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[Neil]

second side on, the glue is foaming, so at least working. I have 4 G cramps and as many spring clamps on the belting as will fit.......no space for any more so a good universal grip right the way along.........if you have them, use them...............no good leaving gaps of lesser pressure at places where the grip will be less...........and in the heated workshop hopefully I'll be able to start screwing it on for total bonding later tonight, and as each clamp taken off I'll put a screw in to hold the area tight.

[Neil]

and my plywood deck has just arrived from Norfolk, from Anglia Model Services.............ordered it Monday night at 10.15 pm    .....and just arrived Thursday, 12.05 pm free postage.........that's what I call great service.

[Neil]

Sadly the mould I made for the main cabin was a flop.......more gaps between gelcoat and matting than a Swiss gruyere cheese and so it went in the bin, and so I decided to make the cabin from 3.5mm ply, and here is the first part of the construction.....main uprights made first using my sliding bevel to get the angles of the ends correct, cutting on a band saw and then using epoxy to glue the 4 walls and then the Gator glue to fix the top down.


Weighted down with old batteries it has been left to set till later.

[Neil]

unfortunately one of the corners of the fabrication sprung out when the top was weighted down and so I decided to put in corner buttresses to strengthen the corners.


it was, after the glue had set was sanded down on the belt linisher, to  take off the excess timber. I also made a central gusset as a support to stop the long side walls from turning inwards with timber warping. this was glued in using 2 part epoxy.

[Neil]

Attention was then turned to the deck supports.


in my usual way, I used some decent sized side supports.........the left over 15 x 15 mm square obeche that I didn't use for the belting. this was cut on the band saw to aid bending around the hull. this was glued in with the Gator glue and clamped in place..


tomorrow i'll set to putting in the cross members to take the hull to the correct beam............not forgetting that I have to make patterns for the pump, so need some space between the beams to play around with chunks of wood.

[poll]

Hi Neal.  How did you go about setting your voiths up?


 John.

[Neil]

hi john........


since that initial sail at Southport where I made an ass of myself, I haven't bothered at all with it......it'll wait till next spring and calmer weather.

[poll]

 Hi Neil. I'm into voiths myself & I'm not telling you how to suck eģgs but this is how I set mine up, I start the set up with
  Using the bath. If it's a twin unit first cut the power to unit 2 then trim unit 1 until there is no movement, then go to unit 2 & do the same not forgetting to cut the power from unit 1 when 2 is set up
 Couple both together & try good luck. If you wish give me a bell.
  Mob  **********

it is not advisable to put your phone number onto an open Forum.  To contact this member, please use the personal email found by clicking his name.
#ken

  John.

[Neil]

hi johnthanks for the advice.............much appreciated and it reinforces what I had thought.


I have the problem that one voith is in the bow and the other is in the stern 45" apart......the boat is 59" long.....I have no problems getting her to go sideways or diagonally, but she just won't go in a straight line, and the small pool at southport just wasn't wide or long enough for me to adjust with the digital controls on the tx with a decent long run........so hae been waiting to run her on the big lake at Fleetwood, but the weather has been appalling for 3 months without a break...........so will wait till next spring as the wayer level is dropping at the lake now ready for emptying to clean out later next month.....when I do get her in the water i'll disconnect each voith in turn as you advise and set each up to run straight, and then the other one..............just have to bide my time..


but again thanks, much appreciated.


neil.

[Neil]

The deck cross beams randomly placed and a plank of plywood placed on top, with the new cabin and "funnels" placed roughly where they should be to give an idea of where the actual deck cross members need to go.

[Neil]

I have now fixed the main cross beams to bear the deck and cabin, and supported them with 1.8mm ply, all fixed with two part epoxy.


next job, was to glue in guides for the two end boxes. I used this method some years ago when fixing the end boxes on both the pulling and sailing lifeboats seen in the masterclass section and also the Liverpool class lifeboat that went to Metcalf mouldings.


it is an easy way of locating the two boxes and fixed in place with goodly amounts of filler both interior and exterior to the moulding and then sanded down to a smooth even relief.

[Shipmate60]

Neil,
On full size ships either the VS unit controls are coupled together,
OR
The bow unit is used for drive and the stern unit is used as an active rudder.


Bob

[Neil]

it's the same on the model, Bob...Dave M made me an electronic gizmo so that the bow vsu would kick in a second before the stern, and go ahead or astern on the right stick where the left fore aft stick was digitally set with the stick totally back, and therefore only revs in a forward direction on that stick for both motors...........the revs are totally controlled by that left stick.............


the only problem I have is keeping her running straight, all other functions work as they should............but as I said.............just haven't had a single decent sailing day to take to Fleetwood  since 1st july where I can set the port starboard movement in a long run across the lake, as she does have some speed on her, and setting at slow revs wouldn't I think make much difference...........both units have individual actions on all other directions other than for/aft motion.

