Tancook whaler

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

No apology required Ian!

I've got my technique sorted now, so no more melting polysytrene, thankfully!

I would have been in that skip,quicker than a fox terrier down a rabbit hole! My last lot of polystyrene came just that way, My long suffering hubby sitting in the car trying to look invisible, whilst I'm trying to wedge one more slab in. (Has the girl no shame?)

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello

Work continuing at a pace (snails pace!), but progress is progress.

Masts and spars made, standard procedure, square taper, eight side ,round. Masts are fairly stout at just shy of 7/8" diameter, but are of fairly soft pine. The spars are 3/8" diameter of a very close grained douglas fir, from an old packing crate. I've departed from the full sized rig by opting for sprit booms, sharpie style. This is to prevent the clews from rising when the sheets are eased off wind.

The fors'l is gaff rigged. The jaws will be shaped once the glue is dry. The gaff jaws and other fittings are made from Puriri, a NZ native hardwood, very strong , hard and long lasting. My piece is from a fence post that was still standing after 150 years! The two battens are to go either side of the mains'l, in leiu of a gaff boom.

Fittings on the masts. The thumb cleats are for the sprit snotters, the other cleats for the jib and main haliyards. (the jib will be able to be lowered and the main able to be reefed. The fors'l will remain standing)

The model has been floated, and I was a bit out in my guess at the displacement. She works out at 10 pounds, 6 of which is ballest. So a good ballest /displacement ratio, but I'll have to break it up a bit. I'm thinking that a solid lead, more or less scale keel, will weigh maybe 2 pounds, maybe another 2 in a lead shoe on the bottom of the hull and 2 in a bulb. I don't want to make the bulb too large, from a drag point of veiw. This is a very easily driven hull, and I think a large bulb will kill it.

opinions any one?

also, what aproximate size would a 2lb bulb work out at anyway?

Thanks

Amy jane

Edited By Amy jane September on 01/09/2013 11:00:37

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Amy. No idea about the lead. but

What a cracking shape on that hull! Difficult to tell which way round it is…must be a sound reason for such a slim pointy stern?? The slim end IS the stern I take it?

Ashley

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello Ashley.

I wish I could take credit for the hull shape, I dont think I could design anything that shapely! These old time builders knew there stuff! Double enders were very popular 'Down East' (Cape Cod to New Foundland) and for very good reason. The mornings were often very calm, and the boats had to be rowed out. (If you're going to row a 40 footer, it needs to be slippery!) The boats then needed to be sailed in fast to get their catch unloaded first to get the best price. If you compare the tancook shape to a european double ender, say a Colin Archer, the tancook is a much less burdensome hull. The other contributing factor is that the 'Down Easter's' were regularly planked in soft wood, which wont steam bend to any great extent, needing much finner lines. I suspect this is the reason for the tancook's very raked stern post, as this would take alot of the twist out of the planking. (Chapple remarks that the one he took the lines off was planked in some sort of hard fir)

Amy jane

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Well, the sheets are in, the main and fore working together. The jib will be permently close sheeted, (wont do much off wind any way).

Standing rigging and gaff boom on the foremast, the shrouds are purely for show, not needed at all functionally. I don't think I could ever do a model cramed with scale detail, like you fine gents are so fond of. I found just these little bits and bobs too fiddly for my liking, much prefer full size work!

(Incidentaly,the shrouds are made up from a mixture of stainless steel and kevlar, and the lanyards from s/s, kevlar and glass, just because that's what I had, and it looked just right!)

Pattern made for the keel and bulb. I would much prefer to bash and rasp the ballest to shape from solid stuff, don't much care for casting, but the only lead I have is thin sheet, so cast it shall be.

Trying to get a good compromise between righting moment and low drag. Don't know what it will weigh, though my estimate is it will be twice as much as half, though I could well be wrong! (The bulb is 10"x 1 1/4", the keel 8" x 3 1/4"x 1/2"

Sadly , due to other commitments, the model will have to go on hold for a few weeks, but I'll be back into it in due course.

Amy jane

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello again, me lovelies, back on deck.

