Big Marie S
Table of Contents
Click on the link to take you to the section of interest. This is page 2 of 3 pages.
1 Bulwark cap
2 Rudder support blocks
3 Deck
4 Railings, drilling the gunwale
5 Railings, stanchions
6 Railings, top rail
7 Railings, soldering
8 Railings, transom top rail
9 Railings, intermediate rails
10 Railings, bow area
11 Railings, finishing up
12 Deck opening for cabin
13 Cabin sides
14 Cabin front
15 Cabin surfaces
16 Rulers
17 Cabin sides layout
18 Trimming board
19 Cutting out windows
20 More cabin side trimming
21 Cabin openings
22 Cabin assembly
23 Weigh in
24 Cabin deck support
25 Gluing sub deck
26 Cabin windows
27 Cabin roof
28 New picture
29 Deck planks, cutting
30 Deck planks, prepping
31 Aft Deck Hatch
32 Deck planks, applying planks
33 Deck planks, hatch loose ends
34 Deck planks, deck house
35 Deck planks, finished
36 Scribed hull planks
37 Scuppers
38 New pictures
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Bulwark cap
August 2020. I am using the previously made epoxy sheet that has two layers of cloth and multiple layers of epoxy resin. The thickness is just over 1/16″ and just shy of 3/32″. I made a cardboard template of the gunwale shape and transferred it onto the epoxy sheet. It was cut on the band saw into two strips for port and starboard gunwales. It was placed in position and a line was drawn from below on the outside. The outside was then sanded to conform to the outside shape. Once this was done it was measured and sanded to the inside shape. I used West System G/flex epoxy to glue these epoxy strips to the gunwale. They were held in place with spring clamps and I always use a backing board to evenly distribute the load across the surface.
Bulwark cap
August 2020. Before I glued the next sections I made sure any glue that may have oozed was removed from where joints would be. Again templates were made, transferred to the epoxy sheet, cut on the band saw and sanded to shape. I glued a temporary board to the frames which will be used for clamping. My G/flex is a bit old but is still good. The hardener is a bit thick so I warmed it up in warm water before use. The resin consistency was fine. Applied the glue then got all the crazy clamps in place. They need to be clamped so that the port and starboard surfaces were even with each other.
Bulwark cap
August 2020. Once all the caps were in place, I used a metal ruler to check that the port and starboard sides were even. Where they were not, I made a long sanding block which spanned to the other side. This allowed me to sand one side even with the other side. The inside and outside edges were also sanded even.
Rudder support blocks
August 2020. From the plans I measured the rudder position from the centerline and marked the location on the hull bottom. I did something right with the scribing as the rudder locations came out in the center of the same plank on each side. A pilot hole was drilled so that on the inside I could see where I would place the rudder blocks. Some lines-marks were drawn and the sealer was removed from the transom frame. The hull bottom angle was measured and relief angles were added and the blocks were cut on the table saw. Scraps from these were used to create a clamping block which was used on the hull bottom. When the rudder blocks were clamped a spacer was needed on the inside against the keel to prevent them from sliding out of position.
Rudder support blocks
August 2020. The waterline was transferred to marks on the bow and transom so the rudder shafts can be drilled perpendicular to the waterline. The hull was leveled inverted and lined up with the drill press. Once the holes were drilled I inserted brass tubing and made sure they lined up like they should be.
Deck preparation, part 1
August 2020. Before I apply the deck sheathing a few things need to be done. I added a block at the bow, this will be a foundation for the anchor windlass. Added a frame at the aft end which will support the deck in that area. The area along the port and starboard sides need blocks added which the deck sheathing will be glued to.
Deck preparation, part 2
August 2020. I had previously extended the frames to support the cabin. After cutting the deck sheathing in this area and fitting it in place it looked like it needed more support at the edge. I increased the notch size where the cabin will sit and added a 1/8 x 1/4 stringer. The deck edge now ends at the stringer.