[Neil]

well back to the lifeboat and I have had via Baloo's foresight had an amazing bit of luck..........Martin aka Baloo saw this amazing little bit of kit on mayhem, and I have just spoken to the guy via phone, and am taking the boat over to him week after next to discuss using two pumps running off brushless motors [ one for forward propulsion and one for reverse, or one single pump with a manifold. the guy is an engineer and 3d prints the details and then casts them in his own foundry........so I'm hoping that he can come up with a specifically designed unit for the boat.

[Neil]

but back to the actual building.......I have cut the guides down for the end boxes to glue on to, and cut the deck support beams running fore/aft, but haven't glued those in just yet.

[Neil]

next was to fabricate the end walls and the main deck for the aft well deck...........this hurt my brain as I had to actually think about it, and contemplate how I was going to do it whilst retaining access to the aft end box and the hull below the well deck, whilst fixing the walls to the deck beams.
in the end I made some wooden brackets to fix to the deck beams.
the hole in the floor of the well deck was cut with the first power tool I ever bought for my hobby, back in 1979 from a school I used to teach at.


it has had good use over the years and "touch wood" will continue to do so all but on a very rare occasion these days...........but the best 15 quid I ever spent.

[Neil]

finally for today, I put onto the two end walls, the guids for the side walls to fit into, which will be seen to work later. they were made from 5mm ply, bevelled one edge to take the wall.

 then support lip for the removable floor was glued in to the underside of the structures access hole.

 finally the side floors were thickened by a second layer of 3,5mm ply, which is what the main floor is made from, so that the side walls have ample gluing surface to attach to..............all using waterproof aliphatic resin quick grab glue and plenty of clamps.

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

Hi Neil,

Very impressed with the clamps.   

ken

[Neil]

Hi Neil,

Very impressed with the clamps.   

ken

the more the merrier mate ........i'm a compulsive collector of ALDI clamps lol.


them and old batteries to weigh decks down,

[Neil]

the floor has been completed with the cut out access to the hull now done.


next thing was to make the side walls and fit them. In order to facilitate the bend in them I made this easier by cutting the 1.6mm ply across the grain instead of lengthways, making bending no problem at all. these were glued with aliphatic quick grip resin and slipped into the upright guides fitted earlier........... and then nailed with small pins to the thickened base for extra grip.


only then did I glue in all of the  fore /aft deck beams in place, adding two extra ones in the aft section where the well deck will go. the reason for this is to eventually offer up the base of the well deck to the top of the aft beams, and then cut the beams to the round shape of the well deck sides so that the sides can be glued to the beams to make  a permanent fixture.

[Neil]

oh yes, and instead of mucking about trying to double up sizes on the 1/2" scale plans that I had, I had them blown up to 1;12 scale yesterday, and these can be seen on my drawing board in background of one shot.

[Neil]

I have glued the well deck in place but not before I laid it onto some ply to make templates for the side deck plates. leave it gluing over night before I fit the deck plates..........And that's it for today.................. feet up, watching tv, relaxing  and a nice strong beer in hand..............                                               

[Neil]

that was written a couple of nights ago, did a bit more today.


the joint between the side deck support beams has now been strengthened and waterproofed by a fillet of polyester filler, right around the inner bulwarks......i'm happy now that I can start putting the deck on in sections,
 and after gluing in place the well deck I have cut to shape and added the side decks to the well deck.as no access is needed under this little bit.

[Neil]

A second skin has been glued to the outside side walls of the well deck, above deck level. this will both strengthen the structure and also keep the first layer from twisting

[Neil]

There I was, charging ahead, when a sudden thought came to my head............bilge keels   errrm.........had forgotten all about them and was just about to start putting the decks on.........


so I cut two chunks of obeche from my stock, and then used the tilt table of the band saw and cut the side angles.


once cut, I used my eye, to cut the lengthways curve of each keel. I could have made a jig from a French curve I have, but it would probably have taken longer than to take the plunge and do it by guesswork...........and luckily I hit it bang on first cut......so transferred the shape to the second keel and cut that one too.


next was to drill the jointing face every 60mm or so to take a 1.8mm rod of stainless steel......which would be used to locate and hold the keel in place. I marked the position  on a piece of masking tape run along the crease of a section of plating, and as such both placed in the exact position.


the hull was then drilled to take the steel rods and the keels dry fitted.........so far so good.