Reduced Whaleboat

Model whaleship display , AGATE with a whale alongside and a whalebat under sail, built by author Ed Leaf. Ed gave a presentation this month at the Red Dragon Canoe Club. Ed has built a wide variety of model boats, most with very interesting histories.

Whaleboat Waiting

Whaleboat waiting for the 1812 exhibit construction to be completed. Photos from Fritz.

Cannon for 1812 Exhibit

The boatshop is building cannon trucks for the 1812 exhibit at the seaport museum. Kids will be able to aim and shoot these. Way fun.

BTW - they are not really mounted on whaleboats, but it sure looks funny.

Whaleboat & To N Fro Stem

nice curves

stern end of outwales

centerboard slot

new stem scarfed in on To N Fro

My favorite flash

W & W

Whaleboat only needs three more frames. Her outwales are fitted.

Two Whitehalls are being built by both volunteers and CHAD students. One will be carvel planked, and the other will be lapstrake. There will be an upside-down build and a right-side up build. The next two pix are the carvel molds set up.

The last pic shows the stem-keel-skeg assembly ready to brace to the ceiling for the lapstrake boat. These boats were lofted by Nick

Whaleboat Frames

Installing frames in the whaleboat. These must be notched and beveled to match the planking.

Both Ends

Work on the whaleboat has slowed since the Richardson 28 arrived. Both sides have 6 planks and the upper edge has been chamfered to fit the lap plank.

See the WorkshopontheWater blog for more about the Richardson.

Planking Continues

Sixth planks go on both sides. The top edge of this gets beveled for the next plank, the first lapstrake one. Compare her shape to the model in the case on deck.

Clench Nailing

Got to try my hand at clench nailing on the whaleboat yesterday. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. Everyone said your anvil wrist will ache afterwards because of the pounding. Here is the skinny. We drill the holes through the plank and batten, and place the nail oval perpendicular to the grain. Back it with the iron next to the hole and tap the nail thru from the plank side until it just clears the batten. Move the iron over the nail. Hold it at an angle so the nail starts to turn back into the batten. Tap it home flush with the plank surface.

The picture from the batten side shows the point sides bent back against the batten.

5th Plank Gets Wumped

Planking is moving along on the whaleboat. The planks are wider now and must be pre-curved to match the bend in the molds.

Model Whaleboat

There is a beautiful model whaleboat in the boatshop at the Seaport museum. I will put up photos soon.

I bought a model whaleboat on ebay. Will put it together some day, but not now. No time. It is a copy of the Lagota half scale whaleboats at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford. They are the little green ones above the Azorean whaleboat in the foreground.

New Bedford Whaleboat

This boat is in the collection at the New Bedford whaling museum. It was used in service, but the builder is unknown. It will be a good resource for us when we build the new one for the MORGAN.


mast step

loggerhead

centerboard case

Whaleboat Images

These images are details of artworks and graphics on the walls at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.