Nautical Research Journal 305
18. T e model painted and caulked. In a real boat the ends of the cotton, or white thread in this case, would later be cut off . Seam compound has been added, too, in places. It is a slightly diff erent color, which may be diffi cult to see in the photograph.
Figure 18 shows the model caulked. Seams on one side illustrated the process (the rest having already been fi lled with spackling). Caulking cotton typically was pushed into an open seam aſt er the seam was painted and then covered with a fl exible seam compound. I used three-strand linen line for the “cotton” and pushed it into the seams with a thin piece of wood. I glued it in place with dilute white glue. Real seam compound today is synthetic but before that kind of material appeared, compounds similar to a putty were made of white lead, raw linseed oil, and whiting (basically, ground chalk). In some cases, axle grease was added in small amounts to make the putty more pliable. It could be tinted to a degree with dry colors. For use below the waterline red lead was usually substituted for white lead. Seams were painted before being caulked which prevented the oil in the seam compound from wicking into the
wood and kept it fl exible for a longer time. For model work I substituted spackling compound tinted with a tiny amount of acrylic paint and worked it into those seams where I wanted it with the fl at of a thin metal feeler gauge. T e excess was wiped off with a damp paper towel. It is worth noting that where I had painted the fi lled seams on the other side of the boat a faint “ghost” of each seam still is visible. T at looks exactly like it would on a full-size hull.
Caulking tools used on small boats with thin planking diff ered from those used on more substantial vessels. T e traditional caulking mallet and iron would apply too much force and could seriously damage thin planking so thinner blades or, occasionally, rollers were used to push the cotton into seams by hand. Seams needed to be cleaned out, or “reefed” before anything new could be added; tools used for that were called “reefi ng hooks” and ranged from heavy duty
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
