Caledonia Yawl build downunder

[neil.henderson]

How long do you reckon this one will take?

The plan is to take a few years............................................. .........

Regards Neil

[neil.henderson]

This could become a boat :-)

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Lots of shaping of moulds, stems, etc........ to do but couldn't resist dropping the keelson on.

Regards Neil

[Steamboat]

Something about this feels familiar! Which version are you going to make, open or decked?

[Steve TN 15]

Neil. I answered your question in Kens thread but I'll put it here too with the US supplier I got them from, with funnel.

https://duckworks.com/stop-loss-bags/

[neil.henderson]

Neil. I answered your question in Kens thread but I'll put it here too with the US supplier I got them from, with funnel.

https://duckworks.com/stop-loss-bags/

Thanks Steve :-)

[neil.henderson]

Something about this feels familiar! Which version are you going to make, open or decked?

I am building version II with 7 planks per side. At the moment I'm planning to have a deck at the stern so that I can have an outboard well, but with open sidebenches & no forward deck. This plan may change of course.......................... I am not planning overnight trips so I don't think I need a lot of stowage in the boat though may add some wee nooks for sunglasses, drinks bottle, spare lines and the like.........................

Regards Neil

Regards Neil

[neil.henderson]

After several weeks of heavy rain and a couple of weeks looking after my wife after hand surgery I have managed to glue step1 of the build :-) Fortunately my wife's hand is mending well.
Not quite sure if I have shaped the end of the keelson properly, but I've kept the bits I cut off so can always glue them back on.

After the glue has fully set I can start the shaping of moulds and keelson. And make a blank template for the garboard plank. Good to see some progress happening.
All the local birds seem to be feeding youngsters - so we had 7 Kookaburras on the back verandah yesterday.

Regards Neil

[Steve TN 15]

Sounds very promising Neil, I've just moved into my new place so am looking forward to getting Miss Caroline wet a lot more often.

[WayneT]

Nioce progress Neil.
Very interested in the CY so I look forward to seeing yours develop.

[neil.henderson]

Boatbuilding - the art of turning beautiful, expensive timber into bendy bits, sawdust and woodchips using tools which are best used by experts (non moi).

The pattern plank is laid on the keelson and moulds. I am not skilled in spiling so I make pattern planks........


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Fortunately 4mm brace ply bends well & its cheap if this turns out to be rubbish.

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My boat building area is at the end of our back garden - a nice work area :-)

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Regards Neil

[Steamboat]

Neil, you should try spilling again. Really it is not that hard, even I could work it out. Maybe these videos would help:https://www.offcenterharbor.com/vide...art-1-spiling/. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehKHsCawSuE. I think in the long run it would save you time. I you try it again just give it a couple of shot with some thin scrap ply wood.

Good luck!

Tom

[TerryLL]

I'll second that vote for spiling. It's really quite simple and a skill you should master. Making pattern planks can get you into a world of hurt if you are using pattern stock that is more pliable than the plank stock. The CY has widely-spaced moulds and needs to be spiled on stock that has the same stiffness as the plank stock. Get rid of that 4mm pattern stock because the finished plank you cut from it will be troublesome to impossible to fit to the offsets marks.

[Michael_Owen]

If I remember, on my Whilly Boat, I made a spiling batten of scrap ply hot-glued and stapled together into a rough curve that I tacked into place where the new plank would go.

Then, I placed the sharp end of a compass on the top edge of the previous plank's bevel (for garboard the middle of keel) and swung an arc, moved the compass a few inches and swung an arc that intersected that one, move a foot or two along and swung another, intersecting pair of arcs. Did this ten or more places. (the more, the more accurate). This defines the shape of the upper edge of the plank. For the other edge, you can only swing the arcs from your molds, where they change plane, so you'll only have as many reference points as you have molds.

spiling plank.jpg

Remove spiling plank from molds, lay it on the planking stock, and reverse the process, and voila! you have a pretty accurate set of points to either spring a batten along or connect however you want.

