Building the Maid

[Duncan Gibbs]

I've delved a bit further and the answer, it seems is to collect all the gas and condense it. This could still come from the top, but feed directly into a condenser pipe, maybe set in a 20 litre tin with cool water in/hot water out pipes. I did think of using a hot water coil, but think it would be better to have it zig zagging in a single downhill plane through the 20 L tin, and and no point where liquid could collect. I suppose you could still have the second retort pipe running back underneath with an in line pressure gauge and a gate valve to burn off to control the heat levels better/reduce excessive pressure in the barrel. I wonder what the failure/bursting point would be in psi of a 200 litre oil drum would be? I wouldn't have thought it much greater than 50 psi? A second vent could be good as well as an external burner if the temperature needed reducing along with the pressure. This European Commission PDF for Norway has some more good information suggesting that the optimal temperature from pyrolysis by destructive distillation in a retort would be about 400 degrees C. An industrial thermometer may be useful too.

My thought on the no return valve is to KIS. A hinged flap that hangs vertically over the outlet in a shut position until liquid or gas pushes it open would suffice, as any drawing for air back up through the outlet would merely shut it tight. Once again this is where a pressure gauge would be good, although I strongly doubt that there would ever be a catastrophic implosion by lowering of pressure in the kiln. I think the no-return would only be useful for the beginning of the firing as there would soon be a build up of pressure in the kiln.

[Territorial_]

Hey

Greetings from Finland.
I have been following this thread for a while, you are making good progress.
Here is small pic by pic tutorial how to boil tar, in finland it's called tervanpoltto.
http://www.kotinet.com/jarmo.raudask...rvanpoltto.htm

In Finland boiling tar is tradition. Normally tar is boiled in really big tar pits but i think that kind of tar production is be too big for your own use.
Altought if you are planning to boil tar for your own needs, remember its not rocket sience. Use old oilbarrel or build a grave but just do it, you will find best techniques after few tries.

If you need help or tutorials, search "tervanpoltto, tervahauta". There are really good conversation about boiling tar and stuff like that.
Google translate will help you forward.

Regards
Territorial_

[Lauren Williams]

Talk about a picture being worth a thousand words! There is is, all laid out for us. Makes me want to go out and make me some pine tar, just for the smell of it!

I've been lurking since the beginning and John, I'm no end impressed. What a testament to clarity of vision.

I give you the joy of your Youth and Energy. Lauren Williams

[chrisgent3107@gmail.com]

Jonathan,

Your thread has been truly an inspiration for me and I have read it 3 times already. I have started a thread on Designs/Plans section which asks tons of questions about building Atkins Little Maid of Kent.

I keep making reference to parts of your thread and I thought it correct to let you know and to say a huge thank you for all the scarey stuff you have helped to de-mystify for me, so far. I expect that I will continue to use your thread like.
a text book when i do get down to starting my build.

Fantastic work! Keep up your huge contribution to WBF.

Thank you, Sir.

Chris Gent.

ps Any thiughts you may have on light steam bent frames (as Atkin specifies) vs heavier sawn frames with gussets would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, CG.

[J.Madison]

That pine tar stuff is pretty cool. I am most likely going to give it a go.

Progress these days is slow and steady.



You'll quickly spot the most obvious mistake. I was just happily painting along before hanging the second broad when I looked down and realized it was the wrong side. Not really a bad mistake, just really obvious. And it will make fairing the hull a bit more toxic. Oh well.






If I was doing it again I'd divide the bottom four strakes into five. This would make it considerably easier to plank. The top aft corners have been really difficult to bend in, especially on this last one. Narrower strakes would prevent that and make it easier to get better fits along the frames as well. Live and learn.

I did score a really nice craigslist find lately. This chest is very heavy (two man job empty) and at least 100 years old. It is chock full of tools of a similar vintage. Many of them I can't even identify. Drawers and drawers of tools. Highlights include a large saw set, a barefoot auger, a ratcheting brace, a rivet set, many planes, a yankee screwdriver, heavy socket framing chisels, bevels, etc... All for the price of about two of the planes. If anyone has any info on the chest I'd love to hear it. It came out of Astoria, Ore. and the guy I bought it from believed it had come originally from somebody who made custom wooden levels, potentially in the midwest.

