BYYB Forums

And thus the work proceeds;
the two tackles hoisting and lowering simultaneously;
both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing,
the blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing,
the ship straining, and all hands swearing occasionally,
by way of assuaging the general friction. —Herman Melville

Ahoy,

This posting is more of a question than a statement. We're thinking about stanchions, bulwark caps, brass half-rounds. You might say we're at the pondering stage. Having never seen neither a bulwark nor a stanchion, you might say that Barnacle Jim is clearly working in the dark, which is usually the case for that ne'er-do-well.

Maybe some more experienced salts, such as Paul Riccelli or Barry Pyeatt, will see a posting like this and offer some helpful insight. Here's a summary, then, of what we are trying to do and why.

Faux Bulwarks
According to a nautical dictionary, our bulwarks would qualify as genuine and rakish. That may be, but our bulwarks are more faux than reality. Our monkey rails could certain qualify as a true bulwark, given their height and length, but along the rest of our deck, the bulwark will range from 3 inches to 5 inches. Fred Bingham's book, Practical Yacht Joinery, cautions against randomly adding a bulwark to a given design:

Quote:No matter what you do, you will not have a handsome yacht, because the designer knew what he was doing. Afterthoughts rarely do anything but hurt.

In our case, the bulwarks have to be shallow and tapered, both at stem and stern. Raise the bulwarks too high, and you infringe on the nice sweep of the sheer.

What we want to do is to incorporate something that resembles a bulwark to help keep Sheba Girl and other mates on deck without destroying the lines of the boat. So far, our faux bulwarks seem to do just that.

Stanchions
Our bulwarks would be strong enough without stanchions, but if possible, we would like to add stanchions to our bulwarks. From what I can see, the stanchions should be about every two feet; is this correct?

Apparently, the stanchion is mortised into the caprail, and we could do that alright, but with epoxy and a close fit, a mortised stanchion might not be necessary or even useful.

Bulwark Cap
A lot of newer sailboats seem to have toerails, and for a given design, a toerail adds to the nautical flair as well as contributes a practical touch. By that I mean, a toerail can help keep you on deck. But a toerail is not a true bulwark caprail.

From what I can garner, a bulwark cap should have a slight crown. The edges should be bullnosed with the bulwark planking fitting into a groove. Bingham also suggests a bronze half oval for the middle third of the vessel with a good lenght up forward as well.

The main difficulty seems to be in the lofting—

Quote:If there's anything that gets me, it's a lumpy sheer or rail cap! And port and starboard must match!

Getting a fair sheer is something else! Go away for a day or two, and then take another squint. Sighting from off the bow and stern helps, and a look directly on the bow is sometimes revealing. If your vessel is in a crowded shed, however, you are licked. Leave the sheer heights until you get the hull ourside.

As to scuppers, we plan to have just a few near amidships, each about 5 to 6 inches in length and an inch or so high.

Caps generally are rounded on three edges, the inboard and outboard edges (typically a roll over) and the top (the crown). The amount of crown to provide a cap is usually established by the designer and proves a difficult details to get just "right". The idea is both aesthetic and functional, so you need to make some mockups before you make final cuts on expensive lumber. The aesthetic element requires the sheer be accentuated, which is difficult without standing back and checking the look of each adjustment you make to the profile and plan. Few folks can draw a "sweet" rail, bulwark or other sheer detail without altering the original in a negative fashion. Most designers put a lot of time into the "sweep" of the sheer, to get the look just as they want it. On paper or a monitor, this exercise can be tedious, but doesn't require moving bits of wood or standing back 50 feet to view your efforts after each adjustment.

I'm currently doing something similar for a remodeled 'glass boat. The sheer is being re-shaped and I've cut the hull several three times so far and still haven't got it just right. I stand back several yards and look at the boat's profile, re-bend the batten I'm using as a guide and draw a line with a Sharpie. I remove the batten and look at the sheer from several angles to check for sweetness (smoothness of the curve) and if it's complimentary to the boat. I move the batten to get more or less sweep, re-adjust and draw an new line (removing the old with some Xylene). After being satisfied with the line, I cut. Like I said, I've cut the hull three times now and it's close, but still needs slight adjustment, just aft of the bow (the most difficult area usually).

The functional needs for a cap are to shed water, provide a fair lead over the bulwark for lines and rodes and offer a reasonably comfortable landing for a butt, on those occasions someone may be hanging out on the rail. This usually means the cap follows the crown of the deck and cants outboard slightly, permitting drainage and posterior comfort.

The bulwark or any other additional elements attached to the sheer, also require the same level of concentration to get a sweet, fair sweep or a "broken back" look will result.

