5.5 metre project

[Mike1902]

Interesting work isn't it...keeps the brain working. Nicely done.

[Pertsa]

Interesting work isn't it...keeps the brain working. Nicely done.

Certainly, I am slowly getting better with it.

Not much interesting things to say so here is few pictures more:

[Pertsa]

Quick progress pic. You can almost start to see shape of deck. Note that bottoms of deck beams are not in their final shape.
Sorry for the mess, not very pro. But I am not one

[Larks]

Terrific to see an update and some progress, good stuff!

[cloudsurfer]

Lookin good!

[L'Ankou]

Subscribed!! Very nice job! You're doubling the transom with foam ?

[Pertsa]

Subscribed!! Very nice job! You're doubling the transom with foam ?

Gullvinge had lost its original transom at some point. There was just flat board in place of original curved one. Foam is there to allow me to shape new one and check if it looks part. After that I will be using it as positive mold to laminate new one (to keep weight down you see).

I finally came in conclusion that now when I have suitable place and work rolling I am going to replace main timbers in keel. Ie. keel and sternpost. Now, originally they are oak, as described in drawings. But lately I have seen lots of professional builders using iroko instead in restorations. Apparently it has as good rot resistance and it is slightly lighter. What do you think about that? I can get either one. I know that weight will be in keel, but lighter is better as I want to get it as light as possible to avoid issues running overweight which would result need of cutting lead from keel.

[John Meachen]

Iroko has excellent properties and one really annoying characteristic-it makes me sneeze a lot when I work with it.It can have really tangled grain too,which means taking great care if you intend to varnish it.

[Pertsa]

For some reason Lloyds building instructions does not classify iroko for keel structures at all. ( A is best, B, C then in order ). On the other hand Iroko is listed grade A material for hull planking over and under waterline, so why would it not be suitable for keel and sternpost? I try to use half mask as much as possible when doing dusty stuff and I like to use plane always when I can to avoid sanding dust.
Look does not really matter as this will be in keel, all that is visible is small part in keel under floorboards, so only performance matters there.

[Pertsa]

No more experiences about Iroko? Anyway local professional who has done several 6mR's and 5.5M's also recommended Iroko, he thought that it has little better properties with durability and ease of gluing. And apparently it is more "stable" than oak so it will be easier to make fit. Iroko loses little bit in ultimate strenght but dimensions in these old keels should be more than enough.

But now as hull form is "stabilized" I started to fix that "collapse" in hullform near sternpost. First I started by making sure keel is vertical.

[Balanda2]

Thanks for the updates, Petra’s, I look forward to them.

[Pertsa]

Took rather long to come up something worth to post. First of all I picked up old Stanley for cheap as chips. It cleaned up pretty well. Did not bother to do extra polishing as this will be used for real work.

I managed to drop sternpost away from boat. Boat did not snap in half so I guess it was success. Good choice to change sternpost as old one is certainly shot now as I can see it better. I am going to go to buy some Iroko on friday.

[John Meachen]

That Stanley 010 is something to cherish,far less common than the No 5 and a bit more delicate-so don't drop it!

[Slacko]

I like that plane too.
I stopped myself from pursuing old hand planes a few years ago, just before it got out of hand.
Loving this thread and these metre boats generally.
One I was watching sank after the keel fell off a few years ago. Not sure what happened to it.

[Pertsa]

I read that No 10's tend to crack near that cut. This is still intact so no dropping

I like that plane too.
I stopped myself from pursuing old hand planes a few years ago, just before it got out of hand.
Loving this thread and these metre boats generally.
One I was watching sank after the keel fell off a few years ago. Not sure what happened to it.

I think that at least these older ones are all due major keel work if not done already. They are surprisingly strong for such delicate hull, but after those frames crack there is not much to keep that over ton of lead in correct place. Also boats with steel keelbolts have probably just small steelpins left. I saw pictures of very well taken care of 5mR and when keelwork was started they found out that some keelbolts had perished completely.

[debenriver]

For some reason Lloyds building instructions does not classify iroko for keel structures at all. ( A is best, B, C then in order ). On the other hand Iroko is listed grade A material for hull planking over and under waterline, so why would it not be suitable for keel and sternpost? I try to use half mask as much as possible when doing dusty stuff and I like to use plane always when I can to avoid sanding dust.
Look does not really matter as this will be in keel, all that is visible is small part in keel under floorboards, so only performance matters there.

We built large numbers of classic sailboats with Iroko keels, sternpost, stem, planking etc etc. Like this for example:

Windjammer Keel 37ft ketch 1972.jpg

or this:

Sun Cloud in shop Transom view.jpg

Cheers -- George

[Pertsa]

Thanks for pictures. Looks like it is suitable wood for that purpose. I now have stack of beautiful 3 metres long Iroko planks in my shed.

I have to make drawings of sternpost now, luckily old stenpost had one straight side I can use as reference for measurements.

[bamamick]

A million and one things to do, and you are working through them and will come out of this with a beautiful, marvelous sailing yacht!

If I were 54 years old rather than 64 I think that I would work on bringing another 5.5 to North America from Europe. I really enjoyed the boat I had before diving off into Dragons, and I sometimes regret not getting more involved with the 5.5 class.

Mickey Lake

[Pertsa]

A million and one things to do, and you are working through them and will come out of this with a beautiful, marvelous sailing yacht!

If I were 54 years old rather than 64 I think that I would work on bringing another 5.5 to North America from Europe. I really enjoyed the boat I had before diving off into Dragons, and I sometimes regret not getting more involved with the 5.5 class.

Mickey Lake

Thats right, I have had lately too much else to do, but still moving slowly. Iroko planks are now ready for gluing and I bought 5kg of epoxy last week, so tomorrow I will continue this project.
fcbfbcbfc.jpg

[Pertsa]

Double

[bamamick]

Thank you for this newest set of photos. A question: when you acquired the boat did you think you were going to have to do a total rebuild down to the deadwood and keelson?

It's quite a job, but you are getting it done. Good luck with her, because as I said, you are going to have one heck of a boat when finished.

Mickey Lake

[Pertsa]

A question: when you acquired the boat did you think you were going to have to do a total rebuild down to the deadwood and keelson?

Originally I thought that I could save original ones and even after I had more knowledge about damage in them plan was to just use router to drive cracks open and laminate new wood in them.
But after some thought I decided that it is better do it all once and replace parts completely. Such way I do not need to think about them for rest of my ownership of this boat. If new ones will last 70 years aswell.

[Pertsa]

And week later we have block of wood with nails sticking out of it in living room. Next destination - bandsaw.
htfhfhtfht.jpg

[Pertsa]

After the bandsaw, now it is time to draw shape from side.
rfhhthtfhtf.jpg

[Balanda2]

Thanks for the updates Petsa , I look forward to them

[Pertsa]

Slowly getting there, wood router is certainly worth of 80€ I used to it

ry5yryr5yr55yr.jpg

[Pertsa]

One in the rear is new one. Just to clarify. These are rather challenging parts to make as nothing is straight and measuring them is hard. That small green bullnose plane I bought has been great tool for this.

In the meantime I also started to prepare scarf join to "part of keel where rudder axle comes trough", I tried to look for english name for it, but I could not find anything. It is peräranka in finnish.
As you can see it is no 1:10 ratio, but 1:5. I think it should still be sufficient as I am going to put some trough bolts there and even that horrible old repair apparently lasted for few decades.


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