Bristol Shipwrights

Shipwright Louis Sauzedde discusses innovative and traditional techniques used in building a new classic Alden schooner. Introducing Evelyn, a 1920's schooner from the drawing board of noted designer John Alden. In this first video in a series, Lou Sauzedde walks through the progress to date. Looking from the stem aft, he explains the use of new materials like fiberglass floors, plastic frames, and a unique approach to double planking.

In Episode 2 shipwright Lou Sauzedde continues his overview of building a classic Alden 270 schooner with innovative and traditional techniques materials. You could say it's a composite build. But it certainly opens the door to questions and maybe controversies, "Like when is a wooden boat not a wooden boat? How can modern techniques and materials lead to a stronger longer lasting sailboat? Does plastic have any place in wooden boatbuilding?"

Evelyn will be double planked. In essence, her hull is planked twice. The first layer of planking is made from approximately 400 narrow mahogany pieces (strips) 1 3/4" wide by 5/8" thick that run from stem to stern. Each piece is fastened with bronze screws to the frames and backbone and glued to the adjoining plank. But before all that, you've got to start making strips. Episode 3 shows just the first. Future videos will show the complete process from selecting lumber to hanging a finished strip plank.

In Episode 4 of Building Evelyn, Louis Sauzedde takes the next two steps in milling lumber for strip planking: 1) Resawing the mahogany boards to roughly 3/4". 2) Planing the mahogany to the finished 5/8" thickness. Once again, Lou shows how to use old or even antique tools to get first rate results. Watch the whole video and learn how to use a short fence for resawing. And see how you can get more from your planer even if it's an old school Delta Milwaukee.

How do we get a tight fit between strip planks as they follow a curved frame? The answer is progressive bevels. In this episode, Lou Sauzedde shows how to pick up the proper bevels and rip them progressively on a table saw. We're joined in the shop by Fred Lorensen. He's a wealth of knowledge and experience building, repairing and sailing wooden boats.

We've selected the lumber, re-sawn, planed, picked up the bevels, and sawn the progressive bevels on a table saw. Now, it's finally time to hang a plank. Lou Sauzedde, with the help of Ken Boyle, goes through all the steps: removing a ribband, gluing the edge, fitting the plank and screwing it in place.

Depending on the type, the transom may be the most difficult and complex job in lofting and building a wooden boat. Evelyn's transom is curved, raked and oval. Making it one of the more difficult types to build. In this video, we'll show you how we picked up patterns to make the upper transom frame pieces. In the next video we'll show how to use the patterns to fashion the timbers. As the transom does not show correctly in any of the three views provided in the lines plans, it was lofted and expanded. Then we built a mold to the radius of the transom and used 6 layers of approx. 1/8" marine plywood to form the inner layer of the transom. Then the transom was cut to shape and fastened to the horn timber. Because the transom bevels were so radical, we planed them after the transom was in place. Then we built a transom frame to fit the forward face of the transom inner layer. The outer layer of the transom will be planked with two layers of solid mahogany.

In this episode of making a transom frame for Evelyn, Lou Sauzedde uses the patterns we made in EP 7 to mark the timbers. Then the timber is cut to rough shape on the shipsaw. Back up at the transom, the piece is planed to fit more accurately. We repeat the process, until we have fashioned the top of the transom frame. In Episode 9, you'll see how all of the pieces fit together.

Step by step the transom frame is coming together. At this point we've roughed out all the pieces we need to connect the upper frame to the lower transom pieces. In this episode, Lou will show how the fit together and call out an interesting joinery technique. In an upcoming video when the strip planking is finished, we'll remove the braces and give you a clearer look at the entire frame. In the meantime though, keep an eye out on this video for the piece that gets away.

Fairing the strip planking is a lot of work, but somebody has to do it. There's probably no one better at it than Lou Sauzedde. Find out how he uses antique block (coffin) planes, transitional planes and even a power plane to fair even the toughest sections of Evelyn. You'll also hear his thoughts on avoiding indigestion and breathing. If you watch the whole video, you'll find out what he keeps in the pockets of that vest he's wearing.

