Thank you.. Unfortunately health has been a problem here for about 10 months.. But things are looking good as the weather improves and gets warmer, but not to hot, we hope..
Thank you again Muddy....

The cabin has now been finished off with a well deck, the well deck is made of balsa mostly, and the floor is oly, the well deck floor is lined as planks ( urghh ), firstly scored with a blunt Stanley type knife blade the the plank lines infilled with pencil, the floorboard nail marks are just scored with a sharp pin with a little cyno rubbed in the hole to colour the pin prick, decided to make this as an all in one removal unit, it still has to be glazed and fittings plus furniture, as in windscreen , door's consul etc: .. The deck and all other woodwork has been varnished and the cabin roof painted white, awaiting suitable weather to paint the hull, as this is done outdoors.. Muddy....

---

Sorry chaps but canna remember how far into this build we progressed.. But hoping not to bore you, the decks were added, in Walnut planks 5mm x 3mm, edges lined with beech, ( this I named Bendy Beech ) it has been treated and one can tie this in a knot, no need for steaming or water soaking just apply glue and tack it down or clamp it until glue dries. BUT-it aint cheap..
Made a start on the cabin upperworks, this is veneered 3mm ply. Basic innards construction with formers trying to make it as light as possible. More to follow.. Muddy..

---

Hello Gerhard,
and thank you for the interest.
Unfortunately Speranza is on hold and no building has taken place since the last photo update.
The reason being i foolishly did not follow protocol with the Spruce chine stringers, and fitted or attempted to fit them as a solid,
instead of laminating. A short while after they were pinned and glued they sprang and cracked on the bow formers.
This will be repairable with a laminate behind or inside the stringer then shape as drawing.
At the moment i have near completion a Gentleman's Cruiser named Elizabeth..
There is a blog on her..
Speranza is a nice build and should be a good all weather sailor.
If you are building her, good luck and please send in photographs..
Regards Muddy

---

Thanks to all for the likes and response....
The idea was to illuminate painting by using veneer.. We will see.. ! !.. Probably finish up with rolls and rolls of masking tape.. ho ho ho. Regards Muddy.

---

Continuing with the cabin, trying to keep it light in weight.
The sides and inner former's made up, started on the front windscreen's. Forgot the procedure about cutting the windows and then fitting the veneer, fitted the veneer and had to cut out the windows veneer and 3mm ply all glued up. Once the apertures were marked out, purposely drilled though from the veneer side just trying to avoid any splitting of the veneer, it worked. Fitted the front screens and reinforced the framework with 5 min epoxy, a quick sand down and all was well. Next item was the roof, as i wanted a light as possible upper works decided on .8mm ply, it looked and felt a little fragile, but once the Titebond glue was applyed all held down with elastic bands, also using 3 strips of 3/8" x 1/8" Obechie longitudinally down the top of the cabin roof to help stop ant edge "Barrelling" at formers.
Regards Muddy.

---

Upperworks, this launch has a long cabin and a well deck ( Gin Parlour ).. Sides were traced out and cut from 1.5mm ply, internal formers are 3mm ply, spacers and struts Obechie, the cabin front is formed with Balsa which will be covered in 1.5mm ply, all the external faces have been veneered in Mahogany, except the roof which will be probable a piece of ply. The old favourite 1 inch ring saw came into play again for the cutting out of the windows. Applied the veneer after cutting out the windows, have found this easier and it tends not to split and crack the veneer, so one has to recut the window openings but its a very quick and easy job if you use a 1/2 inch drum sander in something like a Dremel hobby type drill.
I,m afraid we have the oposite of Rain stopped play , its Sun stopped play at the moment.. You may notice the "Old Batteries" and cans, used as weights to hold down / compress the veneer, also the Jig saw, bolted to a piece of ply and then clamped into the B&D Workmate, I aint got room for a bandsaw which i would love, so this lash up has done me proud for a few years.
Regards Muddy....

