Planking completed

It’s been a busy couple of months and the planking is now complete.

Volunteer Rachel Gordon, back for Christmas break, is helping with the frame patterns.

All the work last year bending frames has come in handy as framing has been started. Installing each frame is a lot of work and it comes in handy having a supply of frames already made.

First mold is no longer needed and was removed to make more room.

Randy Dearlove checking his measurements.



Photos and captions courtesy Gina Pickton



Lowell's Boat Shop

All rights reserved

Looks like the good folks at the boatshop have indeed been busy. Planking is finished and framing begun. Notice in the first photo that the top two planks are lapstrake. I'm sure you'll all join me in extending Gina, Bruce, Jeff Huffenberger, Newt Kirkland and all the volunteers involved a hearty well done. There's lots yet to be done but it's nice to see the project advancing and looking like a whaleboat. I'll get down there soon and follow up with some more photos.

Interestingly, I received an email from Graham MacKay, Manager of Lowell's Boat Shop in Amesbury MA saying that they are currently fundraising to build yet another whaleboat for the Morgan, beginning this coming fall. Lowell's was for decades a successful family owned concern, is on the National Historic Register and is somewhat uniqe in being both an ongoing commercial boatyard and a museum. From the website:

Established in 1793, Lowell's Boat Shop is the oldest continuously operating boat shop in the United States and is cited as the birthplace of the legendary fishing dory. Lowell’s is the only remaining survivor of the area’s world-renowned dory manufacturing industry that produced in excess of a quarter of a million dories over a period of two centuries. Building more than 2000 boats in 1911, this business was one of the first in the Nation to employ a seminal form of assembly line manufacturing.
With the founding of his company, Simeon Lowell made radical innovations to traditional boat design. Known for their efficiency, durability and sea worthiness, Lowell dories became the heart and soul of the Gloucester fishing fleet. In the waning days of the great fishing industry, recreational boaters turned to Lowell dories for the same qualities that attracted the fishermen. Rowing clubs, hunting camps, the Boy and Girl Scouts and the Lifesaving Service all sought Lowell dories and skiffs for their maritime experiences.
Conveyed through seven generations of the Lowell family, Lowell’s Boat Shop was passed to the Odell family in the 1980’s and then to the Newburyport Maritime Society in the 1990’s. In 2006, Lowell’s was purchased by Lowell’s Maritime Foundation, an independent non-profit group with the mission of leading this National Landmark and Working Museum through its third century of wooden boat building.

I'm sure to be hearing more from Graham in the coming months and hope to keep you informed about this project as it progresses. Lowell's makes, among others, this finely kitted out sailing dory.

Original post Thomas Armstrong for Whaleboats for the CW Morgan

Planking taking shape

Wendy Byar

Four planks up counting the garboard

Plank 5 going on

5th plank
The 2nd thru 6th planks are clench nailed to battens. It is sort of like carvel with a backing plank. I suppose the battens reinforce the seams since the planks are thin for lightness and they are not nailed to the molds. It takes some care with the anvil and hammer to keep everything aligned so neither the planks or battens split. The frames are fitted after the boat is planked. It is taking a beautiful shape. The 5th and 6th planks were wumped, or prebent to a cupped shape before being hung. the last two planks will be hung lapped.

Courtesy Wendy Byar

Gina Pickton

Wendy Byar and Newt Kirkland attaching a plank

Knot drilled out with Forstner bit and replaced with a bung

Jeff and Newt have been making good progress with planking the boat. The process of putting a plank on is the same for each one, a set of steps that gets repeated over and over again until all 16 are on

We start by spiling the pattern and preparing the boards. The cedar we have is not long enough to span the entire length of the 28ft whaleboat so we have to scarf two pieces together. After planing each board to the proper thickness, we use our pattern to cut the proper shape into the boards, making sure to leave enough room for the scarf. Next we repair any parts of the plank that need it, drilling out knots and replacing them with bungs and adding dutchmen where necessary.









As the planks work their way up around the turn of the bilge, they get wider and wider. In order for the board to take the curve we bend them before attaching them to the boat. To do this we use a process called Whomping.

