Fifie - Scottish Fishing Boat POB by Amati

Just saw your log and looked into the Scottish Fife to find this YouTube old film bringing some life and fish smells to the decks:
Thanks for stimulating me to expand my horizons.
Rich (PT-2)
Well that sprung a leak in the bilges so need to try again on another tack. Rich
 
Thanks Rich, they certainly look like hard core work boats dont they. Little concern for the appearance of treenail ends in deck planks..LOL
Boats and crews too often expendable to the owners as sale of the catch is the priority. No time for spit and polish. . . just get back out there fishing again. Rich
 
Have painted the bottom red ochre and the matt white waterline area as suggested. I am planking the topsides with visible walnut just for appearance sake although the real boat would have been painted all over. I have not attempted treenails on the planks, just holes for effect and used black rigging thread as caulking which is working really well... stick it down with PVA then wipe off the excess with a wet cotton bud (thus the wet patch in the pic) then using medium CA for the 190mm long planks. I really dont like CA much but it seems to be OK in this situation. That scales to 20ft planks on real boat and with no evidence at all I guessed that might have been what would be available/used when these boats were built. So I am building to some sort of selective historical acknowledgement without getting carried away.


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Very pleased with the caulking by black thread...found it very quick and easy. Topsides look OK on starboard anyway. Even though I am not a CA fan I have to admit it makes for fast planking and how can that be a bad thing..? That is just one protective coat of matt clear which will stand up the grain a little but keep it clean.

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Hull exterior finished pretty well. Deckm planking finished. Insufficient planks to do the job, both the main planks of 1 x 3.5mm and the 1 x 1mm interplank caulking. Ovbviously if the caulking is to sit beside each plank you need exactly the same linear distance. You need at least 50 x 500mm of the main planking and you only get 35, and you get 20 of the "caulking" strips. I did not use them and so I needed more plain planks than you otgherwise would but even if I had "caulked" I would still have been well short. Very disappointing. I made up the shortfall with some other old 1 x 3.5,, of inferior quality in the stern quarters and will probably fake a walnut grating over the two corners to improve it a bit.

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Hull exterior finished pretty well. Deckm planking finished. Insufficient planks to do the job, both the main planks of 1 x 3.5mm and the 1 x 1mm interplank caulking. Ovbviously if the caulking is to sit beside each plank you need exactly the same linear distance. You need at least 50 x 500mm of the main planking and you only get 35, and you get 20 of the "caulking" strips. I did not use them and so I needed more plain planks than you otgherwise would but even if I had "caulked" I would still have been well short. Very disappointing. I made up the shortfall with some other old 1 x 3.5,, of inferior quality in the stern quarters and will probably fake a walnut grating over the two corners to improve it a bit.

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Your deck planking looks very tight and precise. The varied bands of hull strakes surprised me when I saw those. That is quite a challenge to lay them all in place with regularity. Great progress. Rich
 
Thanks Rich..praise from a master will keep me working. I was really unhappy with the colour of the deck and lack of definition of the planks. The wood is excellent quality as all my Amati stuff has been to be honest...then I got the idea of lightly staining it with the mast stain from Endeavour which is called Baltic Pine and it has improved the appearance out of sight. Much happier with it now.
 
Must say I am a little disappointed to realise (this late) that the boat has no waterway and no scuppers, and the deck planking just runs to points at the inside of the deck wale. I was expecting "intermediate plus" and have a kit which is really "beginner plus". Wont stop me mucking the odd thing up. Funny tho that the hull and deck design should be so dumbed down when the deck equipment all looks to be quite upmarket. I dont think I can do anything about the lack of deck plank joggling and the lack of waterway and scuppers now...so onward and upward...!!
 
Must say I am a little disappointed to realise (this late) that the boat has no waterway and no scuppers, and the deck planking just runs to points at the inside of the deck wale. I was expecting "intermediate plus" and have a kit which is really "beginner plus". Wont stop me mucking the odd thing up. Funny tho that the hull and deck design should be so dumbed down when the deck equipment all looks to be quite upmarket. I dont think I can do anything about the lack of deck plank joggling and the lack of waterway and scuppers now...so onward and upward...!!
I think that you can add scuppers by drilling and filing the bulwarks from inside outwards. Typically they are placed alongside stations. You may be able to find some in the old photos that can be found with some Google searching as well as the YouTube offerings. Perhaps you could also fake a waterway by placing a strake tight to the bulkhead, notched around any stations, and taper the inboard side down to the decking with faked nibbing triangular cutouts to appear as if the decking was nibbed into the waterway.
It will all turn out well as I feel that you will not cast your hawsers off to let the boat drift. Rich
 
Finished the pretend timberheads...which of course represent the tops of frames and should be at right angles to the keel but not possible in this scenario. Also when looking at some more old Anstruther film could see that the boat in the film had virtually fully open scuppers with the first wale above the deck set several inches above it on timber staunchions. Something like that obviously needed or the boats would take on a lot of water when hauling nets...cant really do anything about that. Noticed that the boats had a larger rubbing strake about second down of the four strakes, so I did make that change. Quite happy with how it is going but perhaps just a little disappointed in the kit design. Even though I am finding fault a bit I guess I am certain that it is going to make a very pretty boat.


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Love cheap wodden clothes pegs..dont stain, dont clamp too hard and squeeze the glue out...


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She looks very nice. You can add scuppers by drilling from the inside outwards right on top of the waterway between the stations however it is shaped for this boat. It may require a needle lead hole carefully pushed through if you want to drill and file from the outside inwards. Rich
Gunwales on and bulwark planks nailed (80 of the little
 
Thanks Rich, Yes there is a way to do it. Not sure I will do it though... confess the mind keeps straying to Bluenose.
I understand that as I bounce between SoS postings, my MS2130 BN, and general deep searching and reading on as much as I can related to fishing schooners which include BN. BN II is primarily a tourist schooner but has provided some answers related to rigging. Variety is the stuff of life. Rich
 
Hull exterior finished pretty well. Deckm planking finished. Insufficient planks to do the job, both the main planks of 1 x 3.5mm and the 1 x 1mm interplank caulking. Ovbviously if the caulking is to sit beside each plank you need exactly the same linear distance. You need at least 50 x 500mm of the main planking and you only get 35, and you get 20 of the "caulking" strips. I did not use them and so I needed more plain planks than you otgherwise would but even if I had "caulked" I would still have been well short. Very disappointing. I made up the shortfall with some other old 1 x 3.5,, of inferior quality in the stern quarters and will probably fake a walnut grating over the two corners to improve it a bit.

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You can pencil the edges of the deck planks, or use black construction paper between them for caulking on the deck. Just an FYI for future builds. You’re doing a good job!
 
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