---

Deck Planks, 5 x 3mm Walnut, not a good choice perhaps up a size would have been better Every fixing pin ( .7 x 10 mm Brass Flat head ) had to be pilot drilled. it does sand to a mirror glass type finish but very hard wood, so again a time swallowe'r.
Regards muddy

---

Once the hull was finished, with planking on the base and ply skins on the sides, made a start on the deck.. Decided to go for Walnut 5 x 3mm with pear .5mm as caulking. Quickly found out it was bad choice, as each pin/nail hole had to be pilot drilled.
Using a bradawl just split the Walnut planks. it may have been better using 6 x 3mm for planks.. And what with this weather, not at all helpful in the quickness of construction. The spray strips were added next to the chine and at deck level, plus a couple of reinforcement strips along the sides, i refer to em' as bumper bars. The next thing was the hatch combing, this is .8mm ply with a 3mm square top edging, hoping to improve water ingress improvement.
Regards Muddy

---

Playing with different strips of caulking but reverted back to what i usually do, the quickest, in this instance Walnut planks 3mm x 5mm with .5mm Maple vertically mounted to imitate caulking..

---

Fitted the deck combing and the side skins.

---

Started on the bottom skins, these were removed and obechie planked instead. Checking the furniture, motors propshafts and props.

---

Thank you.. more pics to follow..

After a long lay-off, not requested or wanted. The call of the sawdust was here again.. Looking back at the Gentlemans Cruiser, i decided to start afresh with its sister ship, Elizabeth.
She is a hard chine construction so was hoping to get her to water in record time. But the gremlins set in when the hull had to be skinned.. The bottom skins did not want to play ball, or maybe it was me on a not so good day, but persevered and then planked the bottom in Obechie 6mm x 3mm, and then fitted the side skins vertical grained, and i must admit they fell on, no grunting and moaning with the hull frame in a half nelson trying to bash home a few pins, it was like hanging wallpaper..
The basic hiull is not as drawing with built up bulkheads but the keel and bulkheads are 5mm ply. Chines are 3/8" x 1/8" spruce and Obechie, obechie to the outer edges, easier to work.

---

Thanks for the comment, but lesson learnt, I hope...
Regards Muddy...

Thanks Dave, I,m amazed at the wealth of info that is available on this site, many thanks.. Regards Muddy..

Hello, Try Arun 52..As far as i can recall there were only the 52 Footers.. I may be wrong ! Or as someone has mentioned The Enthusiasts Society of the RNLI, they very helpfull. The Main Man used be a chap named Mr .... Clutterbuck..
Good hunting Muddy.

---

Thanks for the info and the K-K film.. Wonderful stuff.. Muddy....

---

Started on the upper-works/cabin. Ring saw came into its own again. Followed up by the small mini drill, similar to a Dremil but with a bigger chuck which is handy, using Dremil 1/2" drum sander to clean up the window inner edges. Used 1.5mm ply for the cabin sides as they are going to be veneered, found a pice of veneer under the bench it nearly had roots, and i think, think, it's Teak. This was all glued up under weight using a PVA glue, probably the one in the pics, but an Alphatic. then when glue well and truly dry, Using a No10 scalpel blade to remove the innards of the window frames, and a quick swish with some fine grade sandpaper, not sure about any window frames as yet. ( to many windows for me ... ! ) Regards Muddy....

---

Hello Doug, know what you mean about ring saw's, when i was apprentice we had a type of ringsaw that was retained on its former or mandrel by a couple of 6BA screws, it wern't the best idea but they did work but blade life was limited when cutting into Trunking and switchgear even with a cutting paste/oil. But Black and Decker appeared at about this erra with their ring saw and it was a much better idea, but being new they were expensive. Bought this set about 15 years ago from Machine Mart, think they are "eastern" copies and ok on/in wood. Like your setup of the wood bits but i only have a battery drill here not a bench or pillar drill, so dont know if they would be suitable. in my case it was more of how much, and instant availability. Thinking back and i still use this method sometimes is to simply wrap sandpaper, about a 180 grade around a piece of 1/4" dowel or larger to suit the required radius, and it is surprising how quickly the "clean-up/radi" appears ..lol..Cheers Muddy ....

---

Phewwww... thats a relief, glad i aint on my own.. regards Muddy ....

