Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack - Kitbashed from Model Shipways

[JacquesCousteau]

I'm midway through this build, but I thought it might be worthwhile to start a build log for it here. The complete story is on MSW.

Several months ago, I started building a heavily kitbashed version of the Model Shipways Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack. I had initially tried to buy the kit as my third build, after having started with the Model Shipways Dory and a scratch-built Trajinera canal barge, as it seemed like a useful learning experience. However, I had difficulties shipping to Mexico, and so I ended up not receiving it until I was back in the US. By the time I could start it, I had already come to feel fairly confident in my modeling (at least with simple vessels) after having already done several kits and scratch-builds. Nonetheless, I wanted to build this kit. As a modeler, I'm mostly interested in vernacular workboats. Moreover, the kit had a reputation for being relatively accurate, so it seemed like a good basis for some kitbashing to make a more accurate and unique model. Finally, the scratchbuilds I was working on, while rewarding, were in pretty slow stages, so I wanted something faster-paced.

To summarize, my main modifications to the kit are the following:
- Rescale from 1:24 to 1:32 (in order to match my other builds)
- Employ lapstrake rather than carvel planking
- Build out the cockpit with more accurate framing, benches, etc.
- Plank the deck
- Go with an unstayed mast

My research for this project is described in more detail on the other forum, but to be brief, I'm kitbashing in accordance with several sources. The most important source is the writings and plan drawings of Howard I Chapelle, especially in American Small Sailing Craft (1951) but also in The National Watercraft Collection (1960). Both include discussions and images of the Muscongus Bay centerboarders. Also vital was Willits D. Ansel's "The Boat as Record," pp. 19-26 in Lipke, Spectre, and Fuller's Boats: A Manual for Their Documentation (1993), which discusses the construction of the sloop Ranger and its modification from a fishing boat to a yacht. Roger F. Duncan's Coastal Maine (1992) and Lincoln Paine's Down East (2000) provided useful context on the history of Maine's fisheries. There is further useful information in Volume 5 of François-Edmond Pâris's Souvenirs de Marine, and in Volume 3 of G. Brown Goode's The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States (1884-1887). For visual sources, I've especially employed the Penobscot Marine Museum's digitized photo collections. Finally, I have also drawn on many existing build logs for this model, some of which discuss the type's history/design/construction in detail and which have provided inspiration for kitbashing.

To summarize the history of this vessel type: in the years after the US Civil War, boatbuilders along the shores of Muscongus Bay in Maine began adding centerboards, sloop rigs, and partial decks and cuddies to rowboats, creating a vessel well-suited to inshore fishing in the summer months. These early Muscongus Bay sloops were often fairly small (16-25 feet long) with lapstrake planking, although carvel planking came into use as well by the 1880s. In the 1880s, the type began to undergo substantial changes. The expansion of railway lines made Boston's markets accessible to Maine fishermen, fueling demand for a more seaworthy vessel for all-year fishing, while changing fashions in the offshore fishery away from clipper schooners toward deeper and safer hulls impacted inshore fishery designs as well. This led to the emergence of the Friendship Sloop, a larger (30-40 ft) vessel with a deeper keeled hull, doing away with the centerboard and trading shallow-water abilities for greater seaworthiness and capacity. The Friendship Sloop became a popular yacht design, leading to a great deal being written about it.

Below: A Friendship Sloop, at center, and a smaller vessel identified as a Muscongus Bay Sloop, at bottom.

Source: Duncan, Coastal Maine, p. 430.

The late 1800s and early 1900s, then, saw a great variety of small sloops in Muscongus Bay. As the lapstrake centerboard sloop developed into the carvel Friendship Sloop, builders experimented with a variety of styles and design concepts. The Muscongus Bay Sloop is a moving target, sharing some general characteristics but with plenty of different possibilities. Chapelle's plan of a Muscongus Bay Sloop, for instance, which amalgamates several models and hulks, shows a vessel that is essentially a miniature Friendship Sloop with a centerboard (below).

Source: Chapelle, American Small Sailing Craft, p. 267.

