Dave B continues his tale of modelling SB Westmoreland using a part complete model hull scavenged from Baltic House.
“Ok”, he writes, “so we have a plan and I was duly despatched to search the charity shops for old travel clock to dismantle for cogs to make a mast case, crab winches,main brail winch and a windlass. (Meanwhile Thank You Roger Newlyn and the Thames Barge Sailing Trust for the use of the sail plan image attached)
14th Sept 2012 I arrived with barge hull and a few clock parts for our first session of turning our hull into a rigged barge. It was now we decided that if we going to use the plans of the Westmoreland we would make her look as much like it as we could. At this point all we had to go on was the plan pictured. It was clear that some work needed to be done on the hatches. The main hatch needed to be shortened and the foreward hatch extended. We also wanted a more realistic looking mast case so we set about cutting the main hatch back to make the mast deck bigger, removing the existing spars and mast case and making an insert for the foreward hatch. After this we sorted through the cogs and selected what we wanted for our mast case. Out came the soldering iron and work began on the mast case itself. This was proving to be quite a challenge as its size was extremely small and it was time to retire and rethink the soldering policy.
Westmoreland Plan, picture of plan is by Dave Brooks, plan itself is from a Thames Barge Sailing Club (now TBS Trust) publication.
By the end of the evening we had managed to alter hatches and start the mast case.
13th Sept 2012. Since our last session Dad had managed to produce a neat looking mast case and this session would be to finish it off. Out came the soldering iron and watch cogs were fitted to the case. My task was to clean up the glued forward hatch, though I did carve out two of the wooden drums on the gear winch. The session finished with me instructed to find more cogs and a desire to have a deck plan of the Westmoreland. I decided to look on ebay for the cogs and to my amazement I found job lots of watch parts being sold for the purpose of making jewellery. I googled Deck Plan of Westmoreland and stuck luck as there was reference to a deck plan in the book Spritsail Bargeman by Derek Coombe. I scanned it an emailed it to my Dad in order for him to resize it to fit our model. Also whilst on a weekend away watching the Colne Barge Match I managed to find an old shirt in a charity shop that would be ideal for making our sails with.
19th Sept 2012. Armed with our newly acquired deck plan we had a total rethink about our hull. It was clear now that our hatches were completely the wrong width and we would have to alter them.
I had to pop out for a short while and by the time I had come back serious saw cuts had been made in the hull in order to get a more Westmoreland type shape. Also Dad wasn’t happy with the bow and wanted a more rounded shape. I was amazed to watch him carve away until he achieved the shape he was looking for. To get this shape the hatches and rails had to be removed. After finishing carving and sanding the hull we made new hatches and the cabin top and focs’le hatch way. The Westmoreland starts to take shape.”
We look forward to more on this story as it happens. Thanks Dave.
The Thames Barge Sailing Trust are on http://www.bargetrust.org/