Ketch Barge "Pearl of Ipswich"

Started by Joe727

16 updates 78 likes 40 comments
Joe727 #11 of 17

Deck & Hatches

Sub-Deck installed and I will have to decide on planking later. Hatches framed out, hatch covers made from basswood side and very thin plywood roofs. Used neo magnets to secure covers in place, these are very strong magnet!

Slot through hull, barely visible, is for the keel. Modifying an old US1Meter keel and lead bulb as needed for sailing at the pond.
Bowsprit bits shown and opening through bow for sprit which will be retractable for transport and storage.

Working on masts and booms to accommodate gaff rigging, etc. Wheelhouse and rudder being designed now.

My focus is on making a RC Sailing boat, so I am not replicating fine details of the original barge, but making everything workable. My background previously has been on racing boats, like the US1Meter class. More to come shortly, working on this full time (retired), started again last night. Thank you for your support.
Joe
Liked by marky and jacko and
3 comments
  1. Joe727
    Commander
    Thanks Martin, I have been just as busy in my retirement as when I was working. Can't sit still and I like to work! Joe

Sign in to comment on this update.

Joe727 #12 of 17

substructure photos

I found some photos I had prior to decking that I thought might be of use.
Liked by mturpin013 and jacko and
3 comments
  1. Nerys
    Fleet Admiral
    Very impressive workmanship, this build is coming along very well and your ability to do so much work with purely hand tools is a breathe of fresh air. Carry on, you're doing great.

    Nerys

Sign in to comment on this update.

Joe727 #13 of 17

Wheelhouse, Masts, Booms, fittings

The Wheelhouse was designed to cover the rudder servo. Just mocked up right now, built with basswood, more detail will be added. Hole in roof is for the Mizzen Sail sheeting. Made two sheeting tubes out of brass which I am about to locate and epoxy through the decking.

Masts are made from birch and are hand tapered with a small wood plane. All booms are made from discarded carbon fiber arrow shafts. I have been using these for years on all of my boats including my 1 meter racing yachts. Fittings are made from bits of wood and brass. I use hand tools to cut and form the brass and wood items.

I spent two years on a work assignment on Grand Cayman Island and I built a Falmouth Gaff rigged cutter to occupy my spare time. All I had was some hand tools I brought with me, I learned to stay away from power tools and got back to the way I learned from my father and grandfather in the 50's. Now, I first try to build most things with hand tools only, it's very satisfying. More to come, thanks for the interest.
Joe
Liked by Ronald and marky and
7 comments
  1. Nerys
    Fleet Admiral
    Joe, I don't know if, or how much you have studied the type of barge that you are building, but there is an excellent book on the subject, 'The Big Barges' by Harvey Benham and Roger Finch. The one you are building 'Pearl' of Ipswich is mentioned and photographed in the book as she was the last of the Ipswich boomies and ended her days as the 'Pearl Wood' at Hoo after spending some years as a powder hulk anchored off Gravesend.

    Cheers, Nerys
    Liked by Joe727 and Martin555
  2. Joe727
    Commander
    Nerys,
    The two books that I used for my research are Sailing Barges by Frank Carr and Barges by John Leather. Both have photos and drawings of the Pearl and the history as you mentioned. I chose the Pearl because there were enough drawings that I could build her from scratch. As mentioned earlier, I am building a RC boat so primarily the hull and sail types will be close to the original. The deck layout will be more to accommodate the RC aspects of the boat.

    As to the sails, I will use the general sail plan however, I first determine the Center of Lateral Resistance of the hull during water float tests, then I design the sails to the correct Center of Effort. Then I cross my finger and hope for the best during sea trials.

    Working on the sail servo, arm design and sheeting now, more photos to come once I get through this effort.
    Joe

Sign in to comment on this update.

Joe727 #14 of 17

Sail Servo, power switch type

The location of the sail servo was determined by mocking up all sail sheeting and through deck opening locations. Servo is a Futaba S3802, I have used this Servo type on many boats including my US1Meter racing yacht and some sailing fishing trawlers. Very powerful.

The servo arm is scratch built out of carbon fiber sheet and I use fishing pole eyelets in the openings for smooth sliding of the sheets.

While wood glue is drying on the servo mount blocks, I am prepping the power switch. See photo for Dubro switch type that I use on all of my boats. You must buy a small slide switch to mount on this. I modify these by threading a longer metal rod to replace the short one in the kit. This enables me to mount these through the boats deck and keep it above the deck somewhat to keep water sloshing on the deck from getting in the boat.

