Thread: Finishing a Yellowtail

Originally Posted by igatenby

G'day mate... any more photos of you out in yours, catching fish?

sorry i don't have any more photos of me with fish been out in her eight times since the launch and only caught twice but the weather has not been great plus it is a little early in the season yet.
this weather is helping with sea trials though, last weekend all was calm in the bay but as soon as i was out in to un-sheltered water i was confronted with swells of 15 ft but it was a big Atlantic swell moving ahead of the storm that hit us a day later, so i kept on going to a reef around one and a half miles from the shore, i only fished for about half an hour before i noticed some of the swells looked like they were starting to break, so i made like a Shepard and got the flock out of there, i had a few moments on the way back in, but the Yellowtail is a good little stable boat that can take abuse however she is a little dirty in choppy seas, the bow doesn't have enough volume and slices into the waves instead of ridding over them, resulting in someof the bigger waves coming over the foredeck and me getting very wet which in turn makes me look at another project with a nice cossy cabin.

I'm glad I decided to put the coaming on then, I don't want any of those seas in the boat with me.... and I have a bit of a history of staying out in the nasty weather.

Woo hoo... I got the engine going... it HAS taken a bit of doing btw. I'm glad I decided to pull her down before trying to start her. She'd been a show engine for too long and was full of crud. I believe the late Aub Rose had re-done the babbit bearings.. and had said he never expected he would ever see one of the bronze engines again. Only 20 were made, in the 1930's.

Here she is, getting christened with some Coopers Stout.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lJTHn2EMEQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lJTHn2EMEQ[/ame]

Spose you used the Coopers as starter fluid as well .

That is really cool

Strewth. No Coopers in the fridge... bugger. I drove past the bottleshop on the way back from buying more clamps too. Damned if I can find a whole heap of others I know I bought.

Oh well, they'll come in handy.... the new ones that is. I scarfed a couple of bits of Caledonian Oak together and whacked the first one on top of the gunwale today. This is to replace the mahogany the previous builder had whacked down with builders bog. Guess what guys, builders bog didn't work.



Yep - 40 clamps in 4.5 metres of gunwale - and 22 wedges as well...

Originally Posted by igatenby

Yep - 40 clamps in 4.5 metres of gunwale - and 22 wedges as well...

same here when building mine you can never have to many clamps
(note to self must buy more clamps for 19' Dipper project)

hows the rest of her coming along?

A bit slower than I would like. I lost a fair bit of time with rain here over the last couple of weeks - a downside to working outside in winter.

The front two sections of the boat are painted and I've got 4mm ply on the deck as a substrate to the Caledonian Oak strip planking that I'm using.

I may have to re-make the King Plank... its got a crack in it, which goes about half way in.... it may machine out, as the plank is too thick at the moment. May do that tomorrow after I put a plank on the other side.

I'll be doing a steaming test soon to see if I can get the coaming out of my Caledonian Oak - which is pretty hard to obtain, and if I crack the piece I've got for the front I'll have to have a rethink.

I just love the sound of that engine. I put it on the big speakers and the query came quick "What is THAT!"

I can't wait to see the finished project. Bet you wished you had built it from scratch. I was always going to build a boat that size, but after building a 16' strip plank Cedar canoe, i called it quits. I was afraid to use the canoe for a while, because i didn't want to scratch it, and now i am too much of a cripple to get in and out of it. LOL

Oh yes - it would have been nice to have done it all. Still, it wouldn't have happened other than this way. I must admit, I've been neglecting my main boat, but will head down to her on the weekend and plan out some work.

Well, the deck is on and I've got three coats of varnish on. I may sneak one more on before I flip her again and do the hull painting, then come back to this after I've fitted her out and got the coaming done.

Here's the gunwales. Caledonian Oak with White Beech and Mahogany. She was originally done with Mahogany where the Caledonian Oak is.



The foredeck isn't as pink...



I took these shots this morning, but have fitted the bronze bitt since.''

I'm really looking forward to the final fairing and hull painting, coming up real soon now.



There's a Stanley 113 waiting for a session on the coaming base too... but that's one of the last jobs, after the fitout.

she's coming along well not to much left to do now, i love the grain of the Beach you've used on the foredeck.


what colour are you painting the hull or is that a secret

Originally Posted by honkongphoie

she's coming along well not to much left to do now, i love the grain of the Beach you've used on the foredeck.


what colour are you painting the hull or is that a secret

Sorry if I set you on the wrong track, the White Beech is the cream coloured timber just inside the Mahogany. I'll be putting a brass rubbing strip on the Mahogany btw - this boat is going to get used by plenty of other people (she's the new tender for my 50'er) The main decking timber is Caledonian Oak... which I was offered years ago by the guy I was buying my Queensland Maple, Kauri and Teak for the 50'er from. He'd got it to build some furniture for himself and never got around to it. I've capped the cabin roof beams in the big boat with it too.

I've got some white 2 pack in the shed for the hull - but I'm having second thoughts. I wouldn't mind doing it in cream. Half tempted to do that to the big boat too. The big boat was in the Navy during WW2, so I suggested navy grey at one stage and got howled down.

The Yellowtail will replace the Markham Whaler in this role... behind the cruiser and be used for sailing and exploring the local waterways and Sydney Harbour



Here's the big boat in 1945... as HMAS Kimra (she'd been HMAS Halcyon for a few years prior to that). The depth charges are visible above the lazarette, but the machine gun is stowed unfortunately.



She did anti-submarine patrols off Fremantle in Western Australia.

So - what do you reckon .... navy grey and bugger the critics?

Mate the whaler is definately the prettiest of the bunch which is a bit sad really cos it's no looker. Good thing you got the yellowtail to do the big boat justice.

Umm.......no to grey