The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht designed by Nathanael G. Herreschof - Half-Hull Presentation Model Build Log

[Ignatius27]

Good morning. A very interesting build with fabulous planning. I have pull up my chair. Cheers Grant

Thanks Grant. This is my first half-hull model build so I'm trying to do everything by the book. I'm amazed at how much research, planning and wood/lift preparation is needed before you even start fairing the hull. I'm planning on reading about a dozen build logs on half-hull models and watch some videos before I start moving wood with my plane and new spokeshave. Thanks for following!
Ignatius

 

[Ignatius27]

9. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

More preparation for the Shadow half-hull build:

1. Setting up my shadow box with the 3 design drawings - half-breadth plan, sheer plan and body plan. The drawings are 1:1 ratio with the 8 lifts, waterline lift, keel, stem post, and stern.

2. Happy to be using my Vernier calipers to measure the width of all 8 lifts, the thickness of the keel structures, and the thickness of all lifts together. Lift 4 is a bit wide with .52 and .53 inch at 3 measurement points. Lifts 1 and 3 are a bit thin at .48 and .49 at 3 measurement points. Overall, the aggregate thickness is about. 4.7 to 4.9 inches - meaning I've got about 1/8th inches to remove with spokeshave and planer.

3. Still not getting the hang of the spokeshave...I know you are supposed to draw the spokeshave towards you and you need to work from the center line towards bow and stern, but I'm not sure if I have enough room to widen the blade from plane surface. Drawing the spokeshave does not feel smooth yet.

4. I replaced Lift 4, which was too wide at 3/4 inch and replaced it with a 1/2 inch plank of poplar. So now I have 4 lifts cut from poplar, 3 lifts cut from soft maple, 1 lift of regular maple, and the waterline lift in Cherry. The keel and stem/stern parts are 4mm basswood.

5. Resisting the urge to start cutting and moving wood so I can focus on understanding how all 3 drawings work together. I have this image from one of Greg Davis's build logs that the model is like a loaf of bread and each drawing gives you an X-Y axis view of the loaf from the top/bottom, port/starboard, and fore/aft. See last picture for an example of Greg's handiwork on the Gracie S. full hull model.

Probably about 3 or 4 days away from planing, shaving and moving wood.

 

[Ignatius27]

10. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

More from today's time at the work bench and scroll saw.

Tomorrow we dry fit the 8 lifts and waterline lift to the back drop plank. Will need to do some sanding/planing to get each lift to lay flat against the back drop plank, which is about 7.5 inches by 25 inches. Maybe a bit too narrow top and bottom.

Right now the backdrop plank is a slab of MDF, but if I get motivated I might choose a slab of red oak or cherry as a contrasting color.

All measurements have to be to the 1/32nd inch. A new level of precision is needed.

 

[Ignatius27]

11. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

AI Interlude - Imagining the "Shadow" using artificial intelligence. If you are not a fan of Big Brother AI, read no further!

Like many others, I'm new to AI and am starting to stick my toe into the AI world by generating some "imagined" historical pictures of the Shadow. All of the attached images were generated / rendered by AI. While it is fun to see pictures of the Shadow come to life, there are still glitches.

Maybe this has to do with the number of pictures and images that can be uploaded for free. Many AI models limit the number of inputs and images you can upload if you are using the free version, so you don't get all features unless you subscribe to the AI platform. For these images, I used ChatGPT, ClaudeAI and Google Gemini. IMHO, ChatGPT is far better at rendering "imagined" images of the subject.

Some things that are off:

1. Despite having the 3 design drawings, the proper scale, and specific measurements of the Shadow as built in 1870, the different AI renderings had her coming in from about a 20-foot vessel with 4 or 5 racing crew, to about a 50-foot vessel with 15-20 crew members.