Generally you want the bulwark to not be as far outboard as the actual rub rail or you'll break it's mounts every time you have a hard landing on a dock or pile. Many designers solve this by standing the bulwark upright a little, maybe even plumb or having some tumblehome, in certain sections of the hull.

Again the aesthetic elements can drive a person quite nuts, attempting to get the look. The forward portions are taller then midship and aft. This is to solve the "perspective" distortion caused by the bow and to a lesser degree the transom, being closer to the centerline of the boat. If a 1x4 plank was set on edge at the deck, it wouldn't look right. The bow would appear to have a narrowing taper, approaching the stem and the stern similar, but not as pronounced. This is because of perspective making the farther away bow and stern appear smaller in height. We compensate this optical illusion with an optical trick and increase the height at the bow, sweeping gently down to aft of midship, then up again towards the stern. The amount of stern height compared to the bow is generally around 25%. In others words, if the bow is 1" taller then the lowest point (which is generally about 75% of the LWL aft of the stem) then the stern rise is about a 1/4" over the lowest height (25% of the bow's height).

To draw this line, the sweep usually follows a pretty straight line from the bow to about 1/3rd of the way aft, where a curve develops through the low point. This sweeps up again towards the stern (the stern curve is usually quicker). The common mistakes are to place to much curve, in the forward portions of the sweep (where it should have little actual curve) and too quick a curve where it transitions from a downward to upward curve at the freeboard's lowest point.

In practice, you have to spring a batten many times to find the desirable sweep that will highlight the sheer. Again, it's very easy to not get this right, so keep standing back and look over the line from several angles. What looks great standing dead on broadside, with what a look from a dock would be would be, can look just terrible from a more birdseye perspective or from a 3/4 frontal or aft view. Keep trying slight adjustments and one will look much better then the rest, which is the one you'll fine tune to a sweet, sweeping sheer, bulwark or cap.

Stanchions are really unnecessary on a low bulwark. They do add a nautical look, but also trap moisture and water as it attempts to run aft and out a scupper. They are truly fine little toe busters, as a crew member walks a side deck and slams a bare foot into one of these sticking out from the inner face of a bulwark. I personally prefer a metal bracket, instead of a real frame like stanchion. If you use stanchions, they can be spaced about any way you like. A 24" spacing on your boat, Jim, seems a little long, maybe 18" would look better and only require a few additional pieces.

Don't cut through the deck for these. On bigger craft these would be puncturing the deck and have been the source of many a leak over the generations. Since they'll be a decorative feature, just screw them to the bulwark and bed the stanchion heels in a good goo (3M 101). Real stanchions would be screwed through the planking, in between the the frame bays (not attached to the frames) and extend upward, puncturing through the deck, where they would have the bulwark bent around them.

On small bulwarks the cap is often mortised to provide enough area for strength, but since you have the stanchions, you'll have enough "landing" for the cap to skip the mortise. Larger bulwarks (the kind you can lean against) didn't receive the mortises as there was plenty of material to rest the cap on.

Scuppers should be placed at the low point on the sheer's "belly", about 3/4's of the way aft from the bow. I like the bulwark to have natural scuppers, just about full length. This means the bulwark is raised it's full length, so no water can be trapped. This is particularly important if stanchions are used. If holes are cut, for the scuppers, then space them along the low spot and a few feet in each direction past it. The size and spacing of these can be nearly as demanding on the designer (or builder in this case) as getting the sheer sweep right. Two schools of thought are used on scuppers. Big, long scuppers on pretty wide spacing or short length scuppers on close spacing. I've used both. On you boat, Jim, 12" long by 1" tall scuppers on 24" centers would look nice (the long version) or 5" long 1" tall holes on 15" centers could also look fine. Make a mockup of fake scupper holes (1" tall cardboard, painted black and length as desired) and space them out to provide the look and function you desire. Smaller ones will catch more screw drivers (or what ever) that get dropped on deck and roll (of course) directly to the nearest scupper it finds. Many a tool has leapt to it's death (overboard) in this fashion, to the point that some folks, particular those having more the one thumb per hand, have installed screens. Screens do keep the odd winch handle aboard, but also collect every bit of debris the deck can gather.

Ahoy Paul,

As usual your comments are so helpful. Thanks so much, Paul. Yes, I can see what you are saying and what needs to be done. You might say that we are a few days out at sea right now, but we will soon be in harbour and be able to start on the bulwark caprails.

How is the new dog working out? Miss Pat and I watched a segment of Animal World last night. The program featured mistreated dogs in the Detroit area, dogs left out in the cold, dogs without sufficient food, dogs muzzled while another dog was trained to bite and maim. Needless to say, the program made me angry, very angry. Thanks, Paul, for taking care of abandoned animals. That really warms my heart.

