Building 72' schooner in Viet Nam

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by floatingkiwi

When you have finished the deck sheathing etc and then move to another problem, so the topic of discussion will change.
When people discuss things you are doin' on your boat, they are worrying about how the method or material list can be applied to their own boat.

Well done and good luck and if you need any help, gimme a call.

Thanks for the offer

Well... I might have become a little too sensitive after seeing the way the other thread I had started about that boat had derailed. Anyway, I try to spare time for answering to most questions and keep this thread running, as I know that many folks are mostly investigating all around this forum about the best methods, products etc...for their own boat. Me too! That's the idea of this nice WBF!

[cookie]

I guess I am guilty of searching this forum to find answers to the problems involved with my project. Your worry about the derailing of the thread seems very reasonable to me. After I had made the post, I wondered whether it was ok to interrupt on your gorgeous thread with such a nitty gritty question, only relevant to me and maybe a hand full of others on the Forum.
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question and the continuous sharing of your knowledge with us hungry, curious, but often inexperienced bunch of rascals.

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by cookie

I guess I am guilty of searching this forum to find answers to the problems involved with my project.

Absolutely not guilty! You are perfectly welcome as we all have to help each others.

[Lucky Luke]

As I said earlier, ordinary varnish had been put on all the interior. Since we want to do a deep epoxy impregnation (we use International Everdure for that, but other brands do just as well), all of it had to be taken off. On top of that, this varnishing had been done on a rather lousy preparation, and not nice at all. So, weeks of sanding after, the interior revealed itself in the splendor of it's beautiful wood. A pity, certainely, that most of it will be hidden later by the lining and the inside arrangement, but here it is, at the moment, all visible. The beautifully carved knees and the beams will be left visible and varnished with satin polyurethane before putting the first layer of the new deck on.

The inner side of the transom, Port and Starboard :





Do not think that sanding does not have it's funny moments!



In the future Starboard guest cabin, looking forward at the foremast reinforced frames and hanging knees:



The inner side of the planking in the saloon: beautiful , isn't it? Makes you wonder how come some boats are built differently, with other materials: what does compare, even by a long shot? Aluminum may be what comes closer...but then it is all hidden in ignominious foam ...and carbon fiber?: Hahahahahaha (ROTFLM) !!!!

[Lucky Luke]

At the moment, the most delicious pieces of art are these carved knees. The are made from rosewood, a very beautiful wood that will be gorgeous after varnishing: you will see! This rosewood comes from a tree that had fallen during a typhoon years ago, and that Derek bought from the City Council. NO illegal logging and wood smuggling for this boat!

No comments needed: Just enjoy (and appreciate how the carving was done to receive the bolts and bungs...!):







By right, there should have been a stringer at the foot of those knees, but when you see the power of these laminated frames....mmmmmhh: will do!

[snaiken]

Just incredible. Beautiful boat and great updates. I've been really enjoying this post.

[snaiken]

PS, those knees are unbelievable! Does one guy carve them all? Looks like they all match perfectly.

[Scot L T]

Amazing!

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by snaiken

PS, those knees are unbelievable! Does one guy carve them all? Looks like they all match perfectly.

Yes, one single man, and quite an artist! An old Chinese wood carver (as you can see by his style). Once all the bungs are in place, he will come and do the last touch-ups, on board.

This WHOLE boat is going to be quite a piece of Art!

[kazeai1969]

wow!

[RFNK]

PS, those knees are unbelievable! Does one guy carve them all? Looks like they all match perfectly.

As I'm sure Luc will attest, the quality of woodcarving that can be found in Vietnam is incredibly high. Of course there is a great deal of very ordinary carving but if you really look around you can find carving that is breathtaking - old and new.

