Steam Drifter – “Formidable”

In around 1977 I attended a weekend workshop seminar on the herring fishing industry in East Anglia. The course was held at Belstead House near Ipswich. One of the expert speakers was Ted Frost who talked at length on the building of a steam drifter. Ted was a shipwright by trade and served his apprenticeship at Chambers yard on Lake Lothing, Lowestoft. This yard built many wooden sailing and steam drifters and trawlers, and was responsible for the standard design of steam drifter built for the Navy during the war.

Ted had produced a very comprehensive set of magnificent pencil drawings illustrating every stage of the construction of steam drifter “Formidable” LT100 which was built in 1917. During his apprenticeship and later, Ted worked on every aspect of the building of these vessels. In 1985 his drawings and constructional descriptions were published by Terence Dalton in “From Tree to Sea”. I don’t believe that any of the wooden steam drifters have survived in preservation, so Ted’s book is an invaluable record of this bit of maritime history. In later years Ted went to sea as ship’s carpenter with Houlders, on their refrigerated meat boats on the South American run. Before retirement he served as Clerk of the Works for Lowestoft. A true gentleman, I was honoured to call him a friend, and I treasure my copy of “From Tree to Sea” signed by him. We will not see his like again.

Having completed the build of “Warrior” I was looking for a new project. I didn’t fancy another ship with an extensive sailing rig, so “Formidable” beckoned. A year or two ago I completed the Lowestoft sailing trawler “Master Hand” to 1:48 scale, so I reckoned that she would be well complemented by a steam drifter from the same port, same era, at the same scale.

Although there is ample information in “From Tree to Sea” to construct the model, I acquired the commercial plans for “Formidable” , which are at 1:33 scale. I was able to scan, manipulate and print the body plan at 1:48 scale, and construction commenced.

I briefly contemplated building the model as a full constructional replica of the prototype vessel. The book “From Tree to Sea” gives ample details of every element of the construction, and it would be perfectly possible to recreate this construction in model form. But in reality, this project requires a larger scale; a minimum of 1:24, giving a model about 4ft in length. I didn’t want to construct this size of vessel, so opted for conventional plank-on-bulkhead model construction.

The model at 1:48 measures approx 23½” overall and 5″ beam. The model is to be a static display model, not intended for sailing the pond. The keel plate and bulkheads are formed from 4mm ply. Profiles were traced for the keel plate which was cut out in one piece. The upper edge of this corresponded with the deck line at the centre, while the lower edge was at keel level. Paper templates were traced and cut out from the body plan, transferred to the ply, and the bulkheads were cut out using a fretsaw. Slots are cut to fit the bulkheads to the keel.

In this model, the datum for the build is the keel line, with all bulkhead stations vertical to this. The actual designed waterline is not parallel to this. When afloat the vessel trims about 3ft “by the starn” as boiler and engine are located aft. She would gradually trim forward as she took on her catch of herring.

The keel plate is cut out and trimmed to shape taking great care to form the sheer line accurately. Slots are cut to take the bulkheads. At this stage we make the arrangements for mounting the hull on her baseboard. Regular readers of my constructional articles will be familiar with this, but the technique bears repetition.

Two brass keel pillars will support the hull. Positions are chosen equidistant from stem and stern, and vertical slots 4mm wide are cut into the keel plate. Care must be taken to ensure the slots are vertical to the design waterline, NOT parallel to the bulkheads. Two nuts about 10mm square are made from ⅛” thick brass scrap, drilled and tapped 4BA. These are inserted horizontally into slots formed in the keel plate about 20mm from the baseline. These intersect the vertical slots which will take the 4BA securing screws. The nuts must be a firm fit into the slots and are glued in position. There must be about 15mm of vertical slot above the nuts to accommodate the “tail” of the screws. I cut and glue two small support chocks under each brass nut, just for additional support. Brass pillars are turned and bored on the lathe, and parted off to length. The forward pillar must be longer than the after one to allow for the “rake” of the keel. The tops of the pillars are slotted to allow the keel to fit. I temporarily mount the hull at this stage on a scrap piece of 2″ x 1″ wood. This allows the hull to be mounted in the vice during the build.

The bulkheads are slotted to fit into the corresponding slots in the keel. It is important to take the time to accurately shape the bulkheads, especially the deck camber. All the bulkheads must sit at the correct height ensuring a uniform sweep of the deck in both camber and sheer. Toward the ends of the vessel the bulkheads are bevelled to allow a snug landing for the planking. Time spent at this stage pays dividends in achieving a “fair” shape to the hull.

The most difficult part of the hull construction is the formation of the counter stern. This drifter features a reverse-counter. Ted Frost referred to this as a “tug stern”. Many drifters and trawlers were built with a conventional counter stern in which the stern bulwarks overhang above deck level. The drawback of this feature is that it is vulnerable to damage in a congested harbour. With the tug stern the bulwarks are protected from damage by the rubbing strake at deck level.

The counter (the portion of the hull abaft the sternpost) is formed on three bulkheads plus the aft end of the keel plate. All of the bulkheads have “ears” above deck level which will support the construction of the bulwarks. These must all be shaped with great care, accurately slotted and bevelled. The sheerline at the stern is very distinctive in this vessel, and it is important to get it right.

At this stage all the bulkheads are located and glued. A short section of deck substrate is formed from 1mm plasticard covering the aftermost five bulkheads. Accurately cut and filed to shape, this is carefully fitted and glued in position. This substrate will ultimately be planked over. A length of 2mm square limewood is steamed and carefully bent to the stern profile. This is glued to the outside of the stern at deck level, ensuring that it follows the correct sheer. This simulates the counter covering board in the real vessel.

At the forward end, a deck substrate of 1mm plasticard is fitted, covering the for’d three bulkheads to the stem. A narrow tapered limewood fillet is fitted on either side of the stem from deck level down to the keel. This is shaped with a varying bevel giving a secure place for fastening the forward ends of the hull planking.

The hull planking commences with the sheerstrakes, or wales. These are fitted from deck level downwards. The upper two strakes are thicker than those below, and are tapered forward and aft. The aft ends must be carefully shaped and faired into the counter. This vessel has a pronounced sheer (‘sheer’ is the vertical curve of the deck line, sweeping gracefully upward toward the bow and stern). It is important that the sheerline looks “right”; an error here can ruin the appearance of the completed vessel.