Although he said it was lapstrake planked, some vessels like this (including the hulk he examined) were carvel planked. Other Muscongus Bay centerboarders could look quite different. The Ranger, for instance, was about the same size and carvel planked, but had more drag, included a stayed mast, and lacked the clipper bow (below).

Source: Ansel, "The Boat as Record," p. 26.

Photos show other designs, as well. The small vessel below has lapstrake planking, a small cuddy, and a vertical stem.

Source

And finally, the vessel below from the 1870s is of a type Chapelle briefly mentions, having a schooner rig on a lapstrake hull that appears to be quite similar to that of the sloops.

Source

While Chapelle's plan has provided the basis for a lot of understandings of Muscongus Bay Sloops (including of most models), the type was really quite diverse. There was no single vessel type, but a constellation, with individual vessels' build styles probably depending on builder preference, intended use, and possibly local variations.

All of which is to say, there's a lot of room to modify the kit into something a bit different. Of course, not all modifications are equally possible. For example, while it would have been interesting to give my model a plumb bow, as some actual vessels had, doing so would require reshaping the spine and bulkheads so much that it would be easier to build from scratch, so I kept the beakhead (which is certainly a plausible option as well).

This post is already pretty long, so I'll get into the build itself in the next post.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

As I mentioned above, I rescaled the model to 1:32 from the kit's 1:24. The smaller model is easier to display and matches most of my other builds. To rescale, I scanned all the part sheets, then transferred them into Lightburn, made necessary corrections, then cut them out on basswood sheets. I used the public library makerspace while visiting family in the US. I had to make some adjustments to wood thickness to take scale into account.




A while after that, I got started with the model. As can be seen, the spine structure matches up pretty well with the Chapelle plans. The main difference is that, while the centerboard case on the Chapelle plans protrudes into the cockpit a bit, the kit design pushes the foreward cockpit bulkhead back a little, simplifying construction. The basic framework came together pretty well, although the notches needed some tweaking.






Below, the 1970s reconstruction of Chapelle's design. You can see the protruding centerboard case.

Source

The first modification I made was to the cockpit. Following the example of the Ranger, I dropped the cockpit floor slightly, and also raised the benches a bit (which are very low in the kit design). I planked the cockpit bulkhead, as can be seen below, and made provisions to remove the sides of the cockpit bulkheads after planking in order to add proper-looking framing.


I also planked the floor (going with weathered boards). For the benches, rather than placing them on top of blocks as in the kit, I decided to build them from separate planks with framing holding them in place. I only partially made the benches for now and didn't attach them, as I didn't want them in the way during planking.


My cockpit design was inspired by this photo (although it's a somewhat larger Friendship Sloop).

Source

As the cockpit bulkheads needed to be removeable, I couldn't glue the deck in place before planking. Instead, I added supports between bulkheads. I also painted the fish well areas black, as I planned on leaving one fish well partially opened. For the garboard, I used the kit-designed spiled plank, but I trimmed the top edge to get a somewhat different shape.


The biggest difference between my build and the kit is the hull planking. The kit provides spiled planks, which is a great way to help beginners understand planking concepts. However, following the examples given in many of the sources mentioned previously, I wanted to use lapstrake planking. This meant that I ultimately wasn't able to use the kit planks--in hindsight, I should have saved the wood and not laser-cut them. I took a lot of care while lining out the hull, especially as the overhanging stern is a challenging shape to plank.


To plank, I marked out the overlap on the lower plank, sanded the lands with a small sander (the width of a plank, with sandpaper only on one side), then marked out the shape with tape to cut the wood to size. I then soaked and clamped in place to get the right curve and twist.








I was really pleased with how the lapstrake planking came out. It had its own challenges, especially around the stern, but it wasn't much harder than carvel planking. If anything, it may have been slightly easier because the planks overlap, meaning that I didn't have to do a really precise butt joint between them.




I also added a small bilge pump to the cockpit, drawing on some simple examples. I made it from a toothpick, card, and a bit of wire, painted to resemble galvanized metal. It's just temporarily fitted, as it's pretty fragile, so I'll be leaving it off for a while.