2. AI has pictures rendering the construction of the Shadow at the Bristol Rhode Island, "Herreshoff Yard," however, Nathanael Greene's brother, J.B. Herreshoff did not start the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company (which came to be known as the "Herreshof Yard") until 1878. The HMC would also later include the other Herreshoff family members who were chemists and chemical engineers. The yacht was actually built by J.B. in a different shop that he ran before the HMC.

3. AI pictures of her construction are generally helpful, but one picture appears to have a lapstrake hull (not accurate) and another picture shows her under construction as a much larger yacht.

4. One picture of the Shadow under construction has her plans being read by 2 older gentlemen, presumably ship designers, when the actual Shadow was conceived and drawn by Nathanael G. Herreshoff and built by J.B. Herreshoff, who were both under the age of 30 in 1870.

5. In the final picture, the Shadow is being serviced onshore instead of in a dry dock. In this picture, the centerboard is pointed aft incorrectly, and the scale of the centerboard is much too large. Nat Herreshoff designed the Shadow with a tiny centerboard so she could be serviced onshore between races, but even if we use her updated dimensions with a much lower draft, the centerboard is still too large and pointed in the wrong direction.

6. I think the images of the Shadow racing at sea were the most interesting and the most fun to render, although she is often depicted racing against yachts that are identical in hull design to the Shadow. The Shadow was usually smaller than the other yachts she raced against, including the Scottish "Madge" who the Shadow beat in 1 of 2 match races, which was 4-5 feet longer than the Shadow.

7. One way you can tell that you are looking at an AI generated image is the inclusion of duplicate humans, as in the launching, servicing and building images.

Not saying that AI is the answer to any question regarding wooden boat building. It is fun to see the ship rendered in different ways, with the understanding that AI has a tendency to "hallucinate" and make things up that were never asked for in the prompts. I'm also not asking anyone to use AI, especially many of us old-timers, who may find AI to be noisome.

So here are some pictures of the Shadow rendered / imagined by AI (ChatGPT, ClaudeAI and Google Gemini).

 

[Ignatius27]

12. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

Fairing lifts against the backboard...this is all I'm posting today. It is important to get all 9 lifts with their inside (centerline) edge flush against the backboard. To get to this point (I'm about 90% of the way to having all 9 lifts flush against the backboard) one needs to maintain crisp 90 degree angles above and below each lift. Need to plane over some minor bumps and grooves.

I am going to try and scribe the station lines on each lift as well as the body lines from the body plan on each lift. Greg Davis did scribe all three drawings on his model of Gracie S., but I don't feel the need to scribe the half-breadth plan because it is already transferred to each lift through the lift templates.

It took me about 4 hours at the bench today to get to this point - moving wood very deliberately and slowly with the scroll saw, planer and 80 and 120 grit sandpaper jigs. I took all outward facing surfaces down to 1/32 or 1/16 inch by removing about 1/8 inch of wood around each lift using the plane and scrollsaw. I will have less wood to remove in the first fairing of the hull, maybe tomorrow. No spokeshave today its not my friend yet (but I did get another Jorgenson mini-planer when I went on my wood stock run to Lowe's).

Happy with the build process and the (however slight) model half-hull progress. Trying to get as far as I can before we leave for Sail250 in Boston MA and the Herreshoff Maritime Museum in Newport RI next week. Already lined up my tickets to tour Gorch Fock, Amerigo Vespucci, La Esmeralda and Kalmar Nyckel which will all be moored in Boston Harbor. Hoping to catch the "Onrust (Restless)" museum ship on the Connecticut River on the way home. She is the first Dutch vessel built in America in 1614 by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block whose own ship, Tyger, burned to the studs near the Hudson River after he followed the path through New York Harbor taken by Henry Hudson and Half Moon.

This build is very different from any previous build (including my hull-only HMS Victory). Really deep into working wood with my hands that makes this type of build so satisfying.

 

[Ignatius27]

13. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

Today's labors on the Shadow.