Deck
August 2020. A cardboard template was made along one of the sides. The template was transferred to 1/16 inch basswood sheet and cut on the band saw. The basswood had to be notched and an angle and side cut kinda. Once rough cut, each notch was filed to the correct size. Needless to say, this was time consuming. The template was an exact fit for the other side. Once both fit correctly, the inside edge was measured to the stringer and the inner edge of the basswood was cut down to the stringer.
Deck
August 2020. I used a short pencil and marked the underside of the deck. Those areas that will not be glued were sealed. This was done for all of the deck sections. Before the deck was glued on I made a few filler pieces which will be used later on.
Deck
August 2020. To create the remaining deck sections, templates were made from a manila folder. Once the first section was done the template was flipped over for the starboard side.
Deck
August 2020. The last section to fit was at the fantail. I used course sandpaper to level everything out.
Railings, drilling the gunwale
September 2020. At this point in the model build I can go off in different directions. My plan for the deck surface changed so I’m putting that off for now. Onto the railing, this will be a long and interesting section. To begin I needed to determine the distance between each stanchion. In the pictures of the real boat it was difficult to determine the exact number. I made some measurements on the model, looked at where bollards needed to be and came up with a distance of 2-3/16 between each stanchion. I made a template from 1/8 aluminum. This template will be used to drill holes in the gunwale 2-3/16″ apart. It will also be used to drill holes in the 3/32 brass tubing for pins. The stanchion distance of 2-3/16″ amounts to just over 4 feet at full scale. The 3/32 tubing at full scale is 2-1/4″. The model was leveled on the workbench using the waterline as the level point. Blocks of wood were used to keep the model level and to facilitate the different positions under the drill as the model was moved about. A centerline was drawn on the gunwale and a mark at the transom corner for the starting point. From there I drilled a 3/32 hole. The aluminum template was placed on the gunwale and a pin was placed in the starting hole to hold the template in place. Then the next hole was drilled. It was difficult to site thru the template where the next hole should be on the centerline so I changed tactics. With the template pined in place, I used a .5 mm pencil and drew an arc on the far side and near side of the hole. This gave me two lines. I used a sharpened nail to tap a pilot hole between these two marks. Then the hole was drilled with the 3/32 inch drill. After all of the holes were drilled the next side was done. As planed, the last two holes at the bow lined up perfectly. Since both the hole and tubing were 3/32″, they were a tight fit. I reamed out the top of the hole in the epoxy gunwale then reamed out the inside of the hole. This allowed play in the stanchions which will be need once everything is soldered together. It will also help to remove and reinsert the railing until it is glued in place.
Railings, stanchions
September 2020. Sometimes things don’t work and you move on. Using the same tempate as I used on the gunwale, I anchored the template on a jig in order use it as a drill guide to drill holes into the stanchions. The holes on the template were not centered on the centerline. I mounted it surrounded by wood but when I did a test drill, they missed the center of the tube. I made a new template and held it in place with screws, this worked much better. At least with screws I could adjust the template. Each stanchion will be about 1-1/2″ so I measured on a 12″ section of 3/32″ brass tube where to drill. I made another jig that I used to file flats on the tube so the drill was not drilling into a curve. Once the flats were filed I drilled the first hole. I inserted a pin to hold the tube in place then drilled the second hole in the next hole in the template. Then indexed the tube in the template and inserted the pin until all the holes were drilled. I then cut the stanchions to the 1-1/2″ length on the Harbor Freight cutoff saw. The burrs were removed from the drill holes and tube ends. Since the bow has an upward sheer, the tubes near the bow needed to have this hole drilled at a slight angle. Six stanchions were drilled at 5.5 degrees and four were drilled at 7 degrees. You will see later on why this was done.