With planking finished, I was able to remove the cockpit bulkhead tabs and add more accurate-looking frames made from scrap. Once that was complete, I could finish the benches.




The kit deck didn't quite fit properly, due to the modifications I had made, leaving a gap in the center. As I planned on planking it, I was fine with this. I also opened up one of the fish well hatches--the other will be closed, so no need to model more than the hatch on it.


The coamings were a real challenge. I ended up cutting off the forward portion of the coaming and replacing it with a strip with the grain running vertically, making it much easier to curve.


I then began adding deck planks. To avoid getting paint on the coaming, I'm painting each plank individually before gluing (then lightly sanding/scraping the joint afterward and touching up the paint job). I'm not really sure how accurate my deck plank layout is. It's a very challenging shape to plank due to the large coaming in the middle. The only clear photo I could find was of a yacht from the 1970s which used a lot of narrow curved strips for the deck, but that struck me as excessively complex for a simple fishing boat from 100 years prior. So, I started with king planks and covering boards. From there, I'm laying out the planks with an eye to avoiding really thin slivers, which would be very difficult to nail down, and minimizing the number of seams to caulk. This has resulted in nearly every plank being irregularly-shaped, which would certainly drive up the price, but the actual decked area is pretty small, so this might be acceptable. As can be seen, I also framed the open fish well hatch.




So, that's the current state of the model. This has been a very informative and fun build so far, and I'm looking forward to continuing.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I've made a bit more progress on this build. I was able to finish up the deck planking, add the dummy port fish hatch framework (which will be covered by the hatch itself), and add window covers, among other parts.






With the mast dry-fit:


I started painting the hull a light green color, but decided it was too vibrant, so I repainted the hull a darker green. Below, the contrast between the two shades is clear.


I've also added the cuddy roof. So far, I'm happy with how it's turning out, although I really need to weather the model a bit (so far only the cockpit is weathered). Right now it looks too yacht-like.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Not much to report, but I painted below the waterline. Due to the overlapping strakes, I wasn't able to use masking tape. I tried cutting it into wedges to fit properly, but it was extremely slow, and I realized that the narrow, tapered tips were 1) really hard to get straight, and 2) would barely provide coverage at the end. So, instead, I freehanded it. I used my usual brush to get up to just below the waterline, then I used a very tiny detail brush and a magnifying loupe to carefully paint the waterline, little by little. I regularly looked down the length of the hull to make sure it looked straight. In the image below, it's nearly there, just a little more to touch up.


The red really makes the hull pop.


Anyway, here's the Lobster Smack (with a scale figure in the cockpit) alongside my Lancha Chilota scratchbuild in the same scale. Although broadly similar sloops, the differences in hull form and mast height are notable.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Next up, I painted the trailboards, borrowing a design I saw in some photos (although a few leaves ended up reversed). Getting them even on both sides was tricky and I had to do a few redos. I used my smallest brush and a magnifying loupe.


They really add a nice touch to the model.


Next, the rub rail. I initially was thinking of doing this in black, in continuity with the trailboards.


But I wasn't thrilled with the look. I had been concerned that using the same cream color as the toe rail would be too jarring a transition from the trailboards, but it ended up looking all right. I then began weathering the hull: sanding some edges here and there, applying dark and light acrylic washes, and dry-brushing stains below the scuppers.




Still a ways to go, but I'm pleased with how it's coming along.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Stovepipe Design:
One tricky question had to do with the stove pipe (which @Kenchington at MSW helpfully clarified was termed a “Charlie Noble”). What design to follow? As shown below, I took a rather circuitous path and could have been much more efficient in my research, but I ended up finding a good model to follow.

When I first looked through my folder of images, not much seemed useful—where the pipes appeared, they were often very blurry or a kind of indistinct shape. The image below, for instance, from 1890: how exactly to read that? And why does it look so different from most other pipes I’ve seen elsewhere?

Source

While in the image below, it’s obviously a rather taller structure, but none of the details are really visible.

