  Then everyone dives for cover as the bitter end will be ripped out of the chain locker and follow the anchor down to the sea bed.

Also its not the anchor that holds the ship, its the weight of the chain sitting on the sea bed.  The anchor simply holds the end of the chain to stop it slipping over the sea bed.

This is a locking rod type of stopper, the chain is positioned in the guide such that a flat link is in the centre, then the locking rod is folded over and tightened down against the piece of angle iron.  This holds the link in the guide.

 

This is an example of using a couple of bottle screws as a stopper.  The assembly is rigged to the anchor chain via a shackle and a short wire strop, the bottle screws are tightened up until they share the weight of the anchor then the windlass can be backed off.

[James Hill 5Participant @jameshill5]

Hi Richard,

Just been reading your post regarding  the anchor chain. I never realised how much was involved, and certainly always thought it was the anchor that held the ship in place. Thanks for the explanation, very interesting.

Jim.

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Richard,

A very enlightening reply 🙂 I had also not thought of the chain weight holding the ship on station.

Thanks  Ray

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Yes, that is why even if you have a small yacht you should always have a length of chain  before a nylon line. In addition to holding the boat in position it helps cushion any jerking movement due to waves etc. The chain ensures that pressure on the anchor is horizontally applied so it is less likely to break out.

There are other anchors which just use line only such as the grapnel type on my Greek Fishing Boat. The grapnel digs in to a sandy bottom.

Colin

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Many thanks for the interesting reply as ever, Richard! In my puffer it looks like the chain comes up from the chain locker and then (possibly) goes over one or other of the shafts of the windlass, then out the hawse pipe, back onboard over the top rail and fixes to the anchor which lies on the deck. While puffers did occasionally have the anchor tight up against the hawse pipe, as far as I can see they were more likely to have the anchor lying on deck, from where it could be hauled over the side with the nearby davit, block and tackle.  I wasn’t sure whether, with this set up the chain would normally be lying over the windlass or just lifted onto it when needed.

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Alasdair, the chain must go over something on the windlass that can actually hold it, usually this is the chain wheel.  If the chain was resting on a part of the shaft it would simply slip as the windless rotated.

It is not uncommon for smaller anchors to be stowed on deck and handled with a derrick but I suspect, it would most likely still be lowered and raised with a chainwheel on the windlass.  I’ll see if I can dig up anything in my CV Waine books tomorrow.  If the anchor is stowed on deck it would need to be held in place somehow by either lashings or clamps.

I’ve had a browse around some old puffer pictures and it does seem to be a common arrangement to have the anchor stowed on deck with the chain draped over the side.  I suspect the derrick is just for swinging the anchor over the side and bringing it back on deck.

Difficult to find a good picture of a puffer anchor windlass but these pictures of the Mountfleet Puffer shows the chain not on the windlass so maybe it was removed until needed.

https://www.mountfleetmodels.co.uk/product/sealight-clyde-puffer/

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I’ve now been through all my C V Waine and P N Thomas books as well as a few other shipbuilding books and I don’t have a drawing or picture of a specific Puffer windlass.  All the windlasses I have seen incorporate a chainwheel within the two main frames, correctly known as a gypsy, which does not allow the chain to be removed.

The Mountfleet Puffer Sealight has a windlass with an external gypsy that sits between one of the warping ends and the starboard frame so the chain could be removed from that when it is stowed.

I would suggest obtaining some of the Puffer specific books that are available and seeing if they can provide anything a bit more concrete.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Have a look at this build and click on the foredeck image to enlarge it. It shows the anchor chain disappearing into the chain locker and everything just as you have described. The anchor davit is used to hoist the anchor aboard, presumably to sop it catching on anything. On a seagoing vessel the anchor would be probably be stowed against the inside of the bulwarks and secured but if you are just pottering about on inland waters and canals then laying the anchor on deck probably won’t do any harm.

Richard Harris Clyde Puffer build

If you have access to the Digital Archives you can see an article I wrote illustrating lots of different anchor handling arrangements on builders models in the London Science Museum. It was published in the September 2020 issue.

Colin

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Colin, the anchor must surely only be swung outboard or inboard by the davit when it is at deck height, it can’t actually be raised from or lowered to the sea bed with it.

Therefore the windlass must somehow be used to raise or lower the anchor.  On the Mountfleet Sealight pictures it looks to me like there might be a gypsy behind the starboard warping end but on the Mountfleet Highlander it looks like the same wheel doesn’t have any indentations to drive the chain.  Is this a mistake possibly?

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

On my boat the anchor is lashed to the inside of the bulwark with the chain passing over the top rail.

The chain then re-enters the boat through the bulwark.  The bow davit lifts the anchor over the bulwark.

The chain then just lies on the deck past the winch and disappears down into the chain locker.  The chain is passed over chainwheel on the winch only when the anchor needs to be raised.  Normally the winch is free to work the ropes for the main derrick.

This is how Harold Underhill describes and draws the arrangement in the September 55 edition of Ships and Ship Models but I suspect there were many variants.

Len. 🙂

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Sorry, missed a picture out.

Len

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Colin, the anchor must surely only be swung outboard or inboard by the davit when it is at deck height, it can’t actually be raised from or lowered to the sea bed with it.

No of course not and I didn’t mean to suggest it. Before the general introduction of the hall anchor type which enabled the stock to be pulled up into the hawespipe, anchors were usually stowed on deck, along bulwarks or suspended on catheads or some other weird and wonderful methods. The anchor davit was there to handle the anchor when it was above the surface and below deck level to facilitate stowage.

When building the Dean Medea steam yacht kit, the  anchoring arrangements were far from clear but I managed to work something credible out from the Science museum models.

Colin

[Colin Bishop]

On Colin Bishop Said:

Colin, the anchor must surely only be swung outboard or inboard by the davit when it is at deck height, it can’t actually be raised from or lowered to the sea bed with it.

No of course not and I didn’t mean to suggest it. Before the general introduction of the hall anchor type which enabled the stock to be pulled up into the hawespipe, anchors were usually stowed on deck, along bulwarks or suspended on catheads or some other weird and wonderful methods. The anchor davit was there to handle the anchor when it was above the surface and below deck level to facilitate stowage.

When building the Dean Medea steam yacht kit, the  anchoring arrangements were far from clear but I managed to work something credible out from the Science museum models.

Colin

Ah, sorry, misunderstood you.

[Alasdair AllanParticipant @alasdairallan37423]

Many thanks for all this helpful info, Colin, Richard and Len, and apologies for belated acknolwedgement from me. Some very helpful photos and fine puffer builds. Think I will lash anchor to deck and have anchor chain lying across the shaft at a point where there is (or looks like there is) a gypsy or similar gearing for it to hold on to.  Much appreciated.  Am posting photos under “build blogs: puffer Glenaray. very much looking forward to getting varnishing finished so I can start work on the deck.

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