Introduction

One of my favorite hobbies is model making (powered only) in three domains: boat, cars (off road scale 1/8), and planes. 

Since I have children and a difficult job (and other hobbies as well as model making!), I have now just time enough to practice boat model making at sea and on lakes.

In this blog, I would like to show my passion for wooden boats entirely built from kits bought in specialized shops. Those boats have a length between 0.5m and 1m, are powered by electrical motors in order to navigate, and have lights for night.

This passion is shared with my wife, who builds a great part of hull and upper deck structures, and does painting and details. My domains are more waterproofness of the hull and electronically / mechanical parts.

So, you can see our three builds. One of them has been still under construction for one year because of lack of time. The two others are fully operational and navigate about three or four times a year for the pleasure of our children and spectators !

Boulogne Etaples

Trawler : Boulogne Etaples

This small french coastal trawler was launched in 1960 principally in the port of “Boulogne sur Mer” and "Etaples sur mer", and gradually removed from service from 1990 : 12m length, 4m wide, one diesel engine, three to five fishermen on board. 75 copies were built, of which 7 had sank mainly in raison of shallows (underwater rocks) along the coast, which depends of the tide (no dead fisherman).
Today, just about 5 of them still navigate and are at the end of their life.

This mission of this boat is to go fishing along the coast, only during the day or the night, because it has not sleeping onboard. That's why it always comes back in its port after about 12 hours at the sea.
With its bottom trawl that lags on the bottom of the water, this trawler catches groundfish, mainly as ray, lobster, spiny lobster, monkfish, crab, the best !

 One of the last trawler "Boulogne Etaples" which quietly comes back in 
the port of "Etaples sur mer" , bottom trawl in the water (photo taken in october 2012)

This trawler goes fishing around the port of “Boulogne sur Mer” and "Etaples sur mer", as specified on the following map :

The model ! 

We have chosen  this model (the first for us) because we would like to built an authentic small french coastal trawler with a great look of trawler !
The model market is to a scale of 1/20 (55 cm length) entirely wooden, with brass mechanics and propeller with ball bearings, an electrical motor, and all the lights. It was built from 2005 to 2007, and has about 20 hour’s navigation. See photos hereafter :

The end of construction in 2007, too new and not looking 

like the true...It still need to grow old and to navigate, in order 

to dull the painting

 

 The inside compartment with batteries, motor with

transmission (joint coupling in black), and electronic to receive signal
from remote controller, control the motor and the lights. The structure is 

entirely wooden, of which the hull built with small sticks.

 

Navigation at Hyères (near Toulon, South of France), 2008.

Navigation at Lanvéoc (near Brest, West of France), the evening, 2012.

Smit Finland

Tugboat : Smit Finland

This deep-sea tugboat was launched in 1955 principally in Scandinavian countries and officially removed from service in 2002: 45m length, 13m wide, twin diesel engines, eight sailors on board. It was one of the best tugboats, very powerful and intended to be used in very bad weather conditions, especially in the rescue of big ships such as container carriers.

Twenty copies were built, principally under registration of Smit Finland, Nederland, Rotterdam and Denmark. Two of them  sank, one in 1975, in a rescue operation (overturned by a very big wave, towing a ship), another one in 1982 after crashing into a rock. No dead sailors.

Today, just 2 of these boats are still able to navigate, but without to do deep-sea missions, only coastal and port operations.

  

It has two powerful turbo-diesel engines / two propellers. Each of them could develop more than 2500 horses power, and drives a wide variable pitch propeller (3 m diameter) with four blades. Each propeller is inside a cylinder (see photo of the model hereafter), in order to optimize the thrust, and there are two big rudders with double angle of turning to improve the efficiency of the tugboat.

As this type of boat has big engines, a great part of the hull is under the water compared to the other ships. Then, due to a low center of gravity and large mass, the stability is excellent even in bad conditions, and the propellers stay under the water despite a big swell.

The emerged part is totally waterproof to stand up to sea spray.

In the case of very bad weather conditions for rescue, such as very rough seas,  several of those tugboats (two to four) could take to the sea and tow the same container carrier in order to improve the efficiency and the safety.

One of the last tugboat : Smit Finland, photo taken in 2011.

The model

The model is to a scale of 1/50 (95 cm length) entirely wooden (except the hull), with twin brass mechanical and propellers, two powerful electrical motors, and all the lights. It was built from 2007 to 2008, and has about 15 hour’s navigation. 

We have chosen to build this tugboat (our second boat after the "Boulogne-Etaples") because we found it very beautiful and representative of the tuboat family.

See photos hereafter:

 

 The inside compartment with batteries, two powerfull motors with
brass transmission (and joint couplings led by ball bearings), and
electronic to receive signal from remote controller, control the motors
 and the lights. The structure is entirely wooden, except the hull in resin.

  

The four blades propellers inside its cylinders, and the rudders with 

double angle of turning.

  

The model at the end of the contruction. All light are representaive
of the true boat.

Navigation at Hyères (near Toulon), 2008

Navigation at Hyères, the evening with lights, 2009

Navigation at Lanvéoc (near Brest), at full power, 2013

Italian pleasure boat

A typical Italian pleasure boat completely wooden and made of mahogany and beech. The real boat was lauched during the1960s. Complete history to be published later...

On this page, I will put the different steps of the building, with some photos and explanations.

A magic type of primer for wood:

The three following photos were taken just after the first application by my wife of a very special primer on the hull, called G4. This primer polyurethane type is very expensive (about 30 Euros for 500ml) and used on wooden sailboats. It looks like some varnish and makes the hull watertight. Its particular properties are to conserve a supple texture (necessary because the wood shifts) and to conserve this quality during several decades. Then, there is no risk of cracks in the hull over time.
Next, I can put the white paint on the part of the bottom of the hull, and a classical varnish on the mahogany part. To finish, a new and last coat of G4 will be applied on the whole hull.
This product is obviously not ecological, and must be applied only outdoors !

Next, and before the other coats of G4, I have added two rows of red lights (2*20 leds) in order to illuminate the water in the back of the boat by night (tuning !!!). It will be beautiful with the turbulence in the water just behind the hull caused by the propeller, because the foam will be red by diffraction in the water !

Hereafter you can see some views in high quality after three thin coats of G4, and a close-up on the motor and the first part of shaft drive transmission with ball bearing. So, the hull is ready for painting the part of the bottom in white bright color, and to put a classical varnish on the mahogany part. To finish, a thin and last coat of G4 will be applied on the whole hull :

The electric motor that I have choosen for this model of
one meter long is very powerful and the brass propeller is large
(45 mm diameter).  All the transmission is in brass and
led by ball bearings. So the maximum speed will be considerable,
 aswith the real model.

My wife has worked a lot on this boat... The next steps are for me, the building of the inside of the boat and the electronic parts (navigation lights etc)... When I will have time !
She will make the seats (foam and cloth).
This boat is specially dedicated to our two sons. We will write their first names on each side of the hull. 


 Hereafter, some news photos (march 2015), comments and explanations to be published later :