Railings, stanchions
September 2020. The top of the stanchions needed to be filed for two reasons. First they needed a concave curve in order to mate with the top rail. Second they needed to be filed to the same length from the drilled hole. I took a block of wood, drilled a hole for the stanchion and filed a cross slot for a pin. Made a top block that mated with the lower block where the stanchion top protruded. Another slot in the top was parallel with the lower slot. The stanchion was inserted with a pin, the top was placed on, then the top of the stanchion was filed down. The stanchion was removed and the hole to top was checked with a ruler. If it need more filing then repeated this until the right distanced was measured. Since the bow stanchions had an angled hole I made another jig to take care of those ten stanchions.
Railings, top rail
September 2020. I bought 36″ lengths of 3/32″ tubing directly from K&S Metals. Since the gunwale rail will be about 42″ I soldered a six inch section to the 36″. I made a new jig with four holes to make it easier to drill many holes. Expecting the holes to line up on the gunwale, well they didn’t even though they measured out correctly. I had the first couple of pins already soldered in place. I placed the top rail in position on the stanchions, marked where the stanchion met the top rail, then filed a flat at that point, then drilled the hole. This method worked out much better. To solder the pins I dropped a 1/8″ piece of solder in the hole, inserted a pin then tapped it with a hammer. Applied the soldering gun and when the solder melted, tapped it again with a hammer. This made sure the pin was seated all the way. Applied heat again to make sure the solder was holding the pin in. I then inserted a tube over the pin to verify the pin was as it should be.
Railings, top rail
September 2020. With all of the pins in the top rail soldered in place it was time to solder the rail to the stanchions. The top rail needed to be set to the curve of the gunwale so that at the bow the outward force of the straight rail did not force the stanchions at the bow outward. To add a curve to the rail I used a one gallon paint can. By carefully pressing the rail against the paint can I could gradually force it into a slight curve. The center of the can flexed and near the can rim it did not. By going between these areas I was able to bend the rail to the same curve of the gunwale. I did not need to do this to the upward curve of the deck sheer.
Railings, soldering
September 2020. This is the general procedure for soldering. Top rail is inserted into the stanchion leaving about 1/16 of the pin exposed. Flux is applied to the joint. A curved piece of solder is placed on the pin. The soldering gun tip is applied on the top rail above the joint. The top rail is heated, heat flows to the pin and stanchion, the flux melts, the solder melts, solder flows into the joint, the stanchion is pushed upwards to close the 1/16th inch gap, keep heat applied for 5 or so seconds, remove heat.
Notes about this. Applying flux removes impurities from the surface before soldering. I may not have had to use flux, it also helped hold the solder in place. Only a small amount of solder is required. When you solder anything, you do not need to feed the solder in from the roll. Just using a small piece of solder like I used here is enough. Consider it a controlled soldered joint doing it this way. No need for extra solder where it is not needed. All of these joints will be cleaned up later once the railing is done. In the one picture where you see two blocks of wood with a pin above it, that pin is a 1/16 brass rod that is keeping the holes in alignment between each stanchion, more later on this. Closing the 1/16th gap by moving the stanchion up or the top rail down mates the two rails together. The stanchion is curved at the top so it mates perfectly with the top rail. Keeping heat applied after closing this gap ensures the solder is in contact will all parts creating a solid joint.
I mainly used the Weller 100/140 watt soldering gun you see in the pictures. It worked well when it worked. There’s a problem with heat transfer between the gun and the tip. I had to keep cracking the nuts when the tip was not heating. A real pain in the ass but I managed to use it through to the end. Someday I’ll get a replacement.
Railings, transom top rail
September 2020. I have these metal spacers, some of the many things I hold onto, which will be used to bend put bends in the brass tubing. You can do the same by stacking washers. The 3/32″ brass tubing bends nicely around them. Another project will be making a proper bending jig over what I have now. The tubing is put in place and using wood sticks the tube is force bent around the spacer.
Railings, more soldering
September 2020. This series of pictures is showing a few joints before and after soldering. All joints will be cleaned up by filing once soldering is done. The railings look grainy in these pictures. They were sanded with fine sandpaper to remove the smooth surface so that’s why they don’t look so good in these close up pics.