[PeterSibley]

Jonathan,
I've noted your less planks comment. How many planks have you set out on this hull?

[J.Madison]

I have it lined out for 17 planks on each side. The plans call for 16 if I remember right. But there are so many ways to manipulate things. I probably could have made the topside planking a little wider and reduced the planks in the tuck. As it is the broads and tuck strake are about an inch wider than the widest point of the topside planking. I think 18 strakes would not have been unreasonable for this boat. It would have changed the layout some, with a less exaggerated wedge for the garboard and a slightly more wedge shaped broad strake. This could have made the topside planking a tiny bit less banana shaped. As things stand now the topside planks are about as straight as they could be, but they swell from about 2.5 inches on the ends to 4 in the middle. Making them more parallel sided would be another advantage of better manipulating the bottom planking. I think I will actually be very happy with the topside planking, it is just the bottom that is giving me trouble. It wont be long and I'll be through it though.

I was thinking originally that having fewer planks would make planking faster, but that is certainly not the case. Making planking easier would make it faster. None of this will hurt any after launching, its just getting to that point that is the trick.

[Larks]

I did score a really nice craigslist find lately. This chest is very heavy (two man job empty) and at least 100 years old. It is chock full of tools of a similar vintage. Many of them I can't even identify. Drawers and drawers of tools. Highlights include a large saw set, a barefoot auger, a ratcheting brace, a rivet set, many planes, a yankee screwdriver, heavy socket framing chisels, bevels, etc... All for the price of about two of the planes. If anyone has any info on the chest I'd love to hear it. It came out of Astoria, Ore. and the guy I bought it from believed it had come originally from somebody who made custom wooden levels, potentially in the midwest.

What a fantastic find!!! I am dead set green with envy.

[PeterSibley]

How wide is / was your rough planking stock Jonathan? 5" for most , a few 8s" and 12" for the garboards ?

I have it lined out for 17 planks on each side. The plans call for 16 if I remember right. But there are so many ways to manipulate things. I probably could have made the topside planking a little wider and reduced the planks in the tuck. As it is the broads and tuck strake are about an inch wider than the widest point of the topside planking. I think 18 strakes would not have been unreasonable for this boat. It would have changed the layout some, with a less exaggerated wedge for the garboard and a slightly more wedge shaped broad strake. This could have made the topside planking a tiny bit less banana shaped. As things stand now the topside planks are about as straight as they could be, but they swell from about 2.5 inches on the ends to 4 in the middle. Making them more parallel sided would be another advantage of better manipulating the bottom planking. I think I will actually be very happy with the topside planking, it is just the bottom that is giving me trouble. It wont be long and I'll be through it though.

I was thinking originally that having fewer planks would make planking faster, but that is certainly not the case. Making planking easier would make it faster. None of this will hurt any after launching, its just getting to that point that is the trick.

[floatingkiwi]

You are going to make pine tar? That is cool. Now you've got me thinking.... Do it soon so I can see how! I will be painting the faying surfaces of the rabbet and the hood ends. I also dip each screw in the stuff before driving- I wont do this for the copper nails though. I'm not sure yet about the inside surface of the shear plank. I may just use a regular enamel up there, partly because covering the bright orange with white is difficult, and the interior paint will largely be white.

I do like to hear about what parts rot or fail first on old boats, so I can try and minimize those risks.

The parts of a wooden boat that rot first is anywhere rain can collect and stay wet.
That tool chest is an unbelievably good score. Well done mate.

[Terry Haines]

The part about planking width vs build time and difficulty rang a large bell.

I was converting a design from lapstrake (clinker) to a sort of stitch and glue construction. I observed the garboard and first bilge plank were parallel at each station in the bodyplan or end view, so I changed them into a single plank. FreeShip gave a strange plank development that I just didn't believe, so I straightened out the bottom plank edge and built a test model just to see what happened. The result was just peculiar. I went back to the design and restored the original planking, got a sensible looking development from FreeShip and did another model: this time it fell together perfectly.

