Cutter half hull

[Alex Low]

Ahoy,

Those interested may recall a few excited posts, authored by myself, about the Cockle/Galena/Fox that is in the collection at Mystic Seaport. Well, I went to see her, got the plans, lofted once to see what would happen - and I am now making a half hull. We will be lofting again in September, which I will document on the forum - we had limited time for the first round, and would like to get a fair (or more fair) drawing before we bite this one off and move to the shop floor!

http://www.alexlow.ca/halfhull3.jpg

Anyhow, here we go:

http://www.alexlow.ca/halfhull.jpg

The first thing I did was trace out the body plan and waterlines onto velum so I could use it as a pattern. I also made negative patterns for the body plan (in the background) to test on the half hull.

http://www.alexlow.ca/halfhull4.jpg

I got out some of the finest! pine in the shop and traced the waterlines onto the stock - the thickness being the same as the waterline interval - in this scale = 1/2". I didn't get fancy with any contrasting wood for the waterline, as I plan to paint this one to pull up any unfairness. I will likely make another over the long, dark winter that will hang on the wall - with fancy. Then glued up and voila, what you see.

http://www.alexlow.ca/halfhull2.jpg

Here she is with all the corners knocked off. I will post more as I fair out the hull with the negative patterns from above. Pretty fun stuff.

Alex

[SaltyD from BC]

Way cool. What are the specs on this boat Alex? Length, draft etc.?

[Jay Greer]

Looks like it will be very nice. One trick I use, when carving a half model, is to cut the sheer into the top lifts before cutting the water lines. I often use two sided tape to stabilize the cut out to saw the water line shape afterward. But then I suppose you might already know that.
Jay

[Alex Low]

Hey Salty,

LOA 18'9"
LWL 15'11"
Beam 6'3"
Draft 5'1" (YES!)
Sail Sq ft 330
Disp 5,470 lbs
Lead 2,850

Jay,

That's a great tip -that goes in the plan for the next one for sure. Thanks.

Alex

http://alexlow.ca/images/cockle2.jpg
Photo from the Rudder Treasury

[SaltyD from BC]

LOA 18'9"
LWL 15'11"
Beam 6'3"
Draft 5'1" (YES!)
Sail Sq ft 330
Disp 5,470 lbs
Lead 2,850


Whoah! A sturdy little bugger she is. :D

So is this a for pay build or fer yerself?

[Rick Tyler]

That's an open boat with a D/L of nearly 600. How does a hull like that respond when it meets a big swell? Is it one of those notorious British "half-tide rocks"? Not trying to be argumentative, just askin'.

[Alex Low]

Oh, I wish someone was paying... hahaha. I fellow builder and I are doing this one on our own. We like cutter's and can't afford Luke Powell!!!

As for an open boat, she is actually not open at all: flush deck with a shallow cockpit very stoutly supported from below.

I am not saying this is an ocean going boat by any means, but it is my hope she will do quite nicely in the Salish Sea. She sailed out of the Mystic area for decades - built in 1913, was worthy of total refit in the 50's and 70's, was mentioned by William Garden as one of his favourite boats in Yacht Designs I, made it into a Roger Taylor's Good Boats book, AND is drop dead gorgeous.... this guy will take his chances!!

[Larks]

Looking forward to seeing more progress pics on the model Alex.
cheers
Greg

[PaulC]

One trick I learned from the MIT class was to add at the start an additional 1/2" (ish) to the wall side of the model. This will keep you from knocking all of the corners/edges off as you work toward the back of the model. It keeps them from looking all ragged. That last 1/2" can then be removed once the model is (nearly) finished.