Railings, side note
September 2020. I’m using 3/32″ tubing for all of the exposed parts of the railing. Pins located at each joint are 1/16″ solid rod. These pins help hold the joints together. While soldering the top rail to the stanchions I insert 1/16″ rod in the holes at the stanchion centers. This keeps the stanchions lined up for when the center rail is put in place. These two pictures show the 1/16″ rod temporarily in place. I just want to point out that the railing looks pretty good with a smaller diameter intermediate rail in place. Sorry but the pictures came out fuzzy.
Railings, intermediate rails
September 2020. The middle rail (that’s what I’m calling them) were all cut to about 2-3/16″. Another jig holds these in place in order to file the ends. First one end was filed, then the tube was placed up against where it would go. The length was noted then the other end was filed down until it fit between the holes between the two stanchions.
Railings, bow area
September 2020. Here’s the complete process for one section at the bow area. Pin is inserted, middle rail is placed, pin is placed, two curved middle rails are placed. Due to the pin placement and curved middle rail these needed to be forced into position and I also shortened the pins. Flux and solder placed on middle rail and soldered. Flux and solder placed on the next point and soldered. Then the connection to the curved point at the top rail is fluxed and soldered. For this last joint I hand fed the solder.
Railings, cleanup
September 2020. During soldering I could only see the outside portion of the railing. I laid the hull on it’s side to check the inside joints. I only had to apply solder to a few joints.
Railings, bow
September 2020. Using scrap tubing I bent one to the shape needed to connect the two railings at the bow. I transfered bend points to a new section of tubing and bent it in my tubing press. The excess tube at the bow on the top rail was trimmed. The new section was also trimmed down to shape and pins were added. It fits well and this piece will be soldered after the railings are epoxied to the gunwale.
Railings, finishing up
September 2020. At this point all of the soldering is done. I need to figure what to do at the opening at the middle transom. This opening is to board the boat from the dock. I’ll probably have a chain closing the opening off. The openings where the curved middle rails are are where the bollards will be. All of the solder joints will be filed clean and everything will be wiped down with probably acetone to remove any flux residue.
Railings, finishing up
October 2020. I used small hobby files to remove excess solder from each joint. For protection against solder dust I wore a mask and gloves. The solder tends to clog the files so I used a small wire brush to remove most of the solder. I had to brush across the file blade. Near the edges I used a pick to clear what the brush could not remove. Once the joints were cleaned I wiped the railings with acetone. Since each stanchion is vertical to the waterline, little effort was required to remove and insert the railing in the gunwale. The brass section at the very bow will be soldered in place one the railings are glued into the gunwale.
All of the pictures on my website appear fuzzy to me. If I check the pictures files internally they are much clearer. The same pictures posted here are fuzzy. Something I need to contact Bluehost about. Hopefully somehow this gets corrected.
Deck opening for cabin
October 2020. In one picture of the real boat it looks like the cabin forward of the side doors is canted inwards. I left cutting this area of the deck out until I was ready to work on the cabin. Measurements were made and lines drawn then the area was cut. A clear plastic ruler works great in tight areas.
Cabin sides
October 2020. I’m going with basswood to construct the cabin and pilot house. For the cabin I’m using two 3/32″ by 6″ wide by 36″ long sheets. Two problems with this. One being the possibility of cupping or warping when epoxy is applied to the outside and urethane applied to the inside. The other, the inside will be stained and the wood grain is out of proportion. To begin I took some measurements off of the plans and cut some sections to size. Since the basswood easily bends on its own, the end grain was sanded straight and smooth and a stiffener was glued to each end of each section. The forward end of the cabin is slightly canted inwards. I made a clamp helper from scrap wood that has the same angle. The two side sections were then glued and clamped in place.