The original (and rather ancient) design was as built - obviously the builder knew a thing or two about planking that I didn't. I suspect the force required to shape a plank to a hull is proportional to the cubed of the width, but it may be an even higher order.

[Terry Haines]

The part about planking width vs build time and difficulty rang a large bell.

I was converting a design from lapstrake (clinker) to a sort of stitch and glue construction. I observed the garboard and first bilge plank were parallel at each station in the bodyplan or end view, so I changed them into a single plank. FreeShip gave a strange plank development that I just didn't believe, so I straightened out the bottom plank edge and built a test model just to see what happened. The result was just peculiar. I went back to the design and restored the original planking, got a sensible looking development from FreeShip and did another model: this time it fell together perfectly.

The original (and rather ancient) design was as built - obviously the builder knew a thing or two about planking that I didn't. I suspect the force required to shape a plank to a hull is proportional to the cubed of the width, but it may be an even higher order.

Conclusion: if the designer is kind enough to provide planking detail don't mess with it. If not then build a model first, or put the lines and proposed planking detail into FreeShip or other hull design application and take a careful look at the plank developments before attacking any wood . . .

[J.Madison]

How wide is / was your rough planking stock Jonathan? 5" for most , a few 8s" and 12" for the garboards ?

Well my rough stock is actually quite wide. 18-24 inches for the most part. But if I had to actually go down and buy pre-milled boards that lineup you mention sounds like it would do the trick. The garboard doesn't even need to be wider than the rest of the planks if one couldn't find the stock. For a good example of this check out Stephane's thread on his Gartside cutter.

But if at all possible buy the whole tree flitch cut. Live edge boards just offer more possibilities and they are a great lesson for shop visitors to see how boats really do come from trees. I hope to get two planks side by side out of many of the live edge flitches I'm working with. I'm limited here by defects, not by width.

Terry: I am slowly trying to learn a thing or two like that old timer who lined out your garboard. It is amazing what can be gained by seeing something in 3D rather than on the page. Planking is also giving me a strict lesson in lofting. Not that any line is unfair, but I did ask my planks to do some things that could have been made easier on the lofting board by small tweaks.

[PeterSibley]

Yes , flitch cut stock would definitely be easier but Australian sawmills aren't set up that way# as our timbers tend to spring towards the bark quite dramatically, especially in the species I have available to me .... thus my query. I think a 12 to 1 scale model with scale plank widths will be the best way forward.

# A horizontal bandsaw could do it but there are none around here now just the swing saw type and they almost guarantee banana shaped boards. Some banana shapes boards would be good but not all!.

[stuhaynes]

I think it's quite amazing what you've managed to do in the time you've had, congratulations. I started my initial read of this thread yesterday, and although I've not read every post (though I will) I've just got to the end of page 15 and will be looking out for more posts (and pictures!). I do have a question. You said that you intend to use traditional methods to caulk the hull. I know that you intend to use cotton, but do you intend to use lead paste or some other material to fill the joints? My own boat is more than 60 years young and she's on the hard in a months time for painting etc. I don't doubt that I will need to replace some wood....

[Texasgaloot]

Jonathon -- I've spent the better part of your lifetime assembling my own "Galoot" toolchest (both chest and contents) and here you are, stumbling on one. Well done! Kudos for having the sense to let that orphan follow you home!

[stephenlneal]

Jonathan, I had the great fortune when I first started to answer an add for tools and met an old finish carpenter in his 90's selling off his planes and chisels...and I've been using those tools for 40+ years so far. What a joy to see my tools in your box!

[Redeye]

That chest of tools is the sort of thing I dream about. Seriously. What a GREAT find.

I dream of finding piles of tools in old sheds, slicks and adzes, saws and chisels, and of freshly milled timber, fine straight grained, and smelling all yum. Stacked and filleted to dry nicely. Piles of Oak stumps and crooks. Then, awakening, I realize it's not real. Disappointment.