1. Faired all lifts flush against the backboard.
2. Removed 1/32 from the borders of all lifts scroll saw, planer and disk sander.
3. Faired all starboard facing lift edges; will be ready to glue lifts together soon.
4. Remeasured keel, stempost, and rudder to reconfigure the keel level.
5. Started drawing station marks from lift templates and align station markings from one lift to the next.
6. Redid lift 8 (top lift) out of poplar. Faired lift 8 to sheer line but not happy with the result so I'll redo it again. Same for lift 1.
7. Replaced lifts 1 to 4 with new maple wood stock. I want the bottom lifts to be a contrasting color as against the top 4 lifts, which will be light poplar.
8. Started trying out water-based wood stains on scrap wood.
9. Sanded or buffed out all of the pits and grooves on the lift edges.
10. Remade lift 4 (yet again) because the board was .02 - .04 inches off from .5 inch.

 

[Ignatius27]

14. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

Scribing the lifts Part 1

Today we begin transferring the 3 design drawings onto the lifts at a 1:1 ratio because we enlarged our drawings up to 1' = 1/2".

I transferred the station lines from the sheer plan to the lifts. These are easily traced from the sheer plan drawing onto the lift. These will also have to be traced along the starboard edge to help align the lifts top and bottom.

I then transferred the perpendicular lines from the body plan drawing across each lift to form the checker board pattern we need to align all lifts.

But this is just the midway point. We still need to trace the half-breadth plan lift patterns underneath each lift to help align each lift with the one below it. We will need to trace the station lines across the starboard edge of each lift, but they will be sanded off in short order after the lifts are aligned.

Getting a spirit level T-square to help with this build was crucial.

Two final points. Once I started to transfer the plan drawings to the lifts I realized the the lift templates for lifts 6 and 7 did not match the wood lifts that I cut out. There was a 3 or 5 degree discrepancy in the curve of the starboard edge, so I had to replace them with lifts fabricated from soft maple.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had already changed lifts 1 through 4 into maple, so now 7 of my 8 lifts are soft maple and the only 1 left in poplar is lift 5. It's obvious that plank 5 doesn't match planks 1-4 and 6-8. So I will have ro get 2 more board feet of soft maple at Home Depot.

Second, I am still having trouble carving the sideways (athwartships) camber and the saddleback stem to stern camber. The first 3 times I had a hard time carving both curves so will try again for a 4th time.

 

[MikeRags]

You must have as much time into compiling the information above as you do working on the build so far. I appreciate you taking the time to share it with us. Looks like a great project! Thank you!

 

[Ignatius27]

You must have as much time into compiling the information above as you do working on the build so far. I appreciate you taking the time to share it with us. Looks like a great project! Thank you!

Thanks Mike! I'm trying to take my time so I dont screw anything up! It's a great/fun project so far and the plans from The Wooden Boat Store were well worth the $20.

 

[Ignatius27]

15. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

Scribing the lifts Part 2.

I accomplished 3 major things over the last two days:

1. I transcribed all 3 design drawings for the Shadow onto the 9 lifts (including the waterline lift), so each lift has markings on three out of its four sides. The sides of the lift that receive the drawings are the centerline / backboard (station lines and body plan), the lift above and below (half-breadth plan), and the perpendicular station markings (sheer plan). All the information from the design drawings are now marked on the lifts.

2. I faired the side of each lift that joins with the backboard so that the angle where they meet is 90 degrees and the surface of the lift lays square against the back board / center board.

3. I prepared the lifts for fairing by doing the following:

a. Prepared 8 maquettes with trial color schemes for the half-hull model using all of the water-based stains and some paints that I had in my shop.

b. Fabricated 2 versions of the backboard / backdrop -- one is 11" x 24" x 1" and the other is 10" x 24" x 1".

c. Stained 1" x 3" pieces of the same soft maple that all the lifts are built from. Did side-by-side comparison of each color scheme used in the real half-hull model displayed on both sizes of backboard.

d. Lightly sanded all sides of each lift to within 1/32 inch of plan by using 120 and 200 grit on my 2 sandpaper jigs, created by wrapping sanding paper around vitamin bottles.