Cabin sides
October 2020. The inside of the cabin sides were marked using the frames. A notch will be cut into the sides which will allow the cabin to sit on the frames. A pencil was run along the deck line and a spacer was used to mark the cabin top. I changed the height of the cabin top later on. Helping hands were made from lauan which help hold the cabin in position. My initial cabin height was 3-3/4″. This would be 7-1/2′ on the real boat. I thought this was too high so I made the cabin 3-1/2″ or 7 feet from the deck. The cabin sides were then trimmed down to a rough size.
Cabin front
October 2020. The front of the cabin is from three sections of the same sheet as the cabin sides. I did not add a stiffener to these sections as they were short sections. They were glued together in place so the right fit was obtained. A ruler and square was setup to make sure the fit was correct. With an odd shape they were held together with rubber bands. The edges were then fitted to the cabin sides with a dado type joint.
Cabin surfaces
October 2020. The cabin outside was coated with two layers of Total Boat High Performance Epoxy. Both layers were sanded with course sandpaper. I added white pigment but it didn’t do much. After sanding, the surface was filled with white glazing putty and sanded with 220 paper to fill in scratches created from the course sandpaper. For the inside I applied pre-stain conditioner since this is soft wood. Then stain was applied. Then three coats of Spar Urethane was applied with a paper towel keeping each application thin. The inside of the real boats cabin was most likely wood, stained and varnished. The grain of the basswood does not look scale and I’m not content with how it looks. But since I have no idea what the inside of the cabin really looks like, I went with this. I was fortunate that there was no warping of the basswood due to the application of the epoxy and Urethane.
Rulers
October 2020. Here are my go to rulers. All of the metal rulers have 1/8th, 1/16th, 1/32nd and 1/64th graduations and are double sided. The clear plastic rulers are very handy in confined spaces. The 24 inch plastic ruler is a center finding ruler. On one side it starts the zero point in the middle, very handy. My most used ruler is the 3/4 inch wide 6 inch Starret. The other two 6 inch rulers feel thin and flimsy.
Cabin sides layout
October 2020. I used a 3.5″ piece of lauan to mark the height of the cabin off of the deck. This is equivalent to 7′ on the actual boat. Once this was trimmed I used a jig to mark the top of the windows. This line is 1/4″ down from the top of the cabin. I then measured down 1-7/32″ for the bottom of the windows. Since the windows follow the same curve as the cabin top, I used the opposite cabin side as an edge to complete the line for the bottom of the windows. Vertical lines were drawn to finish off the window layout.
Trimming board
October 2020. When I started this boat it was awkward to file the frame edges hanging off of the side of the workbench. To improve my process, I cut three holes in a 16″ by 36″ melamine board. The board was clamped to the workbench and this allowed me to file anything while it was supported by the board and the file would just go through one of the holes. A garbage can can be below to collect any dust. The clamps could get in the way so I thought I could mount it under the workbench. My girlfriend suggested to have it slide in and out as I needed it. But I like the height of it while clamped to the top of the workbench. If it slid out from underneath then the edge of the workbench would be in the way. So on top with clamps it will be used. I should have done this long ago.
Cutting out the windows
October 2020. 3/16″ holes were drilled in the corner of each window. A Dremel cut off wheel was then used to remove the centers. The larger diameter drum sander was used to remove material almost down to the drawn lines. The smaller diameter drum sander took care of getting further into the corners. A rasp and finer file was used to bring the shape down to the lines.
More cabin side trimming
October 2020. The back end of the cabin was trimmed and filed square to the right size. The width had to be correct in order for the cabin to be able to slide in and out of the opening. I made a quick template that was used to scribe a line to cut the top of the front cabin side. It was them trimmed to the proper height.
Cabin openings
October 2020. There were a few more openings that needed to be made. Side cabin door, aft cabin door and front cabin windows.
Cabin assembly
October 2020. Before assembling the cabin, parts of the deck framework needs to be installed. I used 1/4″ x 1/4″ balsa wood and made cutouts for rabbit joints. I used a scrap piece as a guide so all of the joints would be identical. The Urethane was removed on the cabin sides where this strip would be glued. I used Titebond glue to glue these together. The outside back end of the cabin was also shaped.