This latest batch of photos is great Luc, thanks! Rick

[paladin]

I don't have pictures here, but I had a dining room set made for my mother while I was in Lopburi. The old man that came every morning walked 5 miles from his home to work. I had a picture from a magazine. We had rosewood, so I started by roughing out the planks and joining them to make the table top, then the skirt, then the legs. It had two removable leaves. After the basic work was done, he took over the carving and I and another young man started working on the chairs. We had to be careful of the grain, as he was going to do some light carving on the chairs also. When finished , it was absolutely beautiful. Three months after shipping it arrived at mom's place and the grandkids (hers) assembled it......she almost didn't let anyone eat from the table.but...she did have a large glass cover made for it.
It cost me about $300 for the material and labor, and almost the same to ship it. 3-4 months after it arrived, a fellow that bought material from my mother and aunt was in the house and saw the table. He asked if it was for sale, and mom asked how much, he offerred her about $6000 for it....she just laughed.
She had seen a similar one at one of the really high end furniture places and they wanted $15,000 for it....as a matter of fact, it was photos from there that I used to make hers, and we're talking late 1960's prices. Those elderly Chinese carvers are really damned fine craftsmen. The local offshore fishermen boat builders here locally have two of them employed in Deale, Md. and the guy said he would hire a dozen more if he could get them.

[Daniel Noyes]

They won't have to tear off the carvings and re-do them...the carvings are top quality...

actually looking at the grain patern in one of those carved knees it looks to be a board cut to look like a structural knee, simply cut at an angle from a wide board as opposed to a real grown knee... is that a structural member? or a interieor detail.

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by Daniel Noyes

They won't have to tear off the carvings and re-do them...the carvings are top quality...

actually looking at the grain pattern in one of those carved knees it looks to be a board cut to look like a structural knee, simply cut at an angle from a wide board as opposed to a real grown knee... is that a structural member? or a interior detail.

Would be difficult to "tear off the carvings": they are not glued onto a big flat piece of wood: it is the whole piece of wood that is carved "down", leaving the design protruding.

These knees are effectively not done from curved grain boards as - you're right - they should have been, but quite "real" nonetheless. You can call them "triangles" cut in the shape of a curved grain knee, but with a large radius. In ancient boatyards (that's what I've been told) the curved wood was more precious than the "ordinary" straight grain, and trees were even purposely bent during their growth, or a major branch was not cut off....but now, it is straight, clear timber. This tree gave just a big log: no branches.

But no worry: they are massive, sturdy, and the bolting takes the whole of the "triangle" and that only, while the "real grown knee extra shape" is not mechanically working: as you can see, there is no bolt right at the ends. No risk to have them split across the grain

[neilm]

Wow!

[peter radclyffe]

solid rosewood, what a cost, here its very dear

[Lucky Luke]

Hello again!

While some of the crew are finishing the sanding, some are still busy with odd bits and pieces of wood.

A new flooring support at the bottom of the chain locker, and structure for the access deck hatch has been made. The collision bulkhead behind this chain locker will now be made "solid" again.

The chain locker will not be a whole glassed thing as it was, but a more classic all-wood lining, than can me removed/ replaced, and that moreover will preserve the ventilation/inspection of the hull's inner side. That is also why you can see that the deck hatch structure outer girder is kept at some distance from the blocking between beams, in order to preserve ventilation behind and over the clamp.





To finish with the deck structure, we also had to decide on the shape of the roofs. Some trials on the 3D model made it obvious that the forward roof's forward cabin-side had to be slightly curved, which is not on Ted Brewer's original design. You also can see on this (rough) rendering that the wheelhouse shape is considerably altered when compared with Ted's "Tree of Life": rounded corners, narrower forward. Still to be approved by owners...



Then, the forward and aft (double curvature) cabin side girders have then been laminated, and assembled to the side girders and to the adjoining beam. Roughly triangular pieces of solid rosewood (yes Peter: very dear, but we still got quite some....and it's so beautiful!) will be fitted in between the beams and the girders to fill a deep narrow space that would otherwise be not too pretty, seen from the inside.