You can see more about how we do this by watching the videos above. Narrated by John Schwarzenbach

courtesy Gina Picton

Thomas Armstrong

Wen Byar clench nailing

From Wendy's blog Green Boats:
"Here is the skinny. We drill the holes through the plank and batten, and place the nail oval perpendicular to the grain. Back it with the iron next to the hole and tap the nail thru from the plank side until it just clears the batten. Move the iron over the nail. Hold it at an angle so the nail starts to turn back into the batten. Tap it home flush with the plank surface."

I was at the workshop Thursday and it was a dark day, which produced this combination of natural and artificial lighting.

She's a long boat at 28'

A nicely turned bilge

Newt and Jeff

She's really taking shape

photos Thomas Armstrong

I made my way down to the Workshop last Thursday to see the progress on the whaleboat. Coincidentally Gina Pickton and the new workshop director Bruce MacKenzie (more on Bruce later @ 70.8%) had put together some photos and videos for me. Wen Byar had also sent me some updates. The boat looks swell and is really graceful, and the work looks top notch. My first impression was of how long, and how sweet she is. The videos will outline the process of wumping or whomping, basically steaming a plank to make it more pliable form fitting the curve of the boat. Thanks ladies and gents, you are doing exceptional work. Special thanks to John Schwarzenbach for his narration on the videos.

Original post Thomas Armstrong for Whaleboats for the CW Morgan

Planking begins...

Garboard in place and a new plank being fitted.

Same

Frames!

More frames on the bending jig

This shot shows how the garboard fits into it's rabbet, or groove, on the keel.

This from about eye level

This photo shows how the garboard conforms to the molds.


all photos Thomas Armstrong

After a great afternoon aboard Gazela for the pirate battle (see 70.8%), I dropped in on Gina at the boatshop to see what progress had been made of the boat. They've started planking but only just. Much more time has been spent over the last month or so bending the approximately100 frames needed for the boat. The actual figure is around 76, but Gina explained they wanted a few extras so they would not have to do them later. As you can see there's a rather impressive pile!
As for the planking, both garboards have been fitted into their rabbet along the keel and a partial first plank or strake as well. Once the frames are all done the planking should proceed quickly. Exciting!
Since John Brady is spending so much time running the museum, a new boatbuilder has been chosen to oversee the day to day running of the boatshop. His name is Bruce McKenzie and I should be meeting him soon.

Stay tuned.

Original post Thomas Armstrong for Whaleboats for the CW Morgan

More progress

Once the keel was laid and the stem attached we realized that the stern post had sprung and no longer would work for the boat. We didn’t have the oak to replace it right away so we moved on to the next step of attaching the molds in place and squaring them up.

Our oak showed up last week, so right away we went to work bending a new stern post.

It took 4 tries to get it right, but we got it.

Final stern post ready to cut it’s rabbet.

With all the oak in we moved forward milling the oak for the 100 frames we need to bend.

Jack and Rachel getting oak stock ready for milling.

Jeff and George determining the right length to cut stock.

While everything else was going on, we still found time to start spiling the garboard planks. In the above photo you can see them resting on the molds waiting to be finished.




all photos and captions courtesy Gina Pickton

Well, as you can see here, things are moving along at the Workshop. Gina has once again told the story rather smartly. Looks as though planking will have begun as you read this or soon after, as the garboard planks are already cut. I'm hoping to hear from Geoff McKonly soon on the New York team's progress.

Building Progress

We’ve made some progress on the Whaleboat in the past few weeks. Going has been a bit slow as we have been waiting for our oak to be milled. We’ve made jigs and patterns in preparation.

Vincent and Salim are working from plans to make patterns.

George Clark is working on the pattern for the rudder

We’ve shaped the keel...

and attached it to the Strongback in place

Mystic Seaport sent down planking cedar and green oak for the stem and stern posts and the next couple weeks were filled with milling the cedar.

Jake Davidson and Alex Miller getting the cedar ready for resawing




We’ve also posted a video of resawing the cedar with the jig that Jeff designed.