We’re about ready to start Evelyn's second layer of planking, but first Lou Sauzedde and Ken Boyle need to find the sheer on the outside of the strip planking. To do that, we need to mark the frame heads at the bevel of the deck beams. That’s a lot more complicated to describe than show. In this video, we demonstrate how to use a pattern of a deck beam to mark the bevel on the frame heads and then transfer that bevel to the outside of the top strip plank or sheer plank. With this mark, we can then line off the hull and determine the widths and shapes of the second layer of carvel planking. We could have picked the bevels up off of Evelyn’s body plan, but that would have taken hours of lofting. Plus, if any of the frames weren’t in exact alignment, the bevels would not be exact. Our goal is minimum effort for maximum accuracy.

Now that the sheer is marked, Ken Boyle and Lou Sauzedde need to define the magic line. It's not exactly magical, but it is a little difficult to get your head around. Read on below, but it might be more helpful to just watch the video. (This is not a trick to get you to watch. It’s just that my words don't seem to do it justice.) In essence, the magic line divides the hull into two sections. When you bend a straight plank around the boat on the curved magic line, it will follow the line precisely. Above the magic line, all the planks are the same shape. Each plank is also the same width at the molds or frames. And the planks all have the same taper from amidship to the ends at the sternpost, transom and stem. So we can make 19 planks that are essentially identical. (Not counting the bevels.) This makes planking much easier and faster and, if the seams are visible, it makes the lines fair and pleasing to the eye. If this description is confusing you as much as it is me, please take a look at the video.

Lou Sauzedde and Ken Boyle are making deck beams from the scrap left over from re-sawing the strip planking. There are a lot of laminates and a number of steps to get them ready to glue, but the end product is strong and durable. We're also getting two jobs on Evelyn going at the same time, the second layer of carvel planking and the deck beams. That way, when we've just about finished the planking all the deck beams will be ready to cut and fit. Watch the entire video and find out what we're doing with the scrap from the scrap.

Meet the newest member of the Bristol Shipwrights crew, Melissa. Lou Sauzedde also discusses some of the finer points of lining off the upper section of Evelyn's hull. How to check the magic line for edge set. Why we prefer using a tape measure over dividers in some cases. And he begins to consider what to do with the tricky section below the magic line.

With the magic line drawn in and the line off for the topside planking calculated, it's time to take on the tricky area from the magic line down to the keel rebate (Uk) or rabbet (US). Lou Sauzedde and Ken Boyle figure out how they want the planks to run, how wide they are at the sternpost rabbet and how how many stealers are necessary to make up the greater distance below the tuck at the stern. Phew! A lot of words. It's much easier to watch how it's done. We'll also show a simple trick with a string to get a fair, pleasing curve in these lower planks.

It's been a while since you've seen what's been going on with Evelyn. But Lou and Ken are back, patterning and cutting the garboards and broad strakes. You'll find some simple tricks that make patterning easier and more accurate. And get a closer look at progressive bevel sawing with a custom-built circular saw.

How many people does it take to glue up a deck beam? Pretty much as many as you can get. Lou Sauzedde kicks off and wraps up the video, but leaves it to "glue people" to finish up the job. You'll get some advice on mixing epoxy from a quality control engineer and see how we saved materials by using the offcuts from re-sawing the strip planking. Also, you'll get a chance to meet some of the steadfast people who have been building Evelyn since the beginning.

It's been quite a while since Bristol Shipwrights have released a new video, but here's one you haven't seen before. Ken and Lou continue hanging the second layer of planking. See how we've minimized fitting, including backing out planks. From there, we'll take a look at hanging the plank before gluing. We'll finish up with using epoxy and thickened epoxy as well as temporary deck screws to fasten the plank in place. There are more new videos on the way. We're scheduled to put up a new video on the first Friday of every month starting today.

Finally, we've planked up to the magic line. Now all the measuring, math, and drawing should pay off in a faster and more accurate planking job. But first we have take a leap and make a plank pattern that's as long as the boat. And hopefully, if we've built the hull right, the same pattern will work on both sides of the boat. So let's get started with a 43' long piece of plywood.

Rip, scarf, draw and glue a 43' long plywood pattern.Will it waste time or save it over the long haul? We put the pattern to work and find out, once again, it doesn't always go as smooth as you hope, but overall. we're pretty certain it's the best and fastest way to go.