Been busy melting lead. Had to take my normal back to front approach, due to not having a gas stove, casting sand or enough lead. I do ,however ,have a small electric furnace, a block or ceramic fibre board, and collection of dead car batteries, so a keel we have!

First step was to dismantle the car batteries, quick and easy, once I got the technique right. (plenty of water and baking soda makes them safe to handle) Not alot of useable lead, took two medium sized batteries to produce the 6 lb required.

The ceramic fibre board was hollowed out for the mould, lead piled on and popped into the oven. (Sam wants to know why, if I can put lumps of lead into the furnace with such ease, why cant I put a batch of scones in the oven?) I also redesigned the keel a bit in the process.

bulb mould

half the keel in the furnace

The (very) rough cast parts, ready for assembly. ( hey, It's only a lump off ballest, not a crank case!)

The keel worked out at just a sneak over 5lb, which leaves 1lb, which can go in the hull as trimming ballast.

(The photo background is the bonnet of my sad little car, our high uv levels play havock with clear coat!)

More next week.

Amy jane

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello again

The keel is finished and installed

Should be a fair bit of righting power there!

I decided red sails would look good, so I thinned down a bit of bottom paint.

Quite happy with the result….

Here is the detail of the snotter set up for the sprit boom. This is the same set up as I use on my 20' schooner sharpie day sailer. (on a 40 footer I would use a 2 or 3 part purchase)

Hmm.. started to get a bit excited now… Just set up the jib and tidy up a few loose ends and go sailing!

[Mike PrenticeParticipant @mikeprentice83334]

Hi Amy.

Fab Sails, How did you get the different colouring stripe.

Is it the weave of the material alternating.

Prentice

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Can't wait to see her sailing- and I bet you can't either!

Ian

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello Mike

Yes you are right, one side of the cloth had a thermal coating on it, so I alternated the sides when I laid the sails up.

Ian, here you go… Yay!

The first decent bit of weather we've had for ages! Barely enough wind to fill her sails, and she was getting along nicely. Every thing seems about right, helm balance is good, just a touch of weather helm. The home made winch works well, though I will need to speed the helm up a bit. (she falls off a bit too much after tacking, can't get them helm across quick enough once she's gone through the wind) easily fixed though. Over all, I'm very happy!

[Kimosubby ShipyardsParticipant @kimosubbyshipyards]

Amy,

a really nice look to the finished boat – it's always exciting on a first launch and find that nearly everything works as expected. I imagine her tendency to "fall off" is due to the large main, but from your description of her abilities you know what needs doing.

Some more pictures when there's slightly more wind, just to see her gunwales under water – I bet she'll have a fine turn of speed, so indeed, quicken up the helm response.

Excellent thread, I've followed it through from the start, such ingenuity shown in creating the operating gear too. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Kimosubby

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Thank you for your kind comments Kimosubby, yes, it shall be fun finding out what she can do, shall post more pics when I can.

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Amy,

She looks great and you must be very pleased- and as I have said before, I admire your fresh approach to problem solving. I agree, it will be nice to see some more photos with slightly more wind- but I bet this was a good day for you -she seems to be slipping along beautifully.

Ian

[Mike PrenticeParticipant @mikeprentice83334]

Hi Amy.

Yes she does look good and in 3rd photo is going at a fair bit of speed.

And as others have said you do have some good ideas

Keep sending photo's.

Prentice.

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Thank you all for the encouragement, It was very satisfing to see her a float. I had only put her in to check how she was sitting to her lines, but it was such a nice morning I couldn't resist sailing her!(It was fun chasing her around in the canoe) I'll speed the helm up a bit and put the last pound of ballest in, looking at the photos, she a wee bit light still. Will post some more sailing pics then.

Amy jane

[LARRY WHETTONParticipant @larrywhetton68737]

Hello Amy ,

Looks pretty in pink ,

but also it looks great on the water,

received pdf ok ………………..will convert them to a working plan ,

when my latest grey boat is finished ,…thank you again…….Larry….

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

You are most welcome, Larry.

We shall very much look forward to seeing what you do…

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello all.