Progress pics here are from Sunday and Monday. Leaving for our Mystic Seaport Museum and Sail250 Boston vacation on Wednesday, so not alot of bench time left before we leave. But I will keep a log of our trip and post pictures for all to enjoy.

Next thread will show what color and paint choices I made.

 

[Ignatius27]

15. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

Thinking through my paint and stain choices for my half-hull build of the Shadow. Also trying out 2 sample backboard in different dimensions, 11" x 24" x 1" and 10" x 24" x 1".

At this point, my next moves are to temporarily nail the 9 lifts (including the 1/16" waterline lift) together and temporarily attaching the lift block to the backboard, then ready to begin fairing the hull.

 

[Ignatius27]

16. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

Finished fabricating all my maquettes for different color schemes. Each maquette is the actual size (in length and depth) of the half-hull model, so they're also being used to test each color scheme against both of the backboard sizes. Two existing builds of the half-hull at the bottom for comparison.

HELP ME PICK THE COLORS FOR MY HALF-HULL DISPLAY MODEL BY VOTING FOR 1 OF 8 COLOR SCHEMES!

1. Golden pecan (top) and natural walnut (bottom).

2. Golden pecan (top) and rosewood (bottom).

3. Natural walnut (top) and teak (bottom).

4. Black semi-gloss paint top and bottom. Gold waterline. Gray keel, sternpost and centerboard.

5. White top and bottom. Gray keel, centerboard and sternpost.

6. Golden brown paint (top) and brown paint (bottom).

7. Golden pecan (top) and teal / sea foam green paint (bottom).

8. White paint (top) and natural walnut (bottom).

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Whole lot of options!
I think you should decide whether you want to show off the wood grain/separate lifts or not. If so, I would go with minimal staining: maybe clear above the waterline and pecan or rosewood below.

If you'd like to cover the grain, and instead highlight the form of the hull, I'd suggest going with the paint. Maybe black above and seafoam green below?

Personally, I'd wait to decide until the hull has been shaped. You'll have a better idea then of what the grain patterns look like, and it's not like you're going to paint/stain it before then. If the grain seems distractingly large or detracts from seeing the form of the hull, I'd suggest paint. If it's fairly minimal and seems to add to the hull form, minimal staining.

 

[Ignatius27]

Great advice JC. My original intention was to do a minimal clear stain above the waterline and a medium dark brown stain below the waterline. Kind of like the lighter example in the hull sample pictures. But now that we're talking about the grain I am seeing that this might be a paint job instead of a stain job.

Looking at the grain along the facing / starboard edges (see pics) it looks fairly open grained along most of the lifts, perhaps too open grained to show off the wood. This may be a paint situation after all because the grain seems too open to be a realistic depiction of the hull.

Other problems are that lift 4 has a tighter grain than lifts 1 through 7, so I may need to replace lift 4 to match the grain pattern of the other lifts. Not a problem if we paint.

Second problem is that I discovered a knot on lift 6 that was repaired in the board, but after planing you can see where the knot was repaired along the starboard edge. I will need to replace lift 6 in addition to lift 4. Again, not a problem if we paint.

And if we try and do black matte paint for the top lifts, I can fabricate a maquette in black matte and teal to match up with the 2 backdrop candidates.

To be honest, my biggest concern at this juncture is to execute and show off the tumblehome that consists of lifts 5, 6, 7, and 8 (the top 5 lifts). If I had to guess, I'd say that paint would show off the tumblehome better than stain, which may distract by showing the open grain on the starboard face.

Also, if I did this build in poplar, as I planned at the beginning, I would definitely do a ligjt stain because poplar has virtually no grain.

Here are some pics of the grain patterns. The lifts go 1 through 7 top to bottom and lift 8 (the topmost lift) is not attached yet.

What do you suggest based on this open wood grain? Paint instead of stain?