Cabin assembly
October 2020. To glue the sides front and rear cabin parts, I used G/flex epoxy adhesive. So the cabin would not be glued to the main deck, in the corners I placed press and seal to prevent this. You can see the press and seal in the pictures. That worked well for this application. For the rear section I placed masking tape on either side where glue would be. As the glue tacked up I peeled the tape back. In the pictures you can see the tape peeled away from the joints.
Weigh time, why not
October 2020. Figured why not weigh the cabin and hull, see where they are at. Cabin is 5.3 ounces. Hull is 4 pounds 14 ounces.
Cabin deck support
October 2020. Again with more balsa. Cross members were cut to length, notched to fit, a center notch was added and they were glued into place. The sub deck will be in two sections with the joint running over the wider center section.
Gluing sub deck
October 2020. The sub deck will be 1/16″ basswood, same as the main deck. A manila template was made of the front cabin area and transferred to the basswood. Once both sections were shaped they were glued in place with Titebond glue. Weights were used to hold the basswood down to the supports.
Cabin windows
October 2020. The windows will be made from 1/16″ clear acrylic bought off of Amazon. The 12″ x 24″ acrylic sheet is covered on both sides with a plastic sheet for protection. A section was clamped on the cabin inside and a marker was used to trace the window opening. Each square was labeled and cut on the bandsaw. Then a rasp was used to file the edges down to the lines. First the top and bottom was done and the window was fitted into the opening. Then the front was filed. Finally the aft end was filed until the window fit into the opening. Later on the inside window opening will be sealed and the acrylic will need to be further filed to fit.
Upper cabin deck
November 2020. The cabin roof will be made from 1/8″ 3 ply plywood purchased from National Balsa and 1/8″ balsa picked up at the local Hobby Lobby. Glue was spread on the plywood with a squeegee and the balsa was clamped to the plywood on top of the cabin. When laminated together like this this cabin roof will maintain the curve of the cabin. Once the edges were trimmed you can see there was excellent contact all around between the plywood and balsa.
Upper cabin deck
November 2020. On my plans I had the cabin deck 8 inches wide. I laid the plans on top of another piece of paper and used a pointy thing to transfer points to the second piece of paper. Once this was done I used my ships curves to draw lines. This was used as a template to cut the forward portion of the deck. Later on I changed the width of the upper deck so had to do this all over again.
Upper cabin deck
November 2020. The deck has a convex contour so as to shed water. I used a drum sander to shape and remove balsa from the outer sections. At first I tried a course sanding block and a rasp. This did not remove material fast enough so went the drum sander route. As soft as balsa may be it can be hard at times. I did wear a mask when I did this, and I had the shop air filter running.
Upper cabin deck
November 2020. Second final attempt. The deck width at 8″ was too wide. The overhang would have interfered with fishing poles and looking at pictures of the real boat cutting the width down to 6-1/2″ looked more realistic. I placed the deck in position on the cabin and traced the cabin contour on the plywood underside which was a better surface to draw on. This was then trimmed and sanded to the desired contour. Looks much better to me.
Upper cabin deck
November 2020. The plywood underside appeared rough. Glazing putty was applied then sanded smooth with course sandpaper. Later on, both sides of the deck will be coated with epoxy resin. Stiffeners were added every 5″ on the cabin underside. This did a few things. Since the wood grain on the balsa and plywood runs fore and aft, it will help in any cupping that may occur. They also provide a way to position and lock the deck in position on the cabin. Later on magnets will be used to secure the deck to the cabin and some magnets may be attached to these stiffeners.