Well ,the easy fix on the rudder turned into a bit of a mission! The problem being,that with my crude actuator, down in the bilge, the push rod angle works out at 45 degrees to the rudder hinge line. This wasn't a problem at first, due to my very low geared motor having plenty of torque. Once I raised the gearing (to speed it up) it ran out of power! I decided, rather than to muck around I would put a vertical rudder tube through the hull, as you would in a motor boat. Proved to be a good solution, helms now a good speed with plenty of power.

The remaining lb of lead was cast into a long shoe, screwed and faired along the bottom of the hull.

I put my order in for the weather this morning, and got just what I asked for, lucky me! Sunny 7 to 12 knots. I tucked a reef in the main and took her sailing…

While I dont have another boat to compare her to, she seemed to get along at a good clip, making me have to paddle the canoe quite hard at times! She handled well, tacking properly. While I'm willing to concede that a proper radio would be an improvement, I'm well pleased with the end result .

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

She looks great Amy, especially in that first shot- and unusual to see a model sail reefed. Do you use reef pendants as per full size? It looks like it.

Ian

Edited By Ian Gardner on 25/10/2013 16:59:41

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello Ian

Thanks, and yes, reef pendants, good old fashioned slab reefing. The next step in reefing would be to furl the main complete, stow the jib and sail her under fors'l alone. She should still balance fine, I'll try it when the wind gets up enough.

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

It will be fun for you to try out different combinations in varying strength winds. I used to sail my 16' yawl under jib and mizzen- very snug. I wonder how she'd go with main and jib? We await the photos in the fullness of time-although how you manage to paddle, control the boat and take photos beats me!

Ian

Edited By Ian Gardner on 26/10/2013 10:11:59

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

I think she would balance quite nicely under jib and reefed main, but with the way I've rigged her I can't lower the fors'l. The down east schooner men prefered to sail under fors'l alone, in the nasty stuff, one less sail to handle. Not so much the fishing schooners, as they had plenty of hands, but the traders were often crewed "skipper, cook and boy". My 20' schooner sharpie daysailer handles very nicely under fors'l alone, including to windward.

Taking photos from the canoe was a bit of a performance! I'd trim the model to free sail, paddle like crazy to get well ahead of her. by the time I'd got the canoe lined up, camera sorted, she'd usally sailed right past!

I had a look at your album the other day, you have a lovely collection of models. I really admire the workmanship that you, and the others on this forum do. I haven't the time ,or to be honest, the paticence for that level of quality. (maybe one day…)

[Ian GardnerParticipant @iangardner62867]

Hi Amy,

Interesting background on the schooner men and thanks for the comments about my models. I'm afraid I'm a painfully slow builder- I have long periods when I'm doing other things and I wish I could build them faster. I have a friend who states that 'If it takes longer than a week he loses interest'- the other extreme.

Talking of sharpies- I drew up and started building a three foot Monroe Egret a couple of years ago but I thought it would be too light- but looking at your work I wondered if I was too fearful- never did find out what your Tancook Whaler weighed.

It did occur to me after my last post that you must have got in front in your canoe and waited- my kayaking days are long gone- it's the getting in and out that would do for me now!

Out of interest, who designed your sharpie?

Ian

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Amy. Very nice, very nice indeed.

Still looks like its going backwards though!

Ashley

[Amy jane SeptemberParticipant @amyjaneseptember49770]

Hello Ian

I think that Monroe's egret would make a fine model, with a keel and bulb of course! She has an interesting hull proportion, as burdensome as you could go for a sharpie, and as fine as you could go for a banks dory. I think the full sized one could have done with a bit more sail area though. I have a few good photos of the original. Like all sharpies, she would need to be built fairly light.

The Tancook worked out at 10 lbs, 4 in the hull, rig, and gear, 6 in the ballest.

My 20' sharpie is the second I've designed and built, the first was a 16 footer, which really opened my eyes up to just how fast a sharpie can be! Both have a fairly extreme New Haven style hull.

The 20 footer is only 3' on the beam, very light, and gets me up on the rail very quick! (I'm fairly small) She is easy to sail, though you have to be quick on your feet and have your wits about you! And, all modesty aside, is outrageously fast.

Here she is, with my friend Lynn at the helm.

Ashley

Thanks for the complement, on both the model and my slim, shapely stern! (though, perhaps my stern is not so slim and shapely?)

Amy jane

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