I do like pictures of the real Shadow that show her with a black hull above the waterline. That was her color scheme during her 17 year racing career. And sea foam green is one of my favorite colors when I built La Esmeralda the windjammer a couple of builds ago.

If I paint her black, I may also do the waterline and some accent lines like a gold sheer line and some bow decorations or filigree with gold paint markers.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Appreciate your helpful perspective.

EDIT: Adding new maquettes with black on top and sea foam green on the bottom. Sea foam green often represents anti-fouling compounds that protected hulls from worms and rot. Will also do a maquette later in black matte paint,

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I agree that the grain looks a bit distracting, but I'd suggest waiting until the hull has been shaped. A lot of those lifts will be shaped at an angle which will reveal a different grain pattern than what can be seen now.

 

[TexBilly]

Love the lines of its hull! I'll be tagging along and congratulate you on your well-planned engineered approach!

 

[Ignatius27]

Love the lines of its hull! I'll be tagging along and congratulate you on your well-planned engineered approach!

Thanks TexBilly! Coming from SoS members your support means alot. Always better to do the right way slowly, than to do the wrong way quickly.

 

[Ignatius27]

I agree that the grain looks a bit distracting, but I'd suggest waiting until the hull has been shaped. A lot of those lifts will be shaped at an angle which will reveal a different grain pattern than what can be seen now.

Will do that definitely and see what the grain looks like after I start removing wood.

I also figure that since I have 6 of the 8 planks (not including the 1/16 inch waterline lift) in poplar, which has much tighter grain structure, I may end up doing 2 half-hull models...one in paint on all soft maple lifts and one in light clear stains on all poplar lifts. So I will grab 2 or 3 more board feet of poplar when I go to Lowes tomorrow to buy more clamps. I need about 6 more of the 6-8 inch Bessey clamps before I start nailing and gluing.

Question - Did your plank-on-frame half-hull model require that you nail the lifts together with 3/4 inch brads before you start fairing the hull? If so, do the nails get removed once you mount the half-hull model on the backboard?

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Doing two models would certainly allow you to experiment with finishes!

My half-hull didn't use lifts, so I'm not sure what the best route is. I think Greg Davis's build logs are probably the best model for this (including the gundalow model, which isn't a half-hull but does use lifts and so would be relevant).

 

[Ignatius27]

17. Build Log: The "Shadow" 1871 Racing Yacht by Nathanael G. Herreshoff - Wooden Half-Hull Presentation model

LET'S BUILD TWO!

I realized that after I replaced all my lifts in my original build of the Shadow racing yacht half-hull with soft maple that I had alot of poplar lifts that have great looking grain and consistency of color from lift to lift.

With all the leftover poplar I had in the shop I decided to do a second half-hull model using only poplar lifts (Shadow 2), which are a nice light, stainable color with consistent grain from lift to lift.

I will still do my original build (Shadow 1) in soft maple and paint the hull racing black with some teal green below the waterline. The teal green represents the green Verdigris paste that the Herreshoff Company would apply to yachts to prevent wood rot and Teredo worms. As per the original Shadow, I may add gold ink ornamental lines at the sheer and at the transom.

For Shadow 2, I'm going to use a clear lacquer coat or golden pecan stain above the waterline and a natural walnut stain below the waterline. This is to show off the wood grain on the poplar half-hull model.

For Shadow 2 I'm going to use a 1/16th inch cherry veneer waterline lift that I may darken with red cherry or Rosewood stain. For Shadow 1, I will stain the 1/16th inch waterline a white or golden color racing stripe much used by the Herreschoffs.

I have to decide which dimension backboard I want to use, the 10 inch high pine plank 1". Or the 11 inch high pine plank 1". Will do some mockups on each backboard.

Having some fun envisioning this build as a whole-hull model. If the planks weren't all maple and poplar, maybe...

Leaving for Boston Sail250 and Mystic Seaport Museum tomorrow, so will put this build away for a week or so. See you all when the ship returns to port!