Wooden Boat Building Techniques

[mykaskin]

Hi Folks,

 

I've got another video for you guys, this time, part of the process of keeping a wooden narrowboat afloat:

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Mike

 

[Ray T]

Many thanks Mike, keep 'em coming.

[MtB]

Well what an interesting video. Thanks Mike!

 

I'm intrigued with the plank. What timber is it? Looks like mahogany in the film to me but this seems unlikely.

 

And the steaming process. The impression from your film is that it was in the oil drum boiler for perhaps 20 minutes. Is that about right? Intuitively I'd have expected a LOT longer was necessary. A couple of hours to heat it through and saturate it properly, maybe even more.

 

 

 

MtB

[captain birdseye]

Mike, the wood will be oak, and will have been in the steamer for a good few hours. If you look again you will note it was light when the wood went in and dark by the time it came out.

[MtB]

Mike, the wood will be oak, and will have been in the steamer for a good few hours. If you look again you will note it was light when the wood went in and dark by the time it came out.

 

Bloody hell no wonder the seemed to be having trouble handling it, oak is HEAVY!!!!!!!

 

MtB

[Bee]

Excellent, thanks for posting this. Would have loved to see how the fore ends of Keels were bent around, they were as near as dammit square, only stubborn Yorkshire folk would have kept on making them as boxlike as that.

[DHutch]

I helped on the boat a small amount last time they where on dry dock around three years ago and did a plank by plank replace of the front 20ft including the stem post. I think they booked onto Worsley for 8 weeks, got iced in and basically worked flat out throughout Christmas, newyear, and came off again in Jan with the deck still left to put back. Emilyanne did just the one week, two coats of blacking an a few other bits, sorted for the next four, joys of steel!

 

Daniel

[Timleech]

Mike, the wood will be oak, and will have been in the steamer for a good few hours. If you look again you will note it was light when the wood went in and dark by the time it came out.

Rule of thumb is one hour per inch of thickness. Actually it tends to have a slightly bleached appearance when it comes out of the steaming box, but the end of that plank looks to have been blackened probably because it was sitting in water at the end/bottom of their improvised box/boiler and has been discoloured by the combination of acid from the wood with iron from the inside of the drums.

 

Tim

[David Mack]

but the end of that plank looks to have been blackened probably because it was sitting in water at the end/bottom of their improvised box/boiler

Yes, boiled, not steamed!

[DHutch]

.....the end of that plank looks to have been blackened probably because it was sitting in water at the end/bottom of their improvised box/boiler and has been discoloured by the combination of acid from the wood with iron from the inside of the drums.

 

That's exactly it, the majority of the wood is steel but the lower steel drum has an amount of water in it to facilitate this and the end of the plank does with the system used sit in this water and effectively get boiled. The rest of the drums are plastic for insulation, safe the last which is steel to promote condensation, all joined such to allow the condensation to run back down into the lower drum. Seems to work.

 

 

Daniel

[matty40s]

Thanks Mike, good to see that youngies and oldies are on the job together, there may be hope for some of the vulnerable historic oldies yet.

[Rob-M]

Went to a very interesting talk about Spey at the Easter Ellesmere gathering. Lots of hard work and learning as they do each job.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Rob-M

[madcat]

Brilliant.

[BenC]

Great film Mike. Best do so work now!

[Pluto]

Excellent, thanks for posting this. Would have loved to see how the fore ends of Keels were bent around, they were as near as dammit square, only stubborn Yorkshire folk would have kept on making them as boxlike as that.

This is Yorkist No 2, one of four wooden tankers built, I think, in the 1950s. As dumb barges, rather than keels, they were probably bluffer. The stern shape was more difficult to build than the bow, though at the bow you needed a lot of space to manoeuvre the plank whilst bending it.

 

[Timleech]

This is Yorkist No 2, one of four wooden tankers built, I think, in the 1950s. As dumb barges, rather than keels, they were probably bluffer. The stern shape was more difficult to build than the bow, though at the bow you needed a lot of space to manoeuvre the plank whilst bending it.

That has what appears to be wooden sheathing around the bows, I remember seeing something similar on another wooden keel some years ago, though can't remember where or when. Do you know how common this was, and whether it was part of the original construction or later work to cover deteriorating planking?

 

Tim

[Pluto]

The sheathing appeared to have been put on from new, though I am thinking back forty years. I thought it could be related to what use the boat would have, and that if towed regularly, then the sheathing would act to reduce wear and tear due to contact with other boats in the tow. That under water could protect the hull when being pulled through shallows and mud, something which could have been more likely with a towed vessel. That said, it doesn't appear on its sister boat, either No 3 or No 4, sunk at the entrance to Humber Dock, so perhaps it was put on later.

[Cloudinspector]

what a superb video.

I had a good nosey at this a couple of weeks ago when we went past the dry dock.

[Mendip-Locks]

You probably seen this one http://www.rwt.org.uk/historic-working-boat/the-roger/ video at lower end of the page, full screens well.

Doing the new stem post and bending oak from about 8 mins in at Jem Bates dock.

 

Ade

[MtB]

Very nice video, thanks.

 

Interesting to note a big difference in technique between Jem Bates' team working on the ROGER and the guys working on the SPEY.

 

 

MtB

[Guest]

Fascinating. Really interesting watching that, thank you.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Guest

[the barnacle]

great video - thanks,

Edited October 24, 2014 by the barnacle

[Bee]

That is a colossal amount of timber and caulking in a keel and all heavyweight stuff as well, for those who are interested have a google at 'peniche aster', another big wooden boat on the French canals. I doubt they share much ancestry, just happen to be a similar size and shape. I was talking to a Dutch friend some time ago who thought that the Dutch Tjalk and its varieties probably shared some origins with the keels and similar northern boats. Could be. It is amazing how traditions in boatbuilding persisted over so many centuries.