Here is the aft cabin one:



...and here the forward roof, above the forward guest cabins:

[Lucky Luke]

The pilot hole for the engine room shaft has been drilled in order to know exactly where the cord line will meet the forward bulkhead.

Here is the pilot hole from the outside:



....and inside, the pilot hole hits the center-line BANG IN!!!(mind that the deadwood is two meters thick!)



Knowing exactly, then, where the cord line hits the forward bulkhead, an "L" shape reinforcement could be made that will take most of the engine's thrust. You can also see, on this picture, that the whole bottom of the engine room has been sheathed in order to avoid oil spills impregnating the wood:



The wheelhouse floor structure, right above the engine room, is made in yellow balau. It is intentionally super-strong as lifting pad-eyes will be fitted under for eventual heavy lifting in engine room with chain-blocks.





Here with the plywood flooring, with a "soft patch" (or engine removal hatch) in the middle, and just beside the cut out in this flooring for the slope of the companionway from the wheelhouse down the salon. The 18mm. plywood floor will later be covered by 8mm. teak with maple inserts:

[Eric D]

Very impressive indeed. I like the shape of the deadwood where it comes to the stern tube. And to hit it right on...nice....

[Jayhawk]

Luke,

I've been haunting your thread for a month now. Just wanted to thank you for sharing your stories with those of us that aren't quite so lucky as you. :=)

(sitting back to enjoy the rest of the show.)

[TonyH]

Ditto! What a wonderful build. The beauty of the planking, the pure sweep of the stringers, those fabulous hanging and lodging knees.... I love it.

It's great to think that ships like this are still being built.

Keep it coming Luke. I can't wait for you to finish this build, so you can start on mine!

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by TonyH

....I can't wait for you to finish this build, so you can start on mine!

It's going to take quite a while: superstructures and skylights, doors and hatches, bulwarks, interior flooring, tanks and piping, mechanical and electrical, main engine and shaft line, generator, exhausts, pumps, batteries and their boxes, chargers, ventilation, rudder and steering, inside arrangement (a lot!), spars (8!) and their fittings, ballast (we may cast on site: 12 tons!) and keel bolts, sheathing, painting, teak decking, sails and rigging (and blocks, deck fittings, a.s.o...), winches, interior equipments, electronics, safety, tenders (to be made: three of them!)......

For the moment, we are with reduced crew, and finishing the interior sanding, cleaning, and just started yesterday the epoxy impregnation. As you can see, after having cut off the ugly aft bulwark that had been made not in accordance with Ted Brewer's pretty design, we still kept the remains of the stanchions in this massive stern frame:



The dry, porous meranti really gobbles the epoxy like a hungry child (International Everdure with 50% thinner on first impregnation, 30% on second, last coat pure, all at one hour intervals) : 3m2 only per liter of Everdure (+thinner) ...and there are 400 m2 to do!

Some hardwood pieces, like the king plank, drink less...and are really beautiful:



The stem, which had been left all square as you could see in previous pictures, is now a nicely shaped cut-water, and the top of the stem shaped for receiving the bowsprit:

[TonyH]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke

It's going to take quite a while...

That's good, I've still got some saving to do!

[peter radclyffe]

Luke how many people do you have to build all these things

[py]

I still remember your first thread where people said you couldn't get good work done over there. Hah!!!

[Sailor]

WOW!!! Maybe I'll have my boat built in Vietnam.

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by peter radclyffe

Luke how many people do you have to build all these things

Hi Peter. At the moment: six. The "normal" team is eight, who have been in the making of this boat since the very beginning.

[Lucky Luke]

Originally Posted by Sailor

WOW!!! Maybe I'll have my boat built in Vietnam.

You'll be perfectly welcome

[kazeai1969]

Hi Luke,
Would the wood carver be interested in doing any other work or is he a busy guy? The deck is coming of my Folkboat this winter and I would love to have a nice carving added to the cabin.....
I am in Xiamen, China now and have found a guy that might be able to help me...but wanted to ask you anyways.
Merci
Alex