I seriously need to change my profession. This science gig just isn't cutting it anymore - esp because yesterday I had to physically restrain my boss after he lost it completely...

Good progress J.M. If you're ever in Switzerland or Southern Germany again, do drop in, I'd be glad to host you for a day or two.

[BBSebens]

That chest is such an awesome find. I have a small selection of old planes and chisels, and they are some of my most prized possessions.

Looking good Jonathon.

[chuckt]

Jonathan,

A while back in your thread I think I said my floors were not screwed to the planks That was wrong. Now that I am actually removing old floors I see I have one screw in every plank the floor crosses. At least where I am working now (in the stern) the screws don't go in the end grain. It will be interesting to see if this holds true as the hull shape becomes more "wine glass" like yours as I work forward. The screws would go into end grain amidships and forward.

[E.Johnson]

It's been a while... how's the boat coming along?

[J.Madison]

It's been a while... how's the boat coming along?

You know, you're right. Its shameful how long these last few planks have taken me. I have been fighting for every inch of progress on the aft end of these planks. If I ever build this boat again (or anything similar) I will do some very careful checking on the lofting board to assure that the last two feet of the planking below the tuck has a reasonable bend into the sternpost. The problem now is that the bend is very sharp and the twist excessive. Combine that with my wide planks and there is a bit of a fight going on aft.

The portside second broad took about twice as long as its mate to starboard. This is because I simply traced the starboard plank onto the blank for the portside one and went from there. Due to the backing out for the frames, the strong bend aft which had been pre-bent into the plank, and my lack of planning- the existing plank was not test fit into the opposite location to verify the fit. The port side was just enough different that it took several more fits to bring it into spec. In the end I prevailed, as I always must. Onward.

The task at hand is now the starboard tuck strake. After some battling I resigned to steaming the aft section, the first time I've done this, although perhaps i should have been all along.



Granny was helping me hang this plank.




My original method is to clamp the plank at its balance point and work out towards the ends, clamping the aft corner in last. The smarter way is to clamp a specially shaped block over the aft rabbet and then slide the plank back into the notch formed by that block and the rabbet. This takes place before any bending. The forward section of the plank can be held with a rope or support block at the correct height.Then the plank is wedged tight in its notch, or screwed if its the final fit before being lifted up to the boat and clamped from the stern moving forward. This gives much more leverage over that aft bend and prevents a bulge forming in the plank. Add steam to the mix and there is some hope of success after all.



You can see that this plank reaches almost off of the sternpost and onto the fashion timbers. The top edge of this plank marks the line of the tuck. I feel that this plank and its mate will be the most difficult of the entire job. They are the last full length planks and fitting one end at a time rather than two at once must be easier. The hard curve of the tuck will be behind me, the plank widths will decrease, and the bends aft disappear. I expect the pace to significantly increase after the tuck planks, and I'm looking forward to that.

There will not be unfettered progress however, as I am unable to contain my impulse to complete more projects. The next distraction will be a sawmill. I've wanted to build a sawmill for some time, and have drawn up several different designs over the years. I have this dream of hauling home salvaged logs from all over the area and milling them up next to the boat shop and building boats entirely of salvaged lumber at low cost, maybe making a few bucks off it now and then. No imported wood, no lumberyard prices, no fancy anything. Just the quality and purity that comes from a small builder living near the forest with time on his hands.

.... I never have time on my hands....

Anyway here is the meager start on the sawmill.



I got these parts from a local chap who specializes in sawmill kits and parts. Here is his site: http://www.linnlumber.com/ . The cutterhead is the most critical to functionality so I decided to go with real parts instead of making my own. (If you want to see some cool machines home-built out of wood check out this guy: http://woodgears.ca/tools.html ) The rest of my rig will be a wooden laminate structure. Power will come from a brand new chinese diesel that my uncle found in his shop and is donating to the cause. Its heavy, really heavy, so that is the major design challenge.

Of course you'll see how things turn out. Here is a completed mill that I couldn't afford. It uses the same cutterhead that I have.