Source

The construction drawing of the sloop Ranger and Chapelle’s plans for a Muscongus Bay Sloop and Friendship Sloop didn’t show anything either, other than Chapelle’s Friendship Sloop noting that the stovepipe would be on the starboard side. So, I began to look elsewhere in Chapelle’s work. First, his American Fishing Schooners does include a few drawings on page 622 (shown below), but being intended for much larger vessels, the sizes seemed a bit excessive to me. Some aspects of the drawings were a bit confusing to me, as well, and the textual description on the following page was very brief.

Source: Howard I. Chapelle, The American Fishing Schooners, 1825-1935 (1973), p. 622.

Poking around a bit more, I found two different types of stovepipes depicted in the plans of sharpies in The Migrations of an American Boat Type, from around the same period as the vessel I’m modeling (although much further south). This 1886 Chesapeake Bay terrapin smack, for instance, has a simple 90-degree angled stack on the aft cabin.

Source: Howard I. Chapelle, The Migrations of an American Boat Type (1961), p. 142.

While the 1884 North Carolina Sharpie has a rather different design, apparently with a sort of pivoting half-tube placed over the top of the stovepipe (on both cabins). Notably, this same stovepipe design shows up in Chapelle’s drawing of a catboat on p. 253 of American Small Sailing Craft, as well.

Source: Howard I. Chapelle, The Migrations of an American Boat Type (1961), p. 143.

It’s worth noting here that Chapelle has often been accused of occasionally filling in details in his plans when his sources were unclear or conflicting on certain points. The plan above apparently was developed from a rigged sailing model, and I have no idea whether it included the stovepipes or those are an addition by Chapelle. That said, it seems like there were relatively few designs used for stovepipes, and his additions can be thought of as plausible possibilities here.

The clearest and most helpful description was actually in Chapelle’s Boatbuilding. Here he shows a large number of stovepipe designs with labels, and the accompanying text (p. 534-536) is fairly detailed and relatively clear, although it does make me realize that there’s a lot about how coal/wood-fired stoves work that I don’t fully get. As he notes, the chief difficulty has to do with installing the stove such as to get a proper draft, which is especially difficult in sailing vessels where the stack height usually can’t be simply increased. He states that the cylindrical Liverpool Head is not really suited for sailing vessels, which often use the Seattle Head, the pivoting Cape Cod Head, or other designs. He also discusses the stepping of the stack on a Water Deck Iron to prevent water from entering.

Source: Howard I. Chapelle, Boatbuilding (1969), p. 535.

So, armed with a better understanding of the different stovepipe types, I decided to take a closer look at photos of Muscongus Bay and Friendship Sloops to see if I could better identify what they used. I also realized that I had several links to images in my “image list” document that I had not screenshotted, and so did not have in my file. One interesting image was of this model of a Friendship Sloop. It shows an interesting arrangement with a single center-located fish hatch and a stove on the port side, using a Seattle Head. The model is also interesting in showing a bilge pump coming up to the port side of the cockpit coaming, as well as showing an anchor at the bow. The boom also appears to have lazyjacks fitted. The stove is interesting, but the Seattle Head looks a bit bulky for my liking.

Source

This photo, dated to 1918, is also interesting, showing a number of vessels in an iced-over harbor. Unfortunately, I can’t quite figure out what’s going on with the stovepipe (which is on the starboard side of the cuddy roof). It doesn’t really look like any of the designs Chapelle showed, and looks a bit haphazard—perhaps it was damaged, or this is some sort of temporary winter covering? I’m not really sure what to make of it, other than that the stovepipe does indeed appear a bit wider than I would have expected.

Source

Thankfully, I was able to find a clearer image elsewhere. This photo of the Morse-built Friendship Sloop Lizzie E. Leslie quite clearly shows a pivoting Cape Cod Head on a fairly short stack coming out of a thin pad on the cabin roof.

