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

[Ignatius27]

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

Leaving for vacation in a few, so wanted to update on where we are in the build of the Shadows, both Shadow 1 (painted hull) and Shadow 2 (stained hull).

I have done all preparations, pre-sanding, fairing, dry fitting, and planing. Suffice to say all preparatory steps have been checked off. I'd say we are at the 2/3 complete stage, with plenty of fairing and wood removal in coming days and weeks. But I'm further than half way through for both Shadow 1 and Shadow 2.

I've chosen my final color schemes - black and teal for Shadow 1and golden pecan and natural walnut for Shadow 2.

I'm also landing on the 11" x 24" x 1" backboard. It emphasizes the horizontal length of the ship, suggesting speed, and it has room above and below to emphasize the upward sweep of the bow at sea.

See you in about a week.

 

[Ignatius27]

Some pictures from our visit to the Herreshoff Maritime Museum in Bristol RI yesterday.

Pictures include Nathanael G. Herreshoff's design room, model/half-hull room, boats going back to 1859 (including the Sprite, Capt. Nat's first boat design), and the many warehouses with Herreshoff-built vessels into the 1960s.

And pleasantly surprised to find a scale model of the "Shadow" and many America's Cup yacht winners.

 

[Ignatius27]

More pics from the Herreschoff Maritime Museum and America's Cup Hall of Fame.

 

[Ignatius27]

Inspired by our visit to the Herreshoff Maritime Museum, I purchased a kit for an updated wooden boat model of the Columbia Dinghy, one of Capt. Nat's most commercially successful product lines of the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. I purchased the kit from The Wooden Boat Company, which is beginning to be one of my favorite goto places for Herreshoff drawings and projects.

It is a scratch wooden build from 4 design and rigging plans and a 32 page build manual. I will build the Herreshoff Columbia Dinghy after 2 or 3 of my next builds, the "Onrust" Dutch jaght and the Dutch pinas by Witsen. Seeing Herreshoff's Columbia Dinghy up close as both model and formed boat shows off the simple beauty of his vessel designs. Will also be my first lapstrake hull, so excited to get started.

 

[Roger Pellett]

You’ve just visited the Best of the Best. The Herreshoff Museum is a gem. One of its founders and supporters is Halsey Herreshoff, Nathaniel’s Grandson or maybe Great Grandson I’m not sure which. Halsey is also a Naval Architect educated at Nathaniel’s Alma Mater, MIT. As a privately owned institution in a yachting Mecca they have avoided the “museums as Entertainment fad and can focus on the boats and their technology.

I wish that they would identify the builders of the models that you posted. They are truly works of art. The Shadow model is particularly lovely.

Of course there were two famous Herreshoff naval architects. Nathaniel and his son L. Francis. Growing up, L. Francis was a household name as my father built a boat that he designed. I didn’t learn about Nathaniel until much later. At least the last time that I visited the museum (2019) nothing was said about L. Francis. I asked the curator why. L Francis was dyslexic and Nathaniel sent him to Agricultural College so that he could manage a farm that the family owned. Instead, he became a self taught naval architect whose skills were belittled by his father. When Francis died in the 1960’s there was a split in the family. The Nathaniel branch started the Herreshoff Museum. Heirs to Francis’s estate gave all of his papers, drawings, etc. to Mystic Seaport.

Roger

 

[Ignatius27]

You’ve just visited the Best of the Best. The Herreshoff Museum is a gem. One of its founders and supporters is Halsey Herreshoff, Nathaniel’s Grandson or maybe Great Grandson I’m not sure which. Halsey is also a Naval Architect educated at Nathaniel’s Alma Mater, MIT. As a privately owned institution in a yachting Mecca they have avoided the “museums as Entertainment fad and can focus on the boats and their technology.

I wish that they would identify the builders of the models that you posted. They are truly works of art. The Shadow model is particularly lovely.

Of course there were two famous Herreshoff naval architects. Nathaniel and his son L. Francis. Growing up, L. Francis was a household name as my father built a boat that he designed. I didn’t learn about Nathaniel until much later. At least the last time that I visited the museum (2019) nothing was said about L. Francis. I asked the curator why. L Francis was dyslexic and Nathaniel sent him to Agricultural College so that he could manage a farm that the family owned. Instead, he became a self taught naval architect whose skills were belittled by his father. When Francis died in the 1960’s there was a split in the family. The Nathaniel branch started the Herreshoff Museum. Heirs to Francis’s estate gave all of his papers, drawings, etc. to Mystic Seaport.

Roger

Roger - What an amazing museum! They did have some info on the model builders. While Nathanael was still alive, he would have employees build scale models based on hull shapes he designed as half-hull models. Most of the models were built on company time if they were built for a client, but employees would also bring their own models to bring new ideas to Capt. Nat.

Later, the Museum started receiving private modelers builds into the collection, and many of the Americas Cup models were made privately by yacht enthusiasts.

 

[Ignatius27]

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

Back from our maritime themed vacation to New England and trying to get back to my bench to work on the Shadow.

Here is a jig that I saw on YouTube that will help to nail, clamp and glue the lifts. Dry fit to make sure everything is level. I recently bought several new Jorgenson plastic clamps but they don't seem to work as well as these old Bessey clamps.

Also started a new build that is inspired by our trip to Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. Will start a new build log on the new build in a few days after I get some progress pics together.

The blue pennant on my shop wall is from the Herreshoff Maritime Museum and is their historic logo. Turned sideways, the "H" becomes an "I" for "Ignatius." A fella can dream about building boats like Capt. Nat, right!