[PeterSibley]

A good looking little mill Jonathon, if you have any options go for BIG wheels , remember the old rule of thumb was the wheels should be 1000 times the blade diameter to avoid stress cracking .

Here's the one I built years ago .



Your comments on planking are noted and I hope remembered, she is coming along beautifully!

[Dannybb55]

I love your work! One day we will have to do something like that.
Danny Nye

[trango]

I must say that I enjoy your "distractions" almost as much as the building of your boat! What is the kerf of a band-saw mill compared to a mill that is based on a chainsaw?

/Fredrik

[PeterSibley]

2mm for a bandsaw and 12mm for a chainsaw with a considerably rougher cut.

[Sailor]

SO there's a cm of material saved with EVERY CUT. nice.

[BBSebens]

Power will come from a brand new chinese diesel that my uncle found in his shop and is donating to the cause. Its heavy, really heavy, so that is the major design challenge.

Your Uncle just "found" a brand new diesel engine in his shop?



I need relatives like yours....


Keep up the excellent work. We are all jealous!

[J.Madison]

I do have a question. You said that you intend to use traditional methods to caulk the hull. I know that you intend to use cotton, but do you intend to use lead paste or some other material to fill the joints? My own boat is more than 60 years young and she's on the hard in a months time for painting etc. I don't doubt that I will need to replace some wood....

Sorry I missed this. I am not sure at this point what I'll be using as a seam compound. Jamestown sells something called "seam compound" which sounds like it would fit the bill. I believe that traditionally a mixture of white lead paste and common putty was used. That sounds pretty toxic to use though, and I'm not sure how to source white lead. The Pardey's used 5200. I will not be using that for a number of reasons, but there may be something in that family that could be appealing. Bud McIntosh is mum on the topic. So I'm just not sure yet which way I'll go. I guess I'm leaning towards the Interlux Seam Compound unless someone scares me away from it.

The fitting of the port tuck strake is ongoing, but I don't have many photos of it. What I do have is some documentation of fixing defects in planking stock that I though I'd share.



So here is a spike knot that I want to remove from the plank. A small dutchman was cut out with a very slight bevel and traced. The bevel makes it wider at the top than the bottom so that it snugs up tightly.



Here the knot has been chiseled out and the hole only needs some final smoothing before glue.



The dutchman is glued in with thickened epoxy. I also spread some over the nearby area of tearout that the knot caused in the thickness planer. A few strokes of the handplane and this area is as good as new.

There are other types of fixes as well. Here is a pin knot that I drilled out and replaced with a homemade dowel. The dowel is cedar and is formed by planing it to rough shape and then driving it through a hardwood block with a hole drilled in it. The same bit is used to drill the knot out of the planking and then the plug is glued in with epoxy. It works well.



It is not possible to get perfect planking stock for an entire boat. Even if cost is no object I consider it irresponsible and wasteful. It is not difficult to make permanent repairs in this age of epoxy and it allows the use of second quality stock. The stack of fencing cedar at home depot is probably not up to the job, but it isn't necessary to insist of only building with clear old growth either.

This shot partly shows the reason that this plank is so difficult. Lots of shape. Making the rest in two sections should alleviate this.


And this is the way that the end of the plank is secured before offering the rest up to the hull for fastening. This still seems to be the best way when there is a ton of curve.

[J.Madison]

The boat is wide enough now that riveting the planks is not always the most comfortable job. Soon I will have to be in the boat to rivet.


And with the tuck strake fastened off, I don't think you've seen these yet.




Look at the curve of the tuck back there. Part of what makes this section so challenging.


It takes a lot of tools to hang a plank.



This shot shows one of those dowell repairs in action.


Slowly but surely...

[Stiletto]

I'm really enjoying this thread Thanks!

In your picture of the tools, what is the one with a square hole in it used for? (bottom of pic.)

[J.Madison]

Oh that is left over from bending in the frames. It was designed to allow me to twist the frames into position, but it ended up not being necessary. They twisted in by hand just fine. I was using it here as a caul to clamp the hood end of the plank where the rabbet is in the way of easier methods of clamping.

