Thread: help needed for small wooden exhibition boats

Gidday there

So you want to build some BASIC model boats?... mate really honestly its not hard... you can form a basic hull up on the bandsaw simple shape, for Norse type boats double ender is pretty much the standard... for a BASIC hull form simple cant think of the word Im looking for but think canoe same same each end fat in the middle

IF you intend a bit more than basic some easy to follow drawings will suffice these are all over the net to download (including total plans of some boats) do a search look for "the mother" of all boat links and spend a few DAYS looking through

If you intend to do a lot more than just basic you are going to need some plans... either model or proper plans... proper plans (american) are in feet inches and eights and are scaled usually 1 - 1 ie: 1in to 1ft thus you CAN simply take the lines and offsets (the numbers for the boat) and use the set numbers (ie 1inch) and make your model

IF you however want to make a bit more than a lot more than just basic you CAN get the same set of plans and do it in what are called "lifts" each longitudal set of lines thickness you make for each level of the boat... mmm explaination I guess... when you see a set of plans that have the lines and offsets you will notice that there is whats called a "body plan" this will show the boat in sections each section is a particular distance from the next thus these measurements are what you make your lifts from however remember to put marks for your diagonals and such for EACH lift

OF COURSE IF HOWEVER YOU REALLY REALLY WANT TO BUILD YOUR OWN MODEL... you can draw up your own plans for the sort of boat you want to build following say Bud Macintosh's book "Build a woodenboat" and then "loft the plans" ie take the offsets and make a dot then join the dots to make the lines... then make the moulds to those dotted lines... and then set up a "strong back" and set the moulds up then you can start to work out your planking and start to build the form... then of course you will have to get PEDANTIC and really annul about it till you get it dead set right... which you probably wont cause you will have made stuff ups with the numbers...

ahem... how basic is basic???

Plenty of help available here keep asking the questions!!

Cheers
Shane

mmm how about starting with a half model?... this will show you the basic shape you want and you can alter as you go till it IS what you want... then having made the half hull you can make the full hull based on that?

Oh you really dont NEED a mentor... you need to get some plans or pics of boat shapes and start working out the measurements... some find metric easier while some old farts like myself work best with imperial but either way there are plenty of plans on the net for free... just remember to check by "lofting" the plans FIRST this will "prove" the plans and therefore the offset numbers are correct... many... mmm lets say most designers seem to leave in some small error... this is not meant to phiss builders off but to make sure they do the steps to get it right ie: lofting!!

the MOTHER!!!

If you cant find it here you just might not find it!!

this is one of the BEST Norwegian plan sites

That is a start have fun!!!

I don't know how useful this will be but you could try contacting the Australian Sailing Museum to find out who built their models for them.
http://www.australiansailingmuseum.com.au/index.asp

G'day Yenny

Going to make some assumptions here, as in: "In the beginning came the assumptions, and the assumptions were void & without form...etc, etc"

Anyway... you are an artist making models for a show. Therefore....

you are probably not making accurate scale models of real boats for a critical nautical
audience who will pick on your scantlings, poke fun at your rabbets, or moan at your
rigging details. Your audience is unlikely to give two hoots that your CLR is abaft your
CoE, or that it has the prismatic coefficient of a house brick. You simply need to
produce a shapely double-ended hull of 3-to-5 planks a side, with seats, masts &
rigging plonked in at approximately the right places & scale based on old photos.

Yes??

So all you really need is something to develop your plank shapes so that when stuck
together, they are more-or-less boat-shaped with a minimum of obvious daylight
between them. Then do the plonking noted above.

Yes?

Suggest then that you download Gregg Carlson's "Hulls" program, select something
from the myriad hull files that come with it, & tweak it to suit. The program will
develop the plank shapes for you. Cut them out of your preferred material, adding a
little to the bottom edge of chines 2 & higher for plank overlap. Tie / tack / tape them
over the bulkeads & frames (also developed by the program) & add interior furniture to
taste.

WARNING: doing this is very addictive, & may take several years to control the urge
to design & build more. You should probably buy one of Gregg's plotter/cutter tables
as a thankyou for the software.

Of course, if I am wrong about the audience you are building for, and they DO know &
care about the afore-mentioned things, then you need to buy a set of plans with
instructions from a reputable designer & build from those. Iain Oughtred has some
gorgeous double-enders and a reputation for instructions which are almost a complete
how-to of lap-strake boat-building. The best catalogue I've seen for Iain's designs is at
http://www.jordanboats.co.uk/JB/iain_oughtred.htm but you can buy plans from
Australian distributor/s.
Woodenboat.com have a Joel White "Shearwater" plan set, and there must be dozens
of others.

cheers
AJ

Thanks for all the info. Gave me lots of great hints for a much more successful web-search. Found some good pics and basic plans which I think should be sufficient to get me started. Even found one step-by-step guide for a Norwegian Viking boat with simple pics and everything. Probably too simple for prof's but from what I have read so far, it explains the basics quite well. http://www.digitalnorseman.com/bcvsp/gallery.html
Browsed through the other sites too and it all starts to become a much clearer picture. A bit worried about getting those planks nicely lined up and shaped! Starting to think I might maybe make them more sculptural wood-carved pieces with plank detail...though I am very much itching to just give it a shot and really build a basic boat...hm... gonna make some little car-board models first of all to decide on the size I want etc and then we'll see...

Cheers,
Y

Your double shaped hull with a few planks definitely is the sufficient option for my purpose. Of course, you never know who will walk in to an art show, but I am an artist not a professional boat builder so I think there actually should be some "abstraction" in my pieces.) Spotted Iain Oughtred' s work on another web-site and his Elf boat designs the likes are spot on. And thanks to your link, - the pdf there was much more detailed. I think it's a good start now. Got plenty of pics, guides and basic plan pictures so that should start me off. Now I just need to decide on my size wood and method and I was thinking of making some basic card-board models over the next days to get something in front of me that I can then slowly alter and modify until it looks around about how I want it before I actually start getting messy with the wood.

Thanks for all the advice!

Cheers,
Y

Hi Yenny,

How big were you planning to make the boats? Do oyu have the wood sorted out? You'll need to buy or mill small planks if you plan to make them fully-planked (ie like the full-size things) and this can take a while. But worth the effort (not sure how much time oyu have or how far away the exhibition will be?).

Carving may be the best way, as suggested. And still look artistically appealing without trying to make them exact scale replicas.

A couple of places in Sydney that may be able to help - you could contact Modeller's Shipyard in the Blue Mountains (www.modelshipyard.com.au) - they can supply planking timbers, fittings, sail material, dowels for masts, rigging, etc. Could save you some time with the fiddly bits. Not sure if they have Norwegian boat plans but worth asking them.

Also, if you go down to the Aust National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour (www.anmm.gov.au) there is (or used to be) a guy there who builds ship models and may be able to offer advice or mentor you. Can't for the life of me remember his name, and ask the staff if he's not still there. There used to be a group who met there inthe museum workshops and repaired or made model ships for the museum - again the staff may be able to help.

Good luck with the exhibit and remember to post some pics here.

Regards,
Darren

Hey Darren,
Thanks for the advice and the link to the guys in the blue mountains. Looked at their web-site and one of the boats, with a bit of abstraction could work really well. Maybe they can alter the plans a bit with me and following supply me with the right timber and other bits n pieces. Will talk to them over the next days some time. Project is only just in the beginning. Done my first residency in Northern Norway in July and going on my second one in November. Once I get back I'll get seriously into it. Until then I am experimenting and mainly trying to organise everything I'll need to achieve my final results when I get back.
But will post some pics once it's done, - in 2009 )
Best,
Yenny