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Building a Cutter

It has been some time since posting. I finished the framing and planking and was not happy with the results of the planking. After the planking was done I removed the hull from the former/plug, (it came away cleanly) took a deep breath, and broke it apart and dumped the entire thing in the trash. I could have settled, but at this stage of my life, I want to do the best that I can, whatever that might be, and what I had on the first attempt on this model did not come close. Sooooo, I still have the plug and will restart. HOPEFULLY it will be a good result this time.

Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
It has been some time since posting. I finished the framing and planking and was not happy with the results of the planking. After the planking was done I removed the hull from the former/plug, (it came away cleanly) took a deep breath, and broke it apart and dumped the entire thing in the trash. I could have settled, but at this stage of my life, I want to do the best that I can, whatever that might be, and what I had on the first attempt on this model did not come close. Sooooo, I still have the plug and will restart. HOPEFULLY it will be a good result this time.

Allan
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Also my respect for this decision, Allan.
Regards, Peter
 
Peter Voogt said:
Also my respect for this decision
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Thanks Peter. Hours spent in a pleasurable pastime are not diminished whether it is 50 or 100 or more. I TRY to see it as an opportunity to have more fun, not a loss of any kind other than a few pieces of wood. Maybe I should have let it rot in our rainy summer and then mount it and label it the HMS Bounty jollyboat, which was rotted through. (Not to be confused with the Bounty launch used by Captain Bligh and his crew when they were set adrift by the mutineers.) :)

Back to making framing material.

Allan
 
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AllanKP69 said:
Hours spent in a pleasurable pastime are not diminished
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I get it, Allan, 100%! I design custom mechanical equipment and specialized machinery for a living. It's an R&D game where one starts with a simple concept and then begins to experience far more failures than intended successes... until 'finally' reaching the finish line. I oft times cuss like a sailor when things don't go smoothly nor work as designed/predicted, but I love it all just the same! ;)
 
Started over with the new keel, stem, post, deadwood, transom and planking. It came out much better than the first try. I searched for information on painting these boats and I did find a few photos with the hulls payed or primed on the lower part of the hull. Some followed the shear of the planking, others followed the waterline. I also found a contract that called for the hull to be primed from the waterline down as well.

I thought it looked great until I took photos. Blowing up the photos shows every tiny imperfection so a great tool to use on any model as it progresses. There are a few spots that still need attention (scraping), but overall I am much happier than the first attempt.

Example of a painted barge model made in 1794
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Example of a longboat model made in 1742
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Boat on fully rigged ship model with ship's boat made in 1761
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'My version of painting the hull
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I do not look forward to building another lapstrake boat at a small scale in the future. After this experience I hope to stay with boats that are carvel built. I am not saying carvel planking is easy, just less difficult. Next up, keelson, footwaling, and risers.
Allan
 
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In keeping with the original idea of using off the shelf materials and hand tools, power or manual, the thinnest materials can be a challenge. Birch ply in 1/64" and 1/32" works for almost all planks, be it the hull, footwaling, keelson, etc. I have the luxury of a thickness sander so normally make my own sticks of wood, but the birch aircraft ply is great.

The keelson and footwaling went in next. The risings followed. The thicknesses are shown in the scantlings list. The keelson is an inch thick and the footwaling 5/8". The breadth of the keelson is 9 but I could not find any information on the breadth of the strakes of footwaling. Looking as some cross section drawings and models I estimated the breadth. Not that there is a small gap between the strakes of footwaling. This was done so water could not accumulate on top of it where the oarsmen feet were sitting.

Allan

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I would love to find a source for plywood that thin over here. Your hull planking looks like poplar, but I assume the lighting and the contrast with the white paint are responsible for that.
 
Namabiiru said:
Your hull planking looks like poplar
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The hull is indeed poplar, the frames are holly and everything else is castello boxwood. I usually like to use holly for the hull planking, but thought to use a commonly available wood for this project. I was going to stay with it instead of castello for the other things, but wanted some color contrast.
Allan
 
Namabiiru said:
I would love to find a source for plywood that thin over here.
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I've often wondered how well it would work to take long, thin shavings, from a Kanna, and glue them up with each layer slightly alternating in grain direction and heavily weighting things down until the really thinned out glue fully cures. Might be worth a try for thin DIY plywood.

Raid one of those Kanna shaving contests and take all the shavings when they are through. Make some 60-ply 1/32" thick plywood! :D
 
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