Once the mess from the cedar milling was done, the crew got to work on bending the stem and stern posts

Stem and Stern post bending jig.

The whole crew gets in on the steam bending action.

While on the jig we drilled and riveted the posts to help them keep their shape.

Nick Pagan and Charles Bernstein getting ready to attach a strap to the post to help it keep it’s bend over time.

Charles Bernstein and Jeff Huffenberger attaching the stem post to the keel. Jeff welded up a bracket to help support and keep it in place while the build happens.



all photos courtesy Gina Pickton

Thanks to Gina Pickton for this update on the progress of the whaleboat build. The captions are all hers and pretty much tell the story. This I think brings us up to about 2 weeks ago, as I can see that work has gone beyond what's seen here, with molds in place and planking to begin soon.
You can follow the progress on a daily basis by visiting the webcam. More soon!

Originally posted @ Whaleboats for the CW Morgan

Building Molds for the Whaleboats Project

Here we see molds 1 and 2 labeled RtB

Gina here is joining a two piece half mold

and here

Mold # 1 for the ISM boat. These are long and narrow boats. 28' feet long and as Gina measured from the lofting board today, just under 6' beam. They are quick, maneuverable and responsive, and will have gaff rigs.

Mold parts awaiting assembly

More of that (those)

And yet more

Gina Pickton assembling parts into a complete mold

Laying them down onto the lofted lines to check for accuracy

putting it together

You can't really see it, but Gina has in hand a small template for drawing, then cutting, a keel rabbet before joining the mold halves

Keel rabbet

This is a model whaleboat from the museums collection, dusted off and installed in the visitors
section of the workshop so folks can see what the finished boats will look like. Gina says this little exhibit has been very successful.





Amistad, Gina worked aboard Amistad in 2007

courtesy Gina Pickton





Crewing aboard Gazela

courtesy Gina Pickton






Replanking schooner Dolphin

courtesy Gina Pickton



All photos Thomas Armstrong, unless otherwise attributed

Willets Ansel, author of The Whaleboat, defines molds as: 'Temporary forms used in whaleboat construction , around which the boat is planked'. Apparently the term is so ubiquitous I found no other definition in about two hours of searching the internet and boatbuilding texts including Chapelle. So let me attempt to expand on Willets' definition. Molds are built to conform to the inside form of a boat drawing, taken in regular vertical sections and serve as a framework around which the actual boat is built. Most common practice today in traditional construction of small boats have the molds set upside down and the boat is only turned right side up after planking is finished. The whaleboats are built right side up, like Norwegian small boats and most larger boats and ships.
The lines of a boat are drawn full size and laid down on a lofting board. The molds are cut to conform to these lines. Once built, the molds are secured to a 'strongback' or support frame or 'table' to allow the building of the boat.

I visited the boatshop today to see what progress had been made on the building of the molds for the two whaleboats. I found Gina Pickton, an employee of the workshop, busy putting together precut peices of the molds. The mold halves are joined after cutting rabbets for the keel to fit into. After they are joined more rabbets will be cut for battens or ribbands, horizontal strips running the length of the boat to tie the molds together. With molds and ribbands in place and the keel laid, all is secured to the strongback and planking can commence. These boats are unusual as the garboard, (gar·board/ˈgärˌbôrd/
Noun: The first range of planks or plates laid on a ship's bottom next to the keel.) and the next strake (1st strake) and the top two strakes (gunwale and sheer strake) are built lapstrake, while all other planking is carvel.
Gina and co. are building two sets of molds, one for the ISM boat and one for Rocking the Boat in NY.
When I visited, Gina was quite accommodating, answering my questions and allowing me to document her work. She also showed me a portion of a 6 hour (3)DVD set from Mystic Seaport which follows the construction of a whaleboat there. The team at WoW are using this as a guide to sequence their build and to answer many of the questions that come up along the way.

A quick note about Gina Pickton. She has been an employee of the boatshop for about 1.5 yrs. and has been involved with boats for over a decade, mostly larger boats, tall ships. All the work she has done prior to the whaleboat project has been repair/reconstruction maintenance type work. She allowed that she is very excited to participate in a ground up new build project.