A new picture emerges
November 2020. At this point I can go off in many directions. I can work on the upper deck railing and pilot house. Or I can plank the main deck, then cutout the scuppers, then add the aft hull rub rail and forward spray rail. Or I can install the shafts, motors, electronics and running gear. In the meantime I’m in touch via email with a few of the owners\captains of these boats and they are providing me with great information. There are also great pictures at Mike’s Martime Memorabilia that I have been referencing. Mel Deak manages the pictures there and I am also in touch with him. One of the captains I’m in touch with is Harry (Skip) who sent me this wonderful picture. I’ll be using this photo to have Callie Graphics make up the graphics for me.
Deck planks, first attempt
November 2020. For now I’ll be starting the deck planking. Sources told me the real boat had mahogany planks on the main deck and in the cabin. I’ll be planking with 1/32″ basswood. Mahogany has too course of a grain. Basswood has a nice small grain that looks more realistic. As I don’t have pictures of a real party boat deck I’ll go with what I think will look good. Each plank will be 1/4″ wide which is about 6″. The 1/32″ basswood sheets have one side that shows machining marks and the other side that looks smoother. I sanded the smoother side and placed cross marks on the rougher side with a sharpie so I can distinguish the sides. I made a sled with a 1/4′ spacer and mounted a new cutting blade. Sliding this along the edge of the basswood should give me a 1/4″ wide plank. After the first run of cutting and placing the planks side by side I can see too many inconsistencies in the planks. This method is unacceptable or needs improvement.
Deck planks, second attempt
November 2020. My very first thought for cutting the planks was using the bandsaw. That is how I cut the planks for the sample test board I made. I made a fixture for the sled that essentially forces the sled to slide straight. The fixture was made from lauan and pine. The basswood is placed against the sled, then the sled is pulled down the track or slot to cut the plank. The fixture is clamped to the workbench to hold it in place and the clamp holds a stop block which the basswood rests against. The blade is adjusted so that it does not fully score the cut. If it scored thru to the lauan work surface then there’s the possibility the blade can take a wild course guided by the lauan. After the plank is scored, the plank is snapped off of the sheet. I measured the fluctuations in plank widths, they are about 0.050″ which is not so bad. I then grouped the planks together and sanded the edges with a 220 block to get them a bit more consistent.
Deck planking, prepping planks
November 2020. I’m adding a slight bevel to each plank. Once stained and sealed it will give you the impression of individual planks. If I did not bevel them, then once butted together they may look like a continuous sheet. The planks are 1/32″, the bevel is about 1/64″ on the top side edges. I made a jig which helped immensely to sand the 400+ planks. Pre-stain conditioner was then applied on the top side. After about 20 minutes the dark walnut stain was applied. I applied it by dipping a paper towel in the stain can and wiping the plank down. Two coats were applied to each plank. I then took an inventory of the number of planks and the sizes. and calculated the square inches I had of all of the planks.
Aft deck hatch
December 2020. Before laying any planks, I needed to build the hatch behind the deck house. I used scrap poplar or pine for this. Across the hatch it followed the camber of the deck up against the transom. For fore and aft, I made a template adjacent to where the hatch is so it followed the deck line. Once the frame was glued together I made sure the frame followed the camber and deck line and shaped it where needed. Then 1/16″ basswood was glued to the top of the frame. This sub-deck was then fitted into position behind the deck house.
Deck planking, applying planks
December 2020. To orient the planks on the deck I made fixtures to stretch monofilament fishing line. The fixtures are held in place by the railing. I blackened the line with a black marker. Marks were made on the sub-deck. I applied stain the to the sub-deck just in case there were any gaps in planks that did not completely close up. Glue was applied to the bottom of each plank with a brush. They were oriented so that the plank ends were staggered randomly enough so they were not close to each other. Once the planks at the bow and stern came to the outside of the deck house the string contraption was used to make sure the planks lined up evenly from the bow to stern along the side of the deck house. Any excess glue that squeezed out from under the planks was removed with a metal ruler. Planks that came up against the bulwark needed to be shaped to the gunwale curve. Once the entire deck was planked I applied the last few planks that were against the deck house. They were then trimmed to the deck edge so the deck house would would set in place.
