S S 0 C I

Geoff Leggatt,

John McKillop.

Chris Davis,

ABBA COMMITTEE

President, ph 9410 1900 (Wk)

Secretary, ph 9410 1422 (Wk)

Treasurer, ph 9222 5664 (Wk)

SEPT/OCT '00

9367 3595 (Hm)

9313 7442 (Hm)

9387 5042 (Hm)

Mike Beilby, Newsletter, ph 9397 6209 (Hm)Contact any of these four people for clarification of association activities.

MARVELS IN MINIATURE

Perhaps it was the cold weather, but not a lotof members turned up to hear master-modelbuilder extraordinaire, Brian Lemon, give usan insight into how he builds such exquisitemodel boats and ships on the 25th of July.That said, those of us who attended weretreated to something definitely different asBrian went over the details behind about adozen widely diverse models of immaculateconstruction, ranging from little dinghies suchas an Acorn 12 of about 150mm long up tothe "Krait" and the Clyde Puffer, "Skylight",each over a metre.

Over a twenty year period Brian has built 73models, given many away, of course, and thisnight brought nine along, supported by noless than the three he has built for member,Mike Igglesden. All are scratch-built no kitshere, and even small parts such as riggingblocks and wheels are usually made the hard

way because he can seldom get parts in theright scale and anyway, the shop market haschanged over the years so that it caters almostexclusively for kit builders these days;individual parts are like hens' teeth. Talkingabout scale; Brian confesses that in the caseof "Skylight" he chose the scale to suit someavailable plastic figures which he made upinto crew members, a detail which emphasiseshow small these Clyde Puffers were.

And Brian builds his wonderful works ofprecision art on the - wait for it - kitchentable! His only power tool is a cordless drill,which occasionally serves as a basic lathe toturn winch drums and the like, but everythingelse is carved or shaped by hand. The hullinvariably starts as a set of frames on an over-depth keel. Clinker hulls are then skinned asif they were a full-sized vessel, while carvelhulls are "plated" with small areas of thin ply

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glued between frames and the resulting conicalforms are faired in with plastic wood filler.Sounds rough, but it works, and well.

Standardisation ends there because fittingsand finishes are as diverse as the prototypes.Perhaps research is the next big job, at least inmany instances. The "Krait", for instance,was to represent only a six-week window inthe vessel's career and much of the detail,after plans had arrived from the AustralianWar Memorial, had to be gleaned from thesurviving members of the "Z" Forcecommando unit which used her in OperationJay wick against Japanese-occupiedSingapore. The cutter, "Gem", wrecked inthe 1870's off Rottnest, relied on a WANewspaper article and research with theAdelaide Maritime Museum. '"Bat" and"Dolly", two Victorian steam launchesneeded contact with the WindermereSteamboat Trust, where the originals arestored and Mike Igglesden's "Oriel" simplyhad the lines taken directly off the original, asMike still has her. Several smaller vesselshave been built directly from study plans incatalogues. These include the Acom, aMarisol skiff and a 26' Pilot schooner.Perhaps the oddest in this category is thenever-built 22' sloop which Mike Igglesdenhad meant to build when he lived inTasmania. Now he's got a model to showwhat he missed out on.

The final finish is largely down to paintingand Brian's techniques are just as basic again.He uses enamel paints, mostly matt, appliedwith medium to good quality water paint

brushes. Masking of waterlines, etc, is donewith Magic Mending tape from Jacksons ArtSupplies. Somehow each model looks just asscruffy or pristine as the original. Manyother modellers tend to make their modelslook just a bit too tidy. Brian never makesthis mistake. You can practically feel the coaldust on "Skylight",(and there's a chart of theOrkneys inside the wheelhouse door), the oilrags hanging on the edge of deck drums on"Krait" look suitably oily and the brassgleams on "Bat". There's even a workingcompass in the stern thwart of "Oriel", (andall the bigger models work under electricpower and radio control, too).

One could drool on for hours about the finedetail but it wasn't long before someoneasked the inevitable question, "How longdoes it take to build a model?" And yetanother surprise lay in the answer: -"Aboutfour months part-time for a large model,down to two weeks for something small likethe Acom" Even assuming that littlegimmicks like a miniature compass or awheelhouse chart are already in the scrapbox,awaiting a purpose, I can assure you frombitter experience that those times are reallyfast. Brian has averaged about four models ayear for the last two decades and doesn't looklike slowing down yet. He builds a hugerange of small (up to seventy feet longoriginals) models, to a scale large enough toincorporate heaps of detail and displaysimmaculate standards of workmanship. Wewere extremely lucky to be able to see somany and various examples of his output inJuly.