I know you have built two lovely boats already, so please forgive the tutorial if it is un-wanted! For my Ilur, I got the full-sized mylar patterns. !0 strakes per side. Took me a year to plank!

Keep up the good work and documentation, Neil!

Mike

[neil.henderson]

It is wet, wet, wet here. La Nina is out in force. But anything is preferable to the fires we had a couple of years ago - never again in my lifetime I hope though we do keep getting warmer which doesn't help.
Here is a photo of Cuthbert looking very soggy so my wife took pity on him :-) and fed him.
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Ok, I'll try spiling. I watched a video on youtube which showed 3 methods - thing I'll try the one which uses short fingers/pointers of timber hot glued down onto the spiling plank, then just tack the spiling plank onto the timber for the actual plank, bend your batten around the 'fingers' and away you go. Sounds easy doesn't it!! I'll let you know.

Regards Neil

[Andrew Donald]

Neil, when I tried spiling on my boat couldn’t get it right. But I recently saw somewhere that you need to get your spilling plank laying on the same plane as what the plank wil lay. So if the plank will be overlapping the next plank down (upright boat I’m talking) then your spiling plank needs to also lay in the overlapped level, so that if it was wider it’d be overlapping.
hope that’s clear. Also I didn’t see this piece of wisdom in time to try it but sounds feasable.

[biglad]

When I built my CY I spiled the the planks as Mike suggested. I use lengths of planking stock connected by a butt block so I could change the angle of the sailing plank as you approach the gunwales.

I marked the centreline on the keelson, then planed each side of this to the same angle as the moulds. When the sailing plank is laid across the moulds where the first plank will go, I put the compass point on the centreline and drew the arc. On the upper side (lower as you're looking at it) I put the compass point on the mark on the mould and drew the arc. Transfer the mark as Mike suggests and you're good to go.

For the next plank, I planed the upper edge of the garboard so it's at the same angle as the mould where next plank will go. The point at which the unplaned plywood meets the planed plywood is the place I put the compass point.

I quite enjoyed it. The first few planks are at the bottom of the boat so I figured I had a few I could learn on, before I got to the ones that would be most visible.

My dad helped me, we did a plank both sides in 2 evenings a week. One a plank and then a third to tidy them up, cut the rabbits and plane them ready for the next set.

Ben

[TerryLL]

Another small technique is to alternate sides as you plank up the hull. Spile the first plank on the stbd side for example and then use that plank as a pattern for the port side. Then spile the second plank on the port side and use that plank as a pattern for the stbd side. By alternating sides you can compensate for small differences and keep the plank job more symmetrical.

[dalekidd]

I'm certainly not the one to advise on spiling since I'm building my first boat that requires it. But here's my experience with it. My CIY 16 has 10 planks that needed spiling. I'm using the "divider" method. I draw a line at each mold (frame or station, whatever you choose to call it) that follows the mold. I take a home made divider and set one point of the divider on the line and make an indentation with the point. I open the divider to the point that lies on the line where my plank will be and the intersection of the station. I transfer that distance to the batten and make another indention. I repeat with the distance to the break of the other edge of the plank. So I now have 3 indentions (very small nail holes). I repeat this at each mold. When done, I transfer the measurements to my planking plywood using the divider.

Here's my homemade divider. I used small nails with the heads clipped off for points. In the picture I'm measuring from my point on the spiling batten to where my plank needs to land. My first plank butts up to the keel plank. It does not overlap it. My other planks overlap so I measure to the inside edge of the lap on those.

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Here are the 3 points on the batten at one of the molds. The small nail impressions are circled so I don't lose them. I have had a couple times where the spiling batten was too wide at a given station. I simply drilled a very small hole through the batten at the point, circled that hole and used it to transfer the measurement to my plywood. Just stick a small nail through it, tap it and your point is transferred.