Deck planking, hatch loose ends
December 2020. On the rearmost portion of the ‘hatch’, all of the plank ends are loose and not glued to the deck. This is so the ‘hatch’ is removable for access to the model interior. And it was made in such a way to not be visually obvious. I made a test sample of planks with ends exposed and applied glue to the underside of the loose planks, spreading the glue with my finger. After two coats the loose planks were firmed up. So I placed some press and seal on the sub-deck where the loose planks will be covering. Glue was applied with my finger to the underside of the plank ends and weighted down in position on the deck. Once dry I applied two additional coats. The loose plank ends were now solid.
Deck planking, deckhouse
December 2020. The center of the deckhouse was determined then spacers were cut and used to center the first plank. Centering it this way gave me a near full width plank at the edges. Although I should have lined up the deckhouse planks with the main deck planks. It all ended up fine.
Deck planking, finishing up
December 2020. I started with 413 square inches of planks. Ended up with 62 square inches. Here are pictures of the entire main deck and deck house with finished planking.
Scribed hulls planks
December 2020. The Big Marie S had a planked hull and other boats at the time appeared the same. On the weathered hull of these boats, you can clearly see the defined edges of the hull planks as the paint weathered, see first picture below. The lines I previously scribed in the hull vary in depth and appear to deep when I sprayed a coat of white spray paint to see how it would all look. I scribed lines in a test piece of resin sheet and filled half in with glazing putty and wiped it with acetone before it set. David Merriman suggested that I use this particular glazing putty. This made the lines less deep and and more or less consistent and they appeared closer to the weather hull of a real boat. The applicator was a piece of acrylic with the edges rounded. The sides and hull bottom were attacked this way doing a 6ish by 6ish section at a time. The entire process went well but took some time. It was done in the garage due to possible toxic odors from the glazing putty. Will have to wait for the hull to be primed and painted to see how this comes out. Not ready for painting just yet.
Scuppers
December 2020. A template was used to mark where the scuppers would be fore and aft. The distance from the gunwale top edge to the deck was measured on the inside and this measurement was transferred to the outside of the hull. A curved line was then struck which followed the deck sheer. I now had the scupper bottom and two sides. Two layers of masking tape was applied to the stained deck to prevent any damage to the deck. A .050″ hole was drilled from the inside. This gave me a starting point to enlarge the scupper port. A round fine tip file was then used to enlarge the hole to fit other files. A tapered flat file was then used to roughly elongate the hole. The bottom of the scupper was filed to the drawn line then the hole was enlarged to the top edge and a 3/16 thick piece of acrylic was used as a gauge to file the openings to the same size. The round file was then the used to create the upper two corners and the rest of the opening was filed to the desired shape. Once they were all done being roughed out the boat was moved to another workbench and placed on its side. There I used another magnifying glass to fine tune the openings.
Scuppers
December 2020. Here are pictures after the scuppers are done. I have a few figures that are the proper scale I placed to give a sense of scale.
Notice & New Pictures
From January 2021 until September 2022 I took a break from the Big Marie S to work on a model of the USS Skipjack submarine. Please visit that page from the menu system at the top of any page. During that time I attended two different model submarine events. One was at New London Submarine Base in Groton Connecticut in September 2021 and May 2022. The other one was at Cohutta Georgia in September 2021 and 2022. This event was held by Bob Martin of Nautilus Drydocks and is called Subfest. There are many videos of the Subfest event on YouTube.
This is a new picture of the Big Marie S sent to me by Harry (Skip) Tonks. I was also contacted via email by someone that saw our club at Tuckerton Seaport a number of years ago. Those pictures will be posted next.
September 2022
These pictures were emailed to me by Bill Horan who I met at a Tuckerton Seaport boat show. I received them April 2021 and just I’m getting around to posting them. These are the types of photos I need, especially showing the underside of the boat. They show a great amount of detail that is very useful. I’ll probably be utilizing them when I build some of the other boats from the Belmar Marina. So Thanks Bill!
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