A URGE COMMERCIAL CATAMARAN

Well, if you thought Steve Key's Frers 40was beamy, last toolbox visit, what wouldyou have thought of the "Ocean Spirit IV",almost complete, at Wavemaster, this timearound? At 26m long the cat is not tliat big(they go three times as long over the road atAustal's for car ferries, for instance) but it'shuge by amateur standards and when youmention the 12.55m beam it starts to becomevery big indeed. So big in fact that there'sroom for quite a decent-sized dance floor atthe stern end of the flying deck!

The passenger capacity described last issuewas in error, however. She won't take 300after all, just a mere 2-16, catered for by acrew of only ten. In fact, looking at the tableseating shown on an arrangement plan I couldonly see seating for for about a hundred, someals must be in two shifts. Come to thinkof it, maybe the tables and chairs were justdrawn badly out of scale, and not like projecthome plans where they go the other way andmake the furniture too small. Standing in themain saloon, about 15m long by 11m wide,you could certainly pack a huge number ofpeople in, that's for sure.

The main deck, which we'll call the saloondeck, covers both hulls and the spacebetween. Above that,.only about half as long,is a flying deck which encompasses thecontrol bridge at the forward end and morepassenger space aft' (including the dancefloor). Meanwhile, down in the hulls, thestarboard one has the galley arrangementswhile the port one has male and female headsand bathroom arrangements. Well aft in eachhull is a propulsive engine (Perkins M215C -155kw) and a slightly bigger generating engine- but the power figure was unavailable.Electricity is one commodity they won't be

short of on this charter vessel. For the size ofthe vessel, neither sort of engine looksespecially big and since a great deal of efforthas gone into sound deadening (honeycombcomposite bulkheads and sound-absorbingroof tiles are the order of the day along withsound and heat insulation on the exhaustsystems), I doubt whether the passengers willever know there's an engine or two running.They certainly won't be bothered, that's forsure.

The basic vessel design is by Lock CrowtherDesigns and yet the auxiliary sailing rig isdesigned by Chris Mitchell in New Zealand.Why didn't the whole iot come out of the onedesign office? Lock himself designed sailingmulti-hulls until they came out of his ears andthis one has all the underwater shape of asailing vessel - no bow bulbs, and a reflexedkeel line in the last couple of meters, as if toextend the waterline artificially -just like aFrers 40, in fact. Also, if the engines aresmall, then the rig is amost huge. It's amotor-sailer with the emphasis on sailer.The mast reaches to 42m above the base line,which means it's about 38m long, anyway,with a main area of 178 sq m and jib of 103 sqm. That's a lot of sail for a party boat and Ipredict she'll go a lot faster under sail thanthe ten knots expected under power. Reefingdown won't be necessary until the windreaches 25 knots, however.

The furling system is roller within the mast,the mast having been shipped out from Hood(UK) in kit form. Quite a lot of work has hadto go into completing it because the fore andaft extrusions are separate and eash is onlyhalf the necessary length.- So a lot of weldinghas gone into completing the basic mastblank, including welding in side plates which

THAT BIG CAT

A sheerplan view. Those are people standingbelow the waterline.

Looking up to the sterns, steps up bothtransoms. Pity about the plastic.

Roller furling gear, in the mast, near the base.Gooseneck brackets welded just above it.

counter-sterned hull is based on an elegantfibreglass moulding sourced from, of allplaces, Pt Lincoln, Sth Aust, and most of thewood-work was fitted at a yard in O'Connorbefore final finishing at Alan's place. Withthe boat just about ready to go Alan had anasty accident with a router and decided tomothball the boat for a couple of monthsduring his recovery. That was where thingscame unstuck because he wrapped the boat inplastic and moved it outdoors. It was so wellwrapped it couldn't breathe and the resultingcondensation lifted a lot of varnish off.Fortunately that error will have beencorrected by the time of our visit on October14th. So, to see one of these delightful,creations from yesteryear you need to be at123B Lockhart St, Coirio between 2pm and5pm. The house is on a rear, battle-axed,block, in that section of the street betweenCanning Hwy and Manning Rd. Alan saysit's virtually behind Henley Motors. This isa rare boat and will be well worth seeing.