Source

As a result, I think I can make the following conclusions:

• The stovepipe should be a bit wider in diameter than I had realized—for some reason I had thought that a pretty thin one would work, but I suppose proper drafting and venting purposes requires a wider one.
• Muscongus Bay and Friendship Sloops seem to have employed a wide range of stovepipe types, rather than fixing on a single type, reflecting the wide range of stove types available on the market.
• Given this, I think that a Cape Cod Head-style pipe, as fitted on the Friendship Sloop Lizzie E. Leslie and shown in Chapelle’s 1884 North Carolina Sharpie plan, is a perfectly reasonable option for my model.
• Although taking screenshots of all the relevant images I come across to collect in my research folder does take a lot longer than simply including links, it’s worth it because it makes it far easier to find images with specific details later on.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I had started this build log on MSW, and unfortunately did not make a backup before the site went under. Quite a lot of useful information and unique builds over there now gone, what a loss for the hobby! (Whatever your views on moderation policies).

Anyway, the stovepipe, or "Charlie Noble." I knew I wanted to model a Cape Cod-style head. I don't particularly enjoy working with metal, so I decided to make it from card and wood. I started by making a card cylinder extending off a short length of dowel, the bottom of which I beveled to match the curve of the cuddy roof. To make the pad for the water deck iron, I decided to make a thin wooden ring slightly wider than the cylinder. This way, there would be a tiny gap between the stove pipe and the cylinder, as shown in the Chapelle drawings in the previous post, which I could paint black to represent the water deck iron. The pad ring was a real challenge. I ultimately soaked a bit of basswood in super glue and let it dry before drilling out the hole and then cutting off the excess to make a ring. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos until it was nearly finished, but below you can see the cylinder, the ring (nearly finished), and the chunk of scrap it was cut from. Also a failed first try at the cylinder at right (I should note that my first two tries at the ring both failed too).


I then painted the cylinder a greyish black, made by mixing black, white, and vallejo gunmetal acrylics. I made the cap by curving a circle of card and painted it the same. I then painted the ring to match the hull/cuddy roof, and black on the interior. Next I glued the ring in place, added a bit of black paint where the cuddy roof would be visible, and glued the stovepipe cylinder in place.


Finally, I glued the cap in place.


I think the results capture the somewhat chunky look of many of the stovepipes in the photos in the previous post.

 

[mberg]

Great addition, Jacques! Glad to be able to follow your post here as well.

 

[JacquesCousteau]

Thanks, glad to see you are continuing your build as well!

While I'm glad I have at least partial build logs for a couple builds here, I have to admit that the prospect of remaking my previous logs, here and at a revived MSW, is pretty daunting and I'm not really sure when I'll get to it.

 

[mberg]

I know, I feel your pain. I think for now, I will simply upload the old pictures I have saved. As for the text it's long gone. Posts can always be edited down the road to add text back, but I doubt I would ever go that far. I was only able to salvage page 1 of my pram build, not much, but not a total loss at least.

For what it's worth, I did a search on internet archive and managed to bring up the first page of 7 of your builds (so almost all of them). It's not much, but I hope it helps at least reduce the loss a little. I will DM you the links.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Very nice work and an interesting take on this subject! I agree with your design of the stove stack. Murphy is alive and well at sea and lines like mainsheets can and will snag on anything close by. A mainsheet snagging on an obstruction while tacking could easily knock over a centerboard craft like this.

Roger

 

[JacquesCousteau]

I know, I feel your pain. I think for now, I will simply upload the old pictures I have saved. As for the text it's long gone. Posts can always be edited down the road to add text back, but I doubt I would ever go that far. I was only able to salvage page 1 of my pram build, not much, but not a total loss at least.

For what it's worth, I did a search on internet archive and managed to bring up the first page of 7 of your builds (so almost all of them). It's not much, but I hope it helps at least reduce the loss a little. I will DM you the links.

Thanks so much! Fortunately I have pdfs up until last June, but as I just did "print-save as pdf," they're not really in a format that's easy to copy from.

Very nice work and an interesting take on this subject! I agree with your design of the stove stack. Murphy is alive and well at sea and lines like mainsheets can and will snag on anything close by. A mainsheet snagging on an obstruction while tacking could easily knock over a centerboard craft like this.

Roger

Thanks! I think it's pretty nice as far as kits go, and really lends itself to some modifications, as there was such a variety of broadly similar but distinct vessels within this type. I agree that a simple smokestack makes sense for a vessel like this.