Strongbow type tug

[Paddlemex]

She has seen the water for the first time and liked it.
I marked the waterline on the hull and then made the ballast test in the tub.
I marked two lines: one at 92mm draft (as per the drawing) and another at 87mm, 5mm less.
At the 87mm line the lowest paddle is just covered by the water. The pencil lines on the hull are barely visible on the second picture.
At the 87mm line it required 9.83kg of ballast. I didn't add more weight but it will be about 1 or 1.5 kg more to reach the 92mm line.
So the estimates we had made were quite close.
In the second to last picture are the ballast pieces I used. I had packed the very rusty pieces in plastic bags to avoid getting more dirt than necessary into the hull.

Last picture shows the rivets on the rudder. I used the "anchored" glue blob technique. I drilled a 1mm bore about 1mm deep, then mixed some epoxi and with a toothpick placed a little drop in the bore.
Unfortunately they are not perfectly aligned, the drillings looked OK, but it seems that the epoxi flowed unevenly. No action scheduled to correct this.

Jurgen

[derekwarner_decoy]

Agreed Jurgen.....

You will certainly need that additional ballast to bring her down the extra 5 mm.....so to minimize cavitation of the wheel blades

You may have mentioned hull weight to date  , but what is the total displacement [weight] required to bring the hull draft to this of 92mm?

Derek

PS....all those chunks of metal + the Good Wifes digital kitchen scales, sure do make ship building easier

[Paddlemex]

the Good Wifes digital kitchen scales,

What do you mean Derek? Are you suggesting that …..    I would never ……
OK, got me, I used it. How would you know, did you spy on me? I knew it was a bad idea to install Alexa.

And regarding the weight of the hull. I forgot about that.   
Weight of the hull is 1.05kg. So we are at just over 11kg. Even closer to the estimate.
Add to that whatever it requires to get the additional 5mm of draft.

Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

Some progress here. Parts are coming together.
I made the decks and glued the sponsons.

I stained the decks but I am a bit concerned that I went too far. But anyway, I want a used coal burning tug and not a cruise ship.

Jurgen

PS. Damien: Sorry to read about your Volcano. Before binning her you might have asked if some one was interested to adopt her, postage paid. The hull looked beautiful.
Good luck for your new projects.

[derekwarner_decoy]

Jurgen...before you glue the deck down, you may wish to consider

1. a light coating [sloshing] of thin glassing resin to each and every inner hull surface between each frame. This will strengthen the entire hull structure immeasurably
An option here is to cut glass tissue into strips and bed down into the resin between each frame to make it unbreakable 

2. the underside of the deck must also be coated now, as you will never get the practical chance later......you may also choose either a polyurethane coating a traditional varnish or glass resin. This will also dictate they type of adhesive you use to glue the deck to the hull framework

Pretty sure the Strongbow plans showed coaling scuttles on deck......so you could experiment [on a scrap of wood] with some graphite powder around the scuttles to simulate spilt coal dust before you seal the upper deck surface

Derek

[Paddlemex]

Thanks for the comments Derek. It's always nice to count on external observers who help to avoid forgetting stuff which is difficult or impossible to fix later.

The inner hull has received 2 coats of a PU marine floor finishing resin some time back. That should do it. I didn't glass the interior because the hull was glassed on the outside. It wouldn't have been too difficult to put some glass in while PUing, but it's too late now.

The decks are already glassed on the underside. I had some resin crawl to the top without noticing it. That's why there are some clear spots on the deck because the stain wouldn't penetrate the wood there. Will deal with that later.

I will still coat the deck supports (the whitish wood in the pictures) before gluing the decks to the hull.

Interesting point is the coal scuttles. I have no idea where they loaded the coal into the bunkers. The plans don't mention any coal feed openings and an afternoon of googling didn't enlighten me either. I found some drawings that show the coal bunkers to be located midships at both sides of the engine room, but no hints to how or where they were filled.

Jurgen

[derekwarner_decoy]

Jurgen......here are the coal scuttles on Strongbow, 2 each...Port & Stdb...... but behind the wheel box's you don't see much.....the are on a steel floor so again a little graphite powder before the final seal would be OK......

I think traditionally the scuttle lids were a heavy cast iron and a 1/8 twist/turn to unscrew then a T bar to lift off the deck......

Derek

[Paddlemex]

There they are, Derek. Thanks.
I had searched the drawings and didn't see them. Proves again how helpful the additional eyes in the forum are.

But they are hidden behind the wheel housings. It must have been a pain to load there. Looks like they had to carry the coal in buckets by hand or with a trolley at best to get to the scuttle lids. Ergonomic design looks different.

Don't know if I will include them on the model. They are hidden too much.

[Paddlemex]

The difficult decision of Name Finding.

Ever since I started this build I knew I would not name the ship Strongbow. There are already enough Strongbows around.
So what now? I have been investigating the few still existing similar tugs like Eppleton Hall, John H Amos or Reliant (well, the latter sort of existing), but they all have significant differences to my build so those names do not fit.

Looking at the names we have all kind of references: a city hall, an owner´s name or a strong adjective, and it seems anything can be used.
So I decided to name her Morangie Castle. I know there is no castle anywhere near the famous Glen, but who cares? It's also some sort of dedication to the fine product of that area.
Still don't know if I will register her in Invergordon or in Inverness. As far as I could find out there were tugs in both harbors.

Jurgen
 

[Paddlemex]

Only small progress on my model. I feel that I spend a lot of hours, but there is very little to see.

Have glued the decks. The middle part is styrene which is the metal part on the real tug and will be painted black.
Also made the motor mount.

Jurgen

[derekwarner_decoy]

There is no clock that truly represents time spent   

Those contoured A frame sponson supports look good  ......

The motley irregular tones of the decking could be overall, a little dark? ,  may need a very light sand down with 1000 grit W&D paper if you want to represent a weather bleached appearance

Derek 

[Paddlemex]

Thanks Derek. I'm really happy how the sponson supports look.

Regarding the color of the deck I agree with you. I already had mentioned that I feel that I went too far.
I have tried your suggestion with the fine grit sand paper. It actually lightened a bit, but I feel that it is the fine, white sanding dust which deposited in the pores. I guess that when I go over it with a damp cloth (haven't done it yet) it will be as before.

Since it is a water/vinegar based stain I will try to dilute it with a sponge and water. I might work.

Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

Made the bulwarks. Before I can glue them to the deck I have to fix the paddleboxes in their final position.
I will make the paddleboxes removable.

Tried the sponge&water method and it didn't work. After the decks were dry again I sanded a little more and I begin to like how it looks. Pictures of that later.

Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

 
And on goes the activity (apparently the only activity in the forum) on the Morangie Castle.

I have added styrene parts to the wheel boxes which hold them in place. These parts fit snugly in the sponsons with almost no play at all. Final attachment to the sponsons will be with screws or magnets. I tend to use magnets, but still no final decision is taken.

The portside bulwarks are in place.
Just before gluing the forward bulwark I realized that there was a gigantic design flaw, because if glued to the deck the rounded part next to the wheel housing would not allow the wheel housing to be removed. I cut off the rounded part and glued it to the wheel housing -> problem and lots of anger avoided. Pictures should explain.

Jurgen

[Paddlemex]

I have now glued all bulwarks.
I am in a bit of a hurry now because I will leave for 3 weeks of holiday next week. Since I want to make a test-drive (test-sail??) next Sunday I will need to put in a few night shifts to have her navigable. Need to install the motor and make a provisional radio installation.
No paint or finish at this point.

Jurgen