AMATEUR BOAT BUILDERSA S S 0 C I A T I 0 N

MAY/JUNE '01

Geoff Leggatt,

John McKHlop.

Chris Davis,

Mike Beilby,

ABBA COMMITTEE

President, ph 9410 1900(Wk)

Secretary, ph 9410 1900 (Wk)

Treasurer, ph 9222 5664 (Wk)

Newsletter, ph 9397 6209 (Hm)

Contact any of these four people for clarification of association activities.

MARINE STEAM, ANOTHER APPROACH

9367 3595 (Hm)

9313 7442 (Hm)

9387 5042 (Hm)

On the 27th of March we were addressed by atwo-man learn in the form of Lindsay Adamsand Doug Baker on the subject of steam power.Lindsay and Doug have put together a veryneat roadshow on the subject and had notrouble holding our attention for a couple ofhours in between talking, overhead projectordiagrams and working models.

Lindsay started off with diagrams to explainhow steam engines work, the first being of abasic single cylinder engine, cut away to showpiston, cylinder, steam chest and "D" valve,etc, etc. About the only improvement on thiswould have been a wooden cut-away model toshow the piston and "D" va lve inprogressively different positions. (I was goingto make such a model for the B-Shed enginedisplay some years ago, but never got aroundto it). Another diagram showed boiler and

engine and included such details as condensingand re-use of exhaust steam. Anothercylinder/steam chest diagram allowed us tostudy the induction-exhaust process in clearerdetail before a much more complicated diagramof a compound twin engine in which theexhaust steam from number one cylinder (theHigh Pressure cylinder) is allowed to expandfurther by being used in the number twocylinder (the Low Pressure cylinder) - the LPcylinder has to be of considerably greater boreand capacity than the HP one. In ful l sizepractice, when very high boiler pressures wereavailable, triple and even quadruple expansionengines were built.

Lindsay then explained that the hobby of themodel steam enthusiast can be as cheap or asexpensive as one likes, depending on how muchbasic work the model engineer is prepared to

do. Lindsay himself seems to make absolutelyeverything from scratch, spending just peanutson raw materials. Bven his miniature pressuregauges are scratch built and yet lookimmaculate - of course, his background as aninstrument maker probably helps at times. Hehad a large model display board that includedfour engines and a relatively large vertical fire-tube boiler (gas fired) and Doug had alsobrought along the medium-sized doubleexpansion engine from the 26' Edwardiansteam canoe owned by his Adelaide-basedbrother, Roger. Lindsay then described thefeatures of the model engines, in particular ahori/ontal mill-type engine, a twin simple (notcompound) launch engine and an exquisite, old-fashioned beam engine.

Doug took over and described his brother'scanoe and the reasons for the engine's sojournin WA (valve t iming adjustments), beforemoving on to his own Victorian river launch, asister ship to that of Alan Mathie (wronglyquoted as Maffey a couple of issues backfollowing the Association's visit there) beforemoving on to what appears to be bis favouritesubject, boilers. To underline the obsoletenature of the steam enthusiast's hobby, Dougpointed out that Worksafe WA no longer hasany regulations or specifications to do with

mobile boilers at all. However, clubs do haveboiler inspectors, of whom Doug is one, whoinst igate codes of practice and b u i l d i n gstandards to ensure that budding steamengineers don't blow themselves up or parboilthemselves with unsafe boilers which can alltoo easily become bombs in operation. Itseems that any boiler should be inspectedduring as well as after construction to ensurethat it starts out safe and remains that way.

Towards the end of Doim's talk, Lindsay firedup the display boiler and it had steam availablevery quickly. In steam were the beam engine,the twin cylinder launch engine and a littlevertical boiler pump which was so effectivemost of its output was directed back into thewater storage tank, the boiler needing very littlereplenishment after supplying the two smallengines. The engines could be throttled back tooperate with magical slowness which made astudy of all the moving parts very easy andfascinating.

Once again we had been given an insight intothe attractions of another's hobby, one allied toour own, and we are indebted to Lindsay andDoug who went to no small effort to producethe talk and working models for our benefit. Itwas much appreciated by all who attended.

A TREASURE HOUSE IN SUBURBIA

On Saturday, April 7, we were treated to anopening of Barry Hicks' private maritimemuseum beside his house in suburbanCannington. The opening was extremely wellpatronized, not only by our own members butby quite a few other people as well - as RossShardlow pointed out, word docs get aroundabout these openings, when they occurr.

On the way up to the museum one passed two

small, but full-sized dinghies, plus a part-finished 12' Herreshoff pulling boat, the lattera project of Barry's son, Robin. But it wasinside the main bui lding where the displayreally began and where description getsdiff icul t . I suppose the artifacts break downinto four main groups; tools, original smallboating parts, modern replica parts and BrianLemon's models.

A MARITIME MUSEUM IN THE SUBURBS

The Moshulu double helm replica - 2m high! The horizontal handsaw set up for roundingspars.

Delightful Clyde Puffer, Skylight, byBrian Lemon - one of many models.

Another Lemon masterpiece, a naval pinnacesadly relegated to the outside lean-to, no roominside!

A case of trenching planes - one of manytool displays.

A cast iron bilge pump beside a smal l ,two-handle capstan.

Lindsay Adams (L) and Doug Baker with theirworking model stand.

The twin compound .steamengine from Richard Baker's

steam canoe. Adelaidebased but here for adjustments,

Large book gives scale.