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My first plank was off about 1/4". Clint, my boats designer, suggested that I might need a stiffer batten, so I laminated another strip of 5mm ply to it. My next planks have come out very nicely. I cut one out 2 days ago and I would say it hits my lines within 1/8". I can certainly live with that.

Here is a pic of the way I connect the battens. In the video that I watched the guy hot glued his two pieces together. I have a small glue gun but it won't put down enough glue in a short time for me to trust it, so I bolt them together. The connection is very tight.

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As one of the previous posters pointed out, make sure your batten is on the same plane as the plank you are making. In other words, if your batten doesn't overlap like the plank will (and it won't along it's entire length) make sure it sits out like it would if it did overlap. I've been driving a little nail in my molds and using a straight edge to get it at the right depth to keep the batten in the same plane. I don't have a pic of this but maybe this drawing will help.

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Here's my batten in place set up to be marked. You'll note that it's already marked up pretty good. This was my fifth plank. I've been very careful to mark out the old marks. I think I'm going to use a different color to mark my last two, or I thought about whitewashing it.

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Make sure the batten is not binding in any way, that it lies on the molds without forcing it.

I've only got 2 more planks to go. I'll be posting more on my thread soon.

I'm sure others have more expert advice, but maybe this will help a bit. Good luck.

[TerryLL]

The most concise and clearest explanation of the spiling process can be found in The Dory Book by John Gardner.
Don't overthink it, don't overengineer it, don't improvise. It's a simple method and it works.

[Bernadette]

This could become a boat :-)

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Lots of shaping of moulds, stems, etc........ to do but couldn't resist dropping the keelson on.

Regards Neil

it WILL become a boat!!!
looks good Neil.
just wondering if that's a paperbark swamp out the back of your yard?
not to detract from your boat building but experiencing the movements of birds and other wildlife does make for an interesting time when working away.

[TerryLL]

Neil, I am watching your thread with great interest, but one detail intrigues me. You opted for a steam-bent inner stem, but a laminated outer stem. Why is that? And is the aft inner stem also steam-bent?

[neil.henderson]

Neil, I am watching your thread with great interest, but one detail intrigues me. You opted for a steam-bent inner stem, but a laminated outer stem. Why is that? And is the aft inner stem also steam-bent?

Hi Terry, I have made 4 stems (2 of which Iain calls aprons) - all are made by laminating stem bent Queensland Kauri. I made a steaming box and used a wallpaper stripper from Bunnings to generate the steam - seemed to work well. I had steam bent timber previously so used the 1 hour per 1 inch of thickness rule.

Regards Neil

[neil.henderson]

it WILL become a boat!!!
looks good Neil.
just wondering if that's a paperbark swamp out the back of your yard?
not to detract from your boat building but experiencing the movements of birds and other wildlife do make for an interesting time when working away.

The swamp/wet-area is full of Casuarinas - apparently planted years ago to soak up water, water is only there after heavy rain, mostly dry.. The area is currently full of young birds being fed by the Mums & Dads - we had 7 Kookaburras on the back balcony the other day, then sulphur crested Cockatoos, Butcher birds.......its very busy.

[TerryLL]

Hi Terry, I have made 4 stems (2 of which Iain calls aprons) - all are made by laminating stem bent Queensland Kauri. I made a steaming box and used a wallpaper stripper from Bunnings to generate the steam - seemed to work well. I had steam bent timber previously so used the 1 hour per 1 inch of thickness rule.

Regards Neil

OK. that makes sense. I thought that you had used solid timber for the inner stems (aprons) and laminated outer stems. Laminating all is he right way to go. When I built my CY I used 3/16 doug fir lams for both inner and outer stems, which did not require steaming. I have several hundred pics of my build and may be able to help you out from time to time. Mine was an early 4-plank, so there will be some differences.

Carry on. Cheers.

