'WIDE A WAKE' a steam launch tale

Beautiful work Ramon!  A hull like this is something I've long wanted to do, but it's got me a bit intimidated.

Ramon your work is always first rate. That is a beautiful job you done on the hull. 

Don

That is SAWEEEEET!....Nice Work Ramon...you can build a boat for may anytime!

Dave

I'm with tel....beautiful but intimidating too!!  Still its a lovely hull!!

Bill

That is really some beautiful work. I can imagine the folks over at the Boat Building College were suitably impressed.

--Tim

Ramon,

You make it look so easy; that is just beautiful!

Please keep the pictures coming.


Dave

Wow Ramon,
That is some awesome craftsmanship.  Keep it coming!

Ronald

How did the hull release from the mould? Superb work.

Hugh.

Wonderful work Ramon,

I'm very curious as to where, why, what, how etc. made you go the Dutch wooden boat building route, rather than the English. i.e. ribs last instead of ribs first??

Best Regards
Bob

Hi Ramon,
That looks amazing! The rivets take me back to my job, I helped a couple of shipwrights who were repairing a wooden fishing trawler that needed to have planking replaced & re-nailing below the water line, after running aground. The guys needed to use twisted shank nails, not plain shank, these weren't available at the time, so guess who got to put the 2 or 3 twists in boxes full of nails! That was the fun part, lying on your back holding the dolly while the roving was done, a lump of about 50 mm steel about 300 mm long if memory recalls, wasn't! It got better once we got up the side.
Looking forward to the next installment.

Cheers Kerrin

Ramon

Back with a bang 
I wish I had the patience to do something like that, looking forward to seeing it finished.

Phil

Hi Guy's,

Thanks - I really am pleased to think you are all enjoying this, I was a little concerned it might not be quite 'PC' 

Tel (and Bill) -  All I can say is don't be intimidated as it really isn't as difficult as it may look. Yes those rivets are a pain but once the plank shape is defined it's relatively easy - providing of course you have enough clamps  It has taken me so long to take the plunge and yet here it is just twelve weeks after starting ready for fitting out. Truly - I really can't quite believe it.

Hugh - Much to my expectation (Edit - disbelief - I did not expect it to just lift off!!) it simply lifted off the moulds. As each plank was glued in I had covered the area on the mould beneath with selo-tape just in case of any seepage but none was evident. I masked each plank to give the 1/4" overlap before applying the glue then whipped the tape away before attaching the next plank.

Bob - You've got me on this one - I didn't know that this was the 'Dutch' method. I was under the impression that the ribs were always put in after the planking on a clinker built boat. That's certainly the way it's done at the college and on the videos on You-tube. The only difference I made was to do the hull upside down whereas, I believe, most are made with the keel set on blocks, the moulds supported by stays from a purloin above.

Kerrin - I can well sympathise with the nails. I remember going into work once to find what looked like 'hundreds' of small boxes on pallets. They contained (many) small parts for the double glazing industry and had all  been made minus one hole. There were only ten thousand of them  all to be drilled on the drill press - but who was the lucky guy who was going on a fortnights holiday the next day 

Thanks as always for all your interest - back later with the last update.

Regards - Ramon

Simply lovely.  First rate workmanship!  I'm truly impressed.

Chuck

This is definitely true craftmanship that we have seen here.
A clinker boat has been a lifelong dream of mine. I helped a neighbor build one back when I was about 8 in Australia. He put me inside holding the bucking block while he set the rivets!! Helped him seal it with "RED LEAD" paint too But there again, our house was made of hardwood and fibro ASBESTOS cement sheeting, on walls, ceiling and roof.
Wife and I built a 16'-0" cedar strip canoe in 2001. That was a lot of work.

Bob the clinker hull goes back some time in England, long before the carvel hull design. The Vikings seemed to do a rather good job of their Longboats.