The tools ranged from dainty little auger bits ofabout 3/16" through several wall cases ofconventional, moulding and rabbctting planesup to a quite large horizontal band saw set upto trim spars down to eighths, sixteenths andthirtyseconds before hand rounding. This waslast used by Ray Millar in rigging STSLeeuwin. A small forge glowed with electriclight and at least four hand-operated drillpresses adorned the walls. There were alsotwo sailmaker's benches complete with chests,fids, marlin spikes,etc. One dangerous lookingadze was well locked up in a wall case althoughI saw no sign of saws or spokeshaves to matchit.

Many of the original small boating parts werespars slung in the roof but they were backedup by the remains of quite a large woodenrudder (at ieast from a 40 footer), a largespotlight, sets of navigation lights, two or threesmall two-bar capstans and an intriguing castiron pump, probably a bilge pump. There wasalso a small patent helm from a small motor orsailing ship to back up the larger replica helmsmade by Barry and Robin.

When it comes to modern replica parts it seemsthat the main stock-in-trade of Barry andRobin has been wooden pulley blocks and Ibelieve they've made these for the Leeuwin andthe Endeavour as well as many otherapplications. A couple of mast stumps werefestooned with these products in allconceivable shapes and sizes, single, doubleand triple sheaves, side-openers, large andsmall, you name it. Most intriguing were theones using a rope strop rather than a metal eyefor hanging, these need extra large half cheeksto contain the rope strop and remind one ofsome weird fruit. A great deal of rope workwas also on display; mats, splices, rigged

through pulleys and so on. Laminated tillersand boat hooks shared a case with the adzewhile the afore-mentioned Moshulu doublehelm occupied centre stage. Moshulu was oneof the last great grain ships operated byErickson out of Marieham to South Australiaup until World War II. She was immortalizedin Eric Newby's "The Last Grain Race" andapparently now survives as a restaurant ship inPhiladelphia, but without her massive helm.The replica was produced from Ross Shardlowdrawings developed from photographs.

And what can one say about Brian Lemon'sexquisite models? They range from daintylittle dinghies taking around two weeks to makeup to huge Clyde puffers and the reknowned"Krait". (I noticed he'd added a folding canoeto the Krait display since I last saw it); inbetween there are Windermere launches,London tugs and their barges and an ever-increasing set of West Australian subjects. Inthe latter category we saw at a recent eveningmeeting his model of the Rottnest pilot boat.That was on display again but beside it wasanother addition - a Swan River barge of the19th century. This was based again on RossShardlow research and illustrates the generalworkhorse of the period. Photographs attestedto the fact that the model is completely framedup and constructed as the original would havebeen. It has been constructed for the City ofMelville's new local history display.

The Hicks's, Barry and Irene, played the hostssuperbly, with never-ending teas and coffeesavailable, and there were always a dozenpeople to talk to about the fascinating exhibits.A couple of hours were as minutes in theirtreasure house of nautical memories and wewere very fortunate to be part of it on thisoccasion.

ADMINISTRATIVE

MAYEVENING MEETINGOnce again we will have multliple guestspeakers at the May meeting (29th) becausewe had members at both the Australian(Tasmanian?) and South Aust Wooden BoatFestivals recently. Peter Leggatt visited theHobart event as part of a Tasmanian holidaywhile Mike Igglesden and Clive Jarman visitedthe South Australian festival at Goolwa, nearthe mouth of the Murray. We've seen nothingl i ke these events since the LeeuwinFoundation-sponsored Classic and WoodenBoat Festival ceased several years ago. Now'sthe chance for all of you to find out how it'sdone on the other side of the black stump.Peter, Mike and Clive will have a bundle ofphotos to illustrate their talks and lend realismwhen they set out to describe varnished wood,oily steam, venerable old boats, either kept orrestored, and new, vintage-style creations.Both have their share of on and off the waterevents and it's a pity, in a way, that the twoevents are so close together on the calendar.However on this occasion we can get the feel ofboth festivals on the one night. Might not bequite as good as actually being there but itshould go close - don't miss it.

JUNE TOOLBOX VISITClive Jarman stars yet again when we visit hisplace on the 9th of June to see progress on hisIan Oughtred-designeu "Eunamara1'. This is a6.5m glued lapstrake yawl that he's buildingand in contrast to the several boats we've seenwhich have been all but finished, this one willbe only half planked allowing us to see theactual process of glued lapstrake (or clinker) inaction. Incidentally, I'm told the designerrecently suffered very severe injuries, includinga fractured skull, in a rock climbing accidentand may not be able to design again - a great

blow for amateur builders of small boats. Wecan only hope he recovers. Fortunately healready has an extensive catalogue of verypretty boats for us to choose from andEunamara is one of them.If you've never built a small wooden boat andwould like to, or feel like graduating from hardchine dinghies, then you must see Clive'sEunamara in its part-finished state. That's at26 Vermont St, Nollamara (off Wanneroo Rd)at 2pm on the 9th of June.

GENERALWe're making enquiries to purchase "CruisingMultihulls" by White and will let you knowwhen it's available. The only other piece ofbreath-taking news is that your editor isexpected to be absent for the next issue, touringthe far north by campervan. Hopefully in hisabsence, Geoff, John and Chris will be able toput the newsletter together enough to keepeveryone in touch. In fact, if there's anyoneout there who feels like being a deputy editorfor an issue (especially if you've got basiccomputer skills) why not give me a ring on9397 6209 and we can discuss it.

CALENDARTucs 29 MayPeter Leggatt, Mike Igglesden, Clive Jarmanon two E.S. Classic Boat Festivals.Mounts Bay Sailing Club.Upstairs, Perth end.7.30 for 8pm.Sat. 9th June.Toolbox Visit.Clive Jarman's glued clinker yawl.26 Vermont St, Nollamara. 2 - 5pm.Mon, 18th June.Committee meeting, 7.45pm.