[neil.henderson]

No going back now, the 1st garboard is glued on :-)

Compare to other planks I have glued this was not a difficult one though I have left the cutting of the gains (which may well be tricky) till after the glue has set whereas I normally cut gains on the bench before gluing on. The ends of the garboards near the stems are narrow and might break I thought.

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The plank bending device in the photo is patent pending !! not.................... sure made twisting the plank as I approached the stem a lot easier and could hold it in position as I work mostly single handed. Chilli (the labrador) had seen it all before as you can tell from her expresssion :-)

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Regards Neil

[Steve TN 15]

Nice, she's on her way to becoming a boat!
On my TN I cut the gains in situ, I used a stanley knife to cut a 250mm edge against a steel rule pushing in harder as I moved forward then used a shoulder plane to take the cuts and make the gain, a little tidying up with a good sharp chisel and it worked very well.

[Steamboat]

Great to see that you broke the ice and dove in! It gets easier from here. My I suggest that you try "cloths pins" for the planks. I have very many left over from my build, I'd bring them over but the walk is a little too long. Also when you bevel the receiving plank accurately the incoming plank should lay right down on the mold where it belongs.

Tom

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[neil.henderson]

Great to see that you broke the ice and dove in! It gets easier from here. My I suggest that you try "cloths pins" for the planks. I have very many left over from my build, I'd bring them over but the walk is a little too long. Also when you bevel the receiving plank accurately the incoming plank should lay right down on the mold where it belongs.

Tom

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Thanks Tom, I have a box of the clothespeg clamps left from my previous builds - I like then because they are so quick & easy to use. Planing the bevel is real fun - I love doing it - I use a batten on the next lap lines with a piece of ply lying across between batten an existing plank to get the angle of the bevel - very easy after a bit of practice :-)

Regards Neil

[neil.henderson]

Thanks Steve :-)

Regards Neil

[neil.henderson]

Ok, I tried spiling and it has produced a ghastly plank ( using 4mm ply) which seems to be nowhere near the plank required. I have clearly done something awfully wrong or maybe my spiling plank (100mm wide cut from 4mm brace ply) was cut from timber that was too wobbly.

Think I'll go back to my tried & trusted pattern planks. Thankyou all very much for the wonderful writeups and photographs.

Merry Christmas Neil

[neil.henderson]

I have now glued up a doubling pf the thickness of the spiling plank - will try 1 more time :-)

Neil

[dalekidd]

I have now glued up a doubling pf the thickness of the spiling plank - will try 1 more time :-)

Neil

Here's the video that I watched. He covers 3 methods of spiling. I'm rooting for you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI6jm1rAZV0&t=909s

[timo4352]

You can figure out spiling, it is not hard to do.
I got good results my first attempt... I used a combination of 2 different methods, and that worked well for me.
If you want to check out my method, I posted it in this thread ... starts on page 8 post #263... maybe it will help you...

One note of caution is do not force the spiling plank... let it lay naturally on the hull, so then it will also lay naturally when laid flat on the bench on top of your planking stock.

Make a first plank or two from cheap ply close to the same thickness of your planking stock, and test fit it to the hull before you commit to cutting the expensive stuff.

[neil.henderson]

You can figure out spiling, it is not hard to do.
I got good results my first attempt... I used a combination of 2 different methods, and that worked well for me.
If you want to check out my method, I posted it in this thread ... starts on page 8 post #263... maybe it will help you...

One note of caution is do not force the spiling plank... let it lay naturally on the hull, so then it will also lay naturally when laid flat on the bench on top of your planking stock.

Make a first plank or two from cheap ply close to the same thickness of your planking stock, and test fit it to the hull before you commit to cutting the expensive stuff.

Thanks for the feedback - I'm afraid I can't work out how to find posts using post number - could you give me the name of the post please?

Thanks Neil

[Andrew Donald]

Click on the word “thread” in the 3rd line of his post , it takes you straight there Neil