Examples of the end result are shown in two photos, one from my brooklyn tug and one from my rescue pusher tug.
More to come.
Joe
Liked by Ianh and Ronald and
6 comments
  1. roycvBronze
    Fleet Admiral
    Hi I agree the racing machines are of a different order. I only do scale sail, but at the moment I am working on a 27 inch loa hull I bought on Gumtree, well actually I have 2 very similar hulls They look identical but have some small variations in beam, both carved out of a single piece of wood a bit like a half size Marblehead from the late 50's.
    They are really well made (and I am b****y fussy), only needed a bit of cleaning up. It was a bargain 2 beautiful hulls for £30 the pair, I had to go to Salisbury to pick them up but well worth the journey.
    I have, like yesterday, just set one of them up with the sails from an Aeronaut Bella. Fortunately the hulls are hollowed out and now I shall fit the RC ready to get out and sail asap.
    I will take some photos and work out how to post them.
    regards Roy
    Liked by Ronald
  2. roycvBronze
    Fleet Admiral
    Hi Joe I usually manage to work out the CLR using the bath. I put a strip of masking tape about where I expect it to be then use a pencil to push the yacht sideways. I mark the tape and work my way along pushing and marking. When I can always use the same point to push the yacht sideways several times that is what I opt for.

    Some say to not have the rudder in but I always leave it in place. I then place the C of E 4% ahead of the waterline length of the CLR. That decides where the mast position is. This works for my scale and sailing yachts.

    Does this work out for competitive yachts? Perhaps you use another method?
    regards Roy

Sign in to comment on this update.

Joe727 #15 of 17

Barge Ketch....back at it!

I started this barge build in early 2019, was not happy with the planking, so it went on the shelf for a year. I did some more work on the hull and continued the build in early 2020. Then back on the shelf while I was building two sailing yachts.

Pulled it back out last week and did some hand painting of the deck, etc. Varnished it today and will continue this build till she's ready to launch.

Yes, I have three sailboats going at once 🙄🙄😁

Joe 😎
Liked by MouldBuilder and Martin555 and
6 comments
  1. Joe727
    Commander
    Bill,
    Thanks for the interest and comments, I appreciate it. 👍

    The red deck came from my search of a number of actual barges on the web, thought I give it a try, I like it too.

    Took some time finding all the parts and pieces I had been working on. Luckily I take some notes and photos as I work. I am excited about getting back to it.
    Joe 😎
    Liked by Martin555
  2. Joe727
    Commander
    Martin,
    Doing three builds at once, just my way of staying safe & sane in unusual times. 👍👍👍
    Joe 😎
    Liked by Martin555

Sign in to comment on this update.

Joe727 #16 of 17

Keel build

Designed first. Sketched out the keel design for the barge. Three layers of 1/8" plywood will be laminated together and shaped with a wood plane. Threaded rod will be inserted to allow for the metal bulb attachment. Keel will insert into the boats trunk that is already installed.

Now to let the glue dry for first side lamination.
Joe 😎
Liked by MouldBuilder and jbkiwi and
3 comments
  1. Joe727
    Commander
    Rick,

    "Clamp clamp has anybody got a clamp"

    What is it about clamps, no matter how many and how many different sizes and types, I can always use MORE! 😁

    Joe 😎
    Liked by RNinMunich and Ianh and

Sign in to comment on this update.

Joe727 #17 of 17

Steel Bulb not lead experiment

Right now I don't really have the setup to cast lead bulbs so I thought I would try something different. Since this is sailing barge and not a racing yacht I thought I could get away with a larger size and less sleek bulb, one made out of steel rather than lead.

I sketched up a design based on the density of steel that would give me about 5 lbs. See sketch. I picked up a 1 3/4" x 12" steel bar from the local metal supply house. Intent was to turn it on my mini lathe which I did but was a lot of work. I had to freehand the curved shape so it's not perfect but will do the job for a barge. End result weighs in at 5.2 lbs!

I will drill a single hull for attachment to the keel and supplement with epoxy. Shown with the still rough shaped keel in photo. Plywood keel will be shaped today with hand planes and sanding. Rough rudder show as well.
More to come..... Joe 😎
Liked by MouldBuilder and mturpin013 and
2 comments
  1. Nerys
    Fleet Admiral
    I think what you are proposing for your keel weight is ideal. I don't envy you making the bulb virtually by hand. As you say, you are building a barge, not a racing yacht.

    All the best, Nerys
    Liked by Joe727 and Martin555
  2. tomarack
    Sub-Lieutenant
    Hi,
    On the other hand, there is a simple program for calculating the load, which I have used several times. It can of course be used for materials other than lead. It is possible to select a suitable bulb shape in it, the output is possible as a drawing in 1: 1 scale.
    TX
    http://www.onemetre.net/design/bulbcalc/bulbcalc.htm
    Here is this program with a detailed calculation procedure. This comment is for the footy class, where the optimal weight of the bulb is around 250 g (approx. 9 oz)
    http://www.sailfootyuk.com/use-markos-bulb-calculator.html
    Liked by figtree7nts and Joe727 and

Sign in to comment on this update.

Delete this post?

It will be removed from the site.

Discard this draft?

Your draft will be deleted and cannot be recovered.

You have an unfinished draft

What would you like to do with it?