Piece 4 of the Princes Channel Wreck – week 5

// April 2nd, 2009 // Princes Channel Wreck Project

In making the 1:20 model of the bow section of the Princess Channel Wreck we used many of the same procedures earlier mentioned. Since this part of the wreck had many heavy timber parts, it was natural to make some pieces in timber. The idea was that the model in this way would both be sturdier and get an improved appearance, than if constructed of cardboard alone. The only pieces made in cardboard were the strakes. Gluing 1mm and 2mm cardboard together gave us the general width needed to reconstruct the planks. The rest of the timber pieces; the keel, stem post, stemson and the frames were all made of wood. A 1:20 print was glued on to the moulded part of the wood and cut out using a jig-saw. The sided part was constructed in the same matter. Finishing touches and details, like rabbets and scarfs, were cut using a knife.
Figure 1: Frame.

Since the wreck was not taken apart before recording, not all of the prints of the timber pieces had a full outline and some estimated guesses were needed also in order to calculate how the pieces were connected to one another. The Princess channel boat is believed to have been built frame first, so when putting the different parts together, we started with connecting the keel and stem post using small nails. For calculating the angle these should be situated, we used the outline of the stemson, which later was attached on top of the keel and stemson. Even though the original progress of building the ship started with the frames, we decided to begin with fastening some of the strakes. This was done to try to find the correct place to position the frames. After the lower strakes were attached, the frames were placed before the last strakes were fastened.

Figure 2: Bow section; keel, stem post and three strakes attached

Figure 3: Bow section; keel, stem post and three strakes attached

Marja-Liisa Petrelius Grue & Christian Thomsen

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