grendel

Griff, I sincerely doubt that, I may seem to be progressing, but I am at the stage of testing the fit of parts, then it comes to bits again before getting glued up to look the same, then there are hundreds of ribs to bend up and fit, then we get to planks, and after that there is all the topsides. at the rate I am going 100 ribs could take 100 days. There is no way I will be rushing things or cutting corners, I am doing the same as you did with the old lady herself, If I need to remake a part 4 times to get it right, I will, in the knowledge that for the next hull it will be perfect.

JA, I do have a plan - in CAD, but after working from the plan I am finding that I am tweaking a little here a little there, to get a perfect fit, as you probably know, a curve that fits in CAD, may not be one the wood happily bends to. so as I work, new patterns for bulkheads will emerge, so the plans may well evolve and come together once the model is completed. but remember the first set of plans took me a couple of years, and the model may well take the same, though I may be able to simplify the build plans after building so to speak.

good idea for a small dog

Ok, tonights work, started off marking out and recutting the other frame piece that needed tweaking, then (as its thicker wood) 10 minutes in the steamer, starting the bends to make the transom, this is 10mm timber, and the thickest I have had to bend so far, quite pleased with the results.

you have also reminded me there is another 2 notches to be cut in most of the frames- for the header (see Timbo's illustration above)

there is a free download of an earlier edition available:- http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/Transport/Boat_Building_Manual.pdf

the hog is the solid keel bit along the bottom of the boat that everything is fixed to, stringers, the long thin horizontals down the length of the boat, chine - usually a sharp edge between the botton and sides of the boat, BA does not have one as she smoothly transitions between bottom and side with a nice curve - this makes it more difficult to build. Beam shelf, not sure myself, but I figure thats the thicker top stringer that delineates between side and deck.

tonights work was re-making a frame , it was just a tad short to reach the hog, so it was re cut just a fraction bigger, there is one more frame near the front, this just needs to be a few mm wider to accommodate the curve of the upper timber, that will be tomorrows job. once all this tweaking is done I will be ready to mark out and cut the frames for hull 2. I need to steam the timbers for the transom's this week end too. these will probably be the thickest timbers I need to bend.

quit with those negative vibes man...

Yes but the real bottleneck is those junctions either side of the tunnel, adding more lanes across the river at that point wont increase the traffic, the bridge handles southbound traffic really well. the new crossing would filter all the traffic to and from kent off the M25 at the tunnel. I am lucky in that my journeys are in the easy directions at the times I travel, there are always queues in the other direction once I get through.

Test fitting of stringers etc in progress, the only way you can really find if all the frames fit. I see adjustments are required on at least 2 frames where the stringers sit just proud of the slots to keep the lines accurate, the adjustments will be made, then the frames used to mark out the frames for model 2, one frame is just low (high) at the hog so needs extending a few mm, another is just shy on the bottom stringers, but perfect on the next stringer out, and the hog this will be adjusted too between these.

I think the planned timescale of the new crossing will probably mean it will open, just after I retire...

I am used to queing for up to 30 minutes heading south, then as soon as I get past junction 30 everything is moving freely, its those who head down the fast lane again trying to cut in at the last minute that cause the problems.

Chinese water torture?

that would be every car then....., I am pleased that on the way home it is a fair bit quicker , and I too cant wait for the new crossing, I calculated that would save me about 30 minutes a day of queueing. the Nimbys that dont want the crossing at Gravesend, and say put it next to the existing one cant see that what is needed is a complete alternative route, the number of times all of the hold ups are due to the adjacent road junctions (particularly J30 for the A13) in both directions, would surprise most people, in my view the Northern hold ups are the traffic at junction 30. The number of people I see who go through the right hand tunnel, then force their way across 2 lanes (over the solid white lines) to exit at junction 31 for lakeside, is ridiculous, when J 30 exit backs up to this crossover point, these people stop in lane 3 trying to get across, then the right hand tunnel blocks up too and therein lies the crux of the problem, for that exit you are supposed to be in the left hand tunnel, preferable in lane 1, I know the signs used to say no exit at j31 on the right hand tunnel. the number of times I have seen the result of these people cutting across and either having accidents or causing them by forcing others to brake, and of course the result is like this morning - left hand tunnel closed - and chaos.

a couple more showing more stringers to see how it looks, more clips on the shopping list.

more notches tonight, still a few adjustments to be made. so I tried in some pieces, the hog and stringers, here you see also my clamps the square bulldog type clips, either with wood through to form the clamp, or using the handle part from another clip.

the cat is stopping the screwdriver from running away. if it had been a pencil it would surely have been sharpening it. the cat is also used for spreading wood shavings around the house after she has been sitting on them.

probably just how I have interpreted what I see from the pictures of her restoration, but definitely needed to hold the model together at this stage, there is no chine as the ribs bend around the curve of the hull, the lower stringer supports the ribs on the edge of the bend, as the two stringers on the bottom do the other end of the curve. both the stringers and the ribs will be slightly wider and thicker than scale, as there are limits to how small I can cut the timber on my table saw - before it just leaves a chewed up mess instead of a nice timber.

I am using those squarish bulldog clips as plank clips at present, I will try and remember to get a picture tomorrow., I also have some mini wooden clothes pegs that are good for clamping too.

one picture there shows the front end of the keel / hog, these are tapered to the front as that is the only way I can see it working, I did find a slightly bigger plane to shape these. some of the frames were not perfectly aligned, and one was leaning, so this has been trimmed. the process of marking out was that 2 frames were notched, then strips laid in the notches to mark out the positions of the intermediate notches, this ensures they will be straight between frames. I am beginning to feel progress is being made, the knot hole on one of the hogs will be filled using a home made filler - sawdust with glue, and then filed / sanded to shape. that will go on the first hull, the second will be better as I learn from my mistakes.

today was a busy one, apart from digging a shower out of the loft on the request of my daughter to get it up and running by October, I have been working off and on, on the model the stringers and other horizontals have been marked onto the frames, some tweaking of the positions has been necessary, and cutting out for the notches on the frames has begun. Once I am happy with them, they will be used as patterns for the second hull, before I did this I bent one last section to my former, I also cut some 10mm square, this will be bent up to form the transom, first I will cut a wood former to bend these round, as it will be a tough bend.

If you saw the size of the cameras we used to film Broad Ambition at sea with the Navy, you would be amazed, I used the latest generation flip video camera HD with stabilisation, in a package no bigger than a mobile phone. 2 hours capacity - 8Gb. I picked it up on ebay for £15 as spares or repairs, and just needed to reset it to get it working, brand new they retailed at over £200.

and once again the steamer is used to bend wood. I will have spares of this shape as a couple have knots in just the wrong places.

remember MTB102 manages about 25mph on 2x 650 hp engines, to get 50mph she required 3300 hp , and she has a planing hull.