Do you suppose we could get nautical scourgings re-enacted as law?
I know a few well-deserving people.


____________________________________________


Post Scriptum

Ahoy Paul.

Other scalawags builders may let heat prevent them from working on their appointed task, but not us. We just returned from 3 long hours of hard labour. Now, all of that may sound good enough, but honestly, it is hot. Not nearly as hot as the newspapers would have you think; after all, this is a desert, and summertime in the desert is hot. Newspaper headlines seem desperate at times. I can see it now:

Paul Riccelli rained on while working on boat

To return to our topic about bulwarks and caprails, though— Paul, this is a more challenging task that I first had thought. Yes, I had read what other shipwrights had said; one compared the project to putting a live boa constrictor into a garbage bag.

At the time, I thought he was exaggerating a bit. Now, I'm not so sure. Another shipwright talked about cedar wedges to get the fairing just right. Well, that may be as well. We're on our way, though. Now, where's the boa constrictor gone to? He was almost in this sack a minute ago.

Paul, here's a question for you. The bulwark caprail needs to follow the same plane as the deck; by that I mean the caprail needs to parallel the sheer of the deck. Is that correct?

The deck is curved in three directions, fore and aft (sheer profile), athwartship (deck crown or camber) and in plan view (bird's eye, looking directly down). Each of these curves can present problems individually, but trying to "hit" all of them can challenge the best.

Yes, the cap usually flows to a similar camber as the deck crown (rolls outboard a touch), so it can shed water overboard. The crown carved into the top is of course designers whim, but generally is subtle, not particularly pronounced, just enough so water can't pool on the rail cap. This rule can be applied with a blanket, covering all surfaces on the weather decks (anything exposed to boarding water, splashes, rain, etc.). Water will pool on flat surfaces, so everything is given a slight camber or cant to permit moisture to run off.

In profile, as I mentioned earlier, the bulwark (and it's cap) usually have a different profile then the sheer. Typically this is a curve with more "belly" so the ends are higher.

In plan view, the bulwark and cap should be inboard of the rubrail or you'll be using it as a rubrail. Unless substantially built and fastened, the bulwark will get torn off pretty easily, if it contacts piles, docks, other boats, etc. This causes designers to "stand" them up a little (erected at a lesser angle then the sides of the boat), so they present less of a target in docking. In the forward quarters, the bow tucks in and is rarely involved in fending off, so the bulwark often sweeps outboard, sometimes well past the rubrail. This adds a fair amount of "flare" to the bows topsides, which can knock down spray and make a dryer boat underway.

In sectional view, the cap leans outboard a slight amount, to shed water. This is coupled with a rounded top surface for a neat appearance and butt comfort. Rub strips (similar to what's used on rubrails) of metal are sometimes placed in strategic locations so lines don't attempt to saw through the cap. A line working back and fro will cut right through a varnished piece of hardwood in a surprisingly short amount of time. In the glory days of sail, the most important job aboard ship was to defend against chafe. Regular inspections of every line, block, warp, post, pin and spar was conducted, several times a day. Two lines rubbing each other, can saw clean through, in just minutes. At any time aboard a clipper or packet, day or night, a few crew members (bosons) would be dangling in and around the rig, usually in chairs, tending to fouled lines, chaff strips (baggywrinkle, leathering, metal strips, etc.), which gives you an idea how important eliminating chaff can be aboard ship.

Ahoy Paul,

As usual, your comments and suggestions are very helpful. Thanks so very much. Your comment about getting the sheer line just right has proven to be rather prophetic.

I am having trouble here, a lot of trouble. In fact, I made a mis-cut yesterday. I subsequently stopped working, and put my tools up for awhile. Getting the sheer just right is very difficult.

Yes, I had laid out everything just right, carefully made my pencil marks, but once the cut had been made, the sheer did not look balanced.

I feel less frustrated today. Sometimes in boat building as in anything else, you just need to step back and take a deep breath. We'll find a solution and the look that will enhance the lines of the boat.

We'll lick this problem yet. Yesterday, though, I felt much like the scene from Twenty-thousand Leagues under the Sea, the one with the giant squid attacking the ship, tentacles everywhere, men being pulled overboard, the ship gradually being pulled under to a water grave, the sounds of thrashing water and screams filling the air.

That was yesterday. Today we take on the squid once more.

I sympathize Jim. You don't know the countless hours, designers have labored over the sweetness in the sheers they draw. It's much more difficult to "eye ball" one on the fly, standing next to the boat.