[andrewpatrol]

Jonathon, check out page 71 of this

http://rwrope.com/pdf/davey/davey_2011_catalog.pdf

Andrew

[St.J]

Jonathon(an?),
Looking good.
How's the wooden roving iron holding up?
How are you backing up the nails while you're setting the rove?
Thanks,
St.John

[Bob Perkins]

Thanks for the update - we all look forward to them.

[J.Madison]

Jonathon(an?),
Looking good.
How's the wooden roving iron holding up?
How are you backing up the nails while you're setting the rove?
Thanks,
St.John

The wooden block is just a scrap that has a hole drilled in it. The tip is beveled so that it can seat a rove on a sharply curved surface without bottoming out on a corner. Its been used on several hundred rivets so I guess it is holding up well.

I tried the pardey method of using a clamp with a modified pad to back up the rivet, but the amount of clamping pressure needed to keep it from falling off while hammering just pushed the head of the rivet through the soft cedar. I use a backing iron, which makes it a two person job. That photo was taken by my dad while I was waiting for him to back up the nail so I could drive on the washer. But he's gone now, headed back for a several more months in Brazil, so I'm always trying to recruit people to hold the iron while I head up the rivets. My friends are starting to wise up and its getting more difficult.

[BBSebens]

Look at the curve of the tuck back there. Part of what makes this section so challenging.

Having had the great pleasure of seeing this boat in person, I can say that this boat is full of lovely lovely curves.

Its very pretty.

Still looking awesome!!

[J.Madison]

Well I have not been very good at posting lately. I blame a full time job that morphed into more full time schooling, summer sailing, and a number of other meager excuses (pretty girls, friends from Istanbul, new motorcycle....) that will have to suffice.

At any rate I owe you at least a glimpse into the shop as of late.

You may remember that I left you with the starboard tuck strake hung and fastened. Portside was next. It went quicker than its counterpart and went on with less fuss than it could have. That task done, it was time for a thinking exercise. The remainder of the planks will have butts in them. Here is the butt block schematic I came up with.


The rows each represent one of the planks. The vertical lines show frames. Between every other frame pair there is a station mold, cutting the locations where I can put butts in half. The general rules for spacing butts revolve around three frame bays, but my options are two or four due to the placing of the stations. The chainplates were also clearly marked as I wanted to avoid that area as much as possible. Combining the knowledge of my planking stock lengths with the curvature of the hull I came up with the above scheme. It is important, or so I hear, to keep the butts away from areas of excessive bend or twist. Twist being the worse of the two evils. I spaced the butts as far as I could reasonably do and came up with two planks that will be made up of three sections. The rest will be made of just two. This had more to do with butt spacing than stock lengths.

The first butted plank has its joint between stations four and five. That leaves just a short little section going forward due to the curvature of the forefoot this low. Here is the stock roughed out. You can see the plank outline drawn on the top one.

Compared to the full length stuff, spiling this plank was cake. It is also the first without a nib at the hood end. I did notice however, that the twist forward is more difficult that the twist aft now. The next round may require steaming up front.


Well you think, "that does look easy... He'll probably be getting a strake 'round her a day.." Well, no. I'm building another 'barrow boat. This one a bit longer and with a different bottom construction. You'll see.


But here are some shots of the bilge. It looks like a bilge. Which is good.





I'm taking an engineering course load that borders on abusive, but I'll continue to make progress when I come up for air.

[John How]

Lookin good, what is the thickness of your planking stock?

[Bob Perkins]

Yup... Still my favorite thread..

[Sailor]

YAY, more progress. Keep at it Mr. Madison. We're all enjoying it.

[J.Madison]

Lookin good, what is the thickness of your planking stock?

My rough flitches are 2" thick. I resaw them as evenly as possible before planing down. The plans call for finishing 5/8" after backing out. This is a bit thin so I have been finishing them closer to 3/4" thick. That only allows me 1/8" of breathing room on each face, which is barely enough. Aft where the severe curve of the tuck is I had to back them out so much that I did get down to the 5/8" dimension on the outside edges of each plank.