---

Thanks for the pics Dave M and the info, what a lovely job has been done on the deck planking, now thats a credit to its owner/builder. Do you happen to know what the drive assembly consists of..? Regards Muddy....

---

Many Thanks Doug.. and ok about your saw, my hollowing out of bulkheads mainly concerns a ring saw as a typical electricial would have/use and the inverted jigsaw in the work-mate, the ring saw sets the internal radius, usually about 1" blade. Or a 3/8" drill into the bulkhead preferably close to the inner edge, and then using the jig saw, inverted.. I tend to use the metal work blades for the jigsaw, as they are a much thinner profile enabling tight radi to be tackled..Sea scout, now there a nice size boat , a blast from the past..Tnx for the info..Regards Muddy....

---

Many thanks, but hats off to you Sir.. I could never cope with warship scales, to fine a quality of skill required.. 1/32 nd.. is about my limit.. Now i am envious of a band saw, had one about 45 years ago, sold it, regretted it ever since..

---

Hello, The keel was cut on the 13th of May 2017.
Power tools are the secret, i would not like to be without the Proxxon table saw, and or the B&D jigsaw plus a Battery drill, makes life a lot easier. The longest job so far has been the Deck planking, it's more like anger management..lol...
Hope this helps, regards Muddy....

---

Hello, Fitted the combing, the deck , and started the Fore Planking, this time with Mahogany planks (5mm x 1.5mm ) and white wood caulking (0.5mm) mounted vertically. Adding some colour to the motor mounts, and drive chain, makes it easier when final assembly takes place as in electrical wiring. Regards Muddy....

---

Running gear or furniture.. Once the skeleton or frame was completed it's a good idea to dry fit all the running gear, Drive motors shaft's and prop's, plus the radio gear and battery boxes/trays, and even sound unit locations. Then start the skinning. This hull has very curvy bottom skins, in that they turn from the transom to the bow 90 degrees sharply. Tried some test pieces of vertical grain ply, ( 1.5mm ) but it was the same as horizontal grain.. Skins were placed in as large as pieces as possible at about 45 degrees to the keel, or planking in ply.. Not a pretty sight, but makes life a lot easier. The skins were dry fitted with brass pins first, mainly to assist in the cutting of the skin shape. When the bottom skins were completed and rough trimmed the side skins were applied and these were vertically grained, again makes life a lot easier and they fall onto the stringers, means less brass pins and elastic bands. Not forgetting to drill some 1" holes in the breast-hook and No; 1 former, as i always pour in a little Fibre glass resin to help seal the bow section and add some strength. Regards Muddy....

---

Just a note about the Bulkheads, There are 1/4" x 1/4" Stringers and 3/8" x 1/8". After the bulkheads were all marked out, remembering the old rule measure twice and cut once. Picked up a piece of 3/8" x 1/8" Obechie and placed it onto the bulkhead checking the marking out, whoops something was wrong the marked location was to small, wishing to return the next day and start cutting at first light, they were remarked, but when i did four from the Transom, for some unknown reason i decided to measure again.. The air was blue..... I had by accident picked up a piece of scrap of 1/2" x 3/16".. A long pause and "to ponder" what to do next. Scrap the bulkheads and start again or make do and mend, 5mm marine ply aint cheap, in other words apply some modelers license.. Modeler's license won, as it usually does. So the stringers were "Shimmed", maybe not pretty, but it worked and hopefully does not make the structure weak..And now its been skinned, who knows about it..!

---

Hello, after rummaging around the plans bag, and finding the Speranza, which i did start and hope to continue as the infill to this build, sorry Alan... But don't blame me, someone did a post on an old Gentleman's cruiser, and i was hooked, the power of the press hey !.. Away we went, cutting keels, bulkheads, dry fits , fitting stringers, then realizing this is going to be bigger than I though.. Regards Muddy ....

---

Colin, the "pm" had me puzzled for a while, but now i have found the reason why, so apologies to all, this was not meant to happen, am still trying to find my way around the site... Please post it if you like, with apologies to all.. Regards Muddy....

---