The only real method I've seen that works (and that I use) is to have two people draw the sheer. One is the batten holder, who should be precise and able to handle simple instructions, while the other is the trusted eye, who's judgment on the sheer sweep is honored. The eye ball person stands back as far as practical, to look at the sheer as the batten boy waits to adjust the sheer on the hull. Several preliminary mails should be set to provide the batten some initial sweep.

The eye ball suggests adjustments, along the sheer, the batten is moved and tacked. The eye balls says this is good or bad and they move on down, continuously rechecking their work. When all is done and the batten is sweet by the eye ball's word, then you draw a temporary line, I prefer a medium line Sharpie for this. Then the whole of the world is brought before the sheer and asked for opinions. Not that any of it will be worth something or offer some particular value, just that many eyes can often see things that tired eyes overlook. When working on one problem, all day, it can lower your "tolerance" and a hump or hollow in the sweep of the sheer can get missed, but fresh eyes, usually will point out a flat spot in a sheer pretty quick.

Okay the line isn't exactly where you want it, get out some solvent, wipe the old one off and draw a new on. You can usually adjust a line by deleting just part of it, readjusting the batten and redrawing, but a kink can easily develop if you're not careful.

Lots of distance to view the sheer, eyes familiar with how a sheer looks at different angles and willingness to spend a day with the batten, adjusting, drawing, erasing, readjusting, drawing, etc.

I know some that use tape for this task, but I never got the hang of making that long a tape line, without some aid, like a level or something. You have to be a pretty good pin striper to use tape and get a fair line. Now I can eye ball a fair waterline with tape, but I've had lots of practice at that.

Yep, there ain't no new fangled method to charge to the rescue, sorry. Some seem to have a natural knack for it, others need years of experience. Trust your eyes, Jim. The human eye can see a .003" pin point of light on a black field, which is about 1/2 to 1/4 the thickness of a human hair. The sense of scale, flow and form can be "felt" with the eye. Your eye will know if it's wrong, you may not understand why, but it will "just not look right . . .". The same is true if you get lucky or labor long and hard. It'll feel right to your eye, which is all that really counts.

No boat is symmetrical, most home builds aren't even close. Boats popped out of the same production mold, aren't the same or symmetrical either, so don't take it too hard. Only you (and likely the trusted eye ball person) will know if the port sheer is a 1/4" taller then the starboard and frankly, the only one who will care too. You're doing a fine job, don't fall into the details too deep, it's just a boat . . . Now go Grasshopper and use the force . . .

Ahoy,

For a spell, we were unable to do much on the boat, other than think and ponder. Yet, we now have made further progress toward stanchions, hawses, bulwark rails, kevels, and knightheads. You must have knightheads, you know. At any rate here are some photos, and comments.

We needed to make some adjustments to the shape and sheer of the bulwark. Paul Riccelli had offered some helpful suggestions, and from what I could read, the bulwark needed more height both at the stem and stern. The famous and fearless sea dog, Sheba Girl, was astonished at what we were about to undertake—



Undaunted, we set about making the modifications. The monkey rails were raised and shaped so that the rail became an integral part of the bulwark proper.



The added height certainly won Sheba's approval. We resawed our mahogany stock and began the final layer. The bulwark proper will be hefty, over 1 1/4 thick! That should help as we hit any unsuspecting dock, or unsavory vessel on the open sea.



The curve is quite pronounced, but we were pleased with the sweep and consistency. Encouraged, we set about extending our bulwark toward the stern. Here the bulwark will gradually rise in height, similar to the stem. Perhaps, you can get some idea of the size of the bulwark by looking at the clamping surface.



Not too bad, not too bad. Admittedly, everything looks rather rough at the moment, but the rough stage simply goes with the building. A ray of early morning sunlight made its way through the tress, highlighting the monkey rail of our boat, and maybe enhancing what we are trying to do.



We stood back and took a long look. Our bulwark is coming together. In a few days, perhaps, the mahogany rails will reach the stern. At least, that is our plan for now.



Once the bulwark rails have been attached, we will begin on the caprail and other boa constrictor projects. Now, if I can just find a photo or sketch of what a knighthead should look like, I might be able to add one or two to our boat as well. I rather relish the words of Bud McIntosh, taken from his book, How to Build a Wooden Boat—

Quote:If yours is a real little ship with a proper laid deck and covering boards, you may be tempted to build this fence big ship-style. with top timbers, knightheads, waist plank, wide cap, kevels— a bulwark that is strong and beautiful but requiring constance vigilance against leaks around shrinking top timbers.

Maybe we can make the bulwark look a little better with a waist plank, wide cap, kevel, and knighthead. Just hope Paul Riccelli reads this. Maybe he'll have some idea what all these words mean. A good waist plank might just keep Phil Woolbright from enacting his man over- board routine.