[floatingkiwi]

Jonathon, check out page 71 of this

http://rwrope.com/pdf/davey/davey_2011_catalog.pdf

Andrew

Another source is call Kirbys and order by phone call only with some plastic available.And a few days later it will arrive like magic, on yer doorstep.

[J.Madison]

Work lately has been on the barrow boat. The first one I built was cross planked with splines. I used it all summer and after it had been sitting in the hot sun for a weeks or so it would leak quite a bit upon launching. After a few hours in the water the leaking would stop. It wasn't a problem in the hot summer weather when we were swimming all day anyway, but for a reliable boat in all water temps I want something that can withstand the moisture cycles better without leaking.

Of course I like to do things in the traditional way as well, so I am trying something I read about once, but doesn't appear to be very common. Maybe with good reason.



I put on one layer of cross planked bottom that was half the thickness specified. The I stretched some canvas over it and tacked the edges with copper tacks. Hot water was used to shrink the canvas tightly against the bottom. I then applied several coats of very thin paint. A second layer of cross planking was then applied over the canvas and set in thick wet paint. The idea is that this is watertight just like a canvas deck, but the cloth is protected by the outer layer of planking. Hopefully it will be tighter than the other boat with a splined bottom.





If you look close you can see some small pads that have screws going through them. These hold areas where the plank layers wanted to separate tight until I can replace them with rivets or clinch nails. Two full length rub rails, as well as the skeg will be used to keep the layers tightly together.

Wheelbarrow boats aren't a new idea, nor one constrained to America. Here is a shot my dad just sent me from Brazil.



Once this barrow boat is complete attention will be returned to planking the Maid. For the moment she is just sitting there as patient as ever, waiting for me to come back to her. Soon enough.

I've been further distracted of late by this:


One day I was hanging out with this pretty blonde girl when she saw an old BMW hiding deep in the blackberry bushes. She decided that it was to be hers, and that it must be fully restored. No matter that the engine has been seized for nearly two decades. So I gave her a machete and watched as she cut it free. I drug it out of there and off we went. After pulling the head it only took a torch and a big hammer to get the engine free. Well now I'm building a vintage BMW as well as numerous boats, a sawmill, etc... Never enough time in the day.

[ILikeRust]

Well now I'm building a vintage BMW as well as numerous boats, a sawmill, etc... Never enough time in the day.

Let me assure you it only gets worse as you get older.

[BBSebens]

What ever became of the Lotus?

[andrewpatrol]

I love that new use of the word "drug" in post #744

[J.Madison]

Drug, dragged,... maybe its regional. Anyway the lotus is still sitting there, waiting for an Ambition Young Guy to haul it away, or maybe for a young lady to convince you to build it for her.

[BBSebens]

Lol... I'll get right on that...

[stuhaynes]

Sorry I missed this. I am not sure at this point what I'll be using as a seam compound. Jamestown sells something called "seam compound" which sounds like it would fit the bill. I believe that traditionally a mixture of white lead paste and common putty was used. That sounds pretty toxic to use though, and I'm not sure how to source white lead. The Pardey's used 5200. I will not be using that for a number of reasons, but there may be something in that family that could be appealing. Bud McIntosh is mum on the topic. So I'm just not sure yet which way I'll go. I guess I'm leaning towards the Interlux Seam Compound unless someone scares me away from it.

Sorry for late response I've been away myself. When I've changed wood before (I've had this boat for 11 years) I bought premixed white lead / putty mix from 'Traditional Boat Supplies' who are in Suffolk, UK. Our old mahogany hull has a high water content and I didn't think that a Sikoflex type product would stick properly. John at Trad boats has an online catalogue where he lists all types of new an traditional products. Might be worth your while to have a look at non-setting bedding compounds etc

I had believed that lead paints / products and the like were illegal in the UK, but some years ago I went to the boat show in London and met John, Trad boats founder, who set me straight. I get the impression from reading this thread that you and he would get on like a house on fire.

Good luck with the build, she looks great!

Stu

PS just in case it's any good to you his website is http://www.tradboats.com/