ADMINISTRATIVEFirstly, we're having difficulty locating"Wooden Boats" by John Scarlett - seems tobe out of print. If anyone knows where wecan get a copy, please let us know.On the subject of thelibrary, leaving the boxesbehind certainly seems to have killed interest,doesn't it? The fact remains that lugging fouror five boxes of books upstairs each meeting,along with the supper things, is too much toask of a couple of committee members. Sowe'll try a compromise. Geoff will bring onebox only, of assorted general interest books,to'see if you are interested in the library ideaat all. But don't forget, you only have to finda title on the library list that takes your fancyand ring Geoff to have it made available foryour perusal.And finally, we may not have any pamphletsready yet, but we are active on a nationalwebsite. If interested, trywww.woodenboats.org.au See you on the26th.

CALENDARTues, 26th Sept, Ross Shardlow, maritime artist and historian. MBSC, 7.30 for 8.00pm.

Saturday, 14th Oct, Victorian steam launch by Alan Maffey. 123B Lockhart St, Como. Atrear, between Canning Hwy and Manning Rd.

Monday, 16th October, Committee meeting

The spreaders of the Wavemaster Cat. Apity I didn't stand someone beside them forscale. Thev'rehuize.

space the fore and aft extrusions fartherapart, before mast bases, cap, spreader bases,etc, etc, go on. It's a triple spreader rig,incidentally, and the lower spreaders lookedto be at least three metres per side - nothing'ssmall around this boat. The furling's byhydraulic motors and this, combined withfinal halyard tensions, and presumably sheetsettings, is all controlled from the bridge. Sailcrew appear to have been almost automatedout of existence.

Build time to get the boat to near-completehas been only five months and we were toldthat launch day was only one week away.That seemed believable when viewed from theoutside with just the masking tape to comeoff some of the painted waterlines. But insideit was a different story with a great deal offinishing left to do. Honeycomb panels all

need edge trim strips, followed by varnish,decks need filling and painting, the motorsstill have to be connected to the propellershafts, and then there's the furniture toinstall. One can't help thinking it's going tobe a mad rush at the end, like some otherthings we could mention, but no doubtWavemaster will get it all done in the end.

We are indebted to secretary, John McKillop,of the Wavemaster design team, for arrangingthe visit and the closeness of the launch dateexplains why the visit had to be this month -it was a very worthwhile project to examine,even if out of our personal leagues. Next timewe'll be back to an amateur project of the sortof size we can all tackle at home. But fornow, thanks John, it was a fascinating view ofhow the other half lives.

ADMINISTRATION

OUR NEXT EVENING MEETINGMaritime artist, historian and researcher,Ross Shardlow, will be the guest speaker atour next evening meeting, to be held at MBSCon Tuesday, Sept 26. Ross is perhaps bestknown for his beautiful, precise, sailing shipwater colours and it is to be hoped that hewill have one or two to show on the night.More recently, however, he has been involvedwith the design and installation of the replicapilot boat/whale boat which lias now beendisplayed in the restored boatshed onRottnest Island. (Brian Lemon was juststarting a model of this when he addressed ustwo months ago) We expect that Ross willdescribe this project and link it to an earliervisit of his to Mystic Seaport Museumbefore going into his art pieces and theresearch attached thereto. Perhaps we can gethim talking about earlier projects such as hisAnzac Day stamp set of a couple of yearsago and his much earlier proposals for a Port

Heritage Precinct (especially interesting in thelight of present developments). Ross is amodest person of great ability and his talkshould not be missed.

TOOLBOX VISITHaving seen a super modern, super pro-fessional product in a large aluminium cat-amaran at Wavemaster for our last visit (nowsafely launched and almost away) we returnto amateur boat building for this month'svisit. The project on this occasion is a replicaVictorian steam launch being built by AlanMaffey of Como. These were open launches,usually counter-stemed ("fantailed" if you'rean American), usually topped by a canvas,awning and mostly, but not always, steam-powered. Your editor has a small, (20') one,petrol powered, but Alan's is bigger at 26"and powered by the much more characterfulsteam, using a steam plant built byScarborough engineer, Doug Baker. The