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Build a Fluytschip

by Frans Dekker

History:

fluitschip.jpgThe type of fluytschip is designed in 1595 by a shipbuilder who was at that time even so the major of de city of Hoorn in the north-west of Holland. He had discovered that a ship whit  proportions  4 : 1 better sailors’ were than the ships built whit the old proportions  3 : 1. An other reason for making a “new” ship is the way true the Sont, de sea between Denmark and Sweden,. All the ships that sailed true that passage had to pay tax. to the Danish government. Ships whit a wide-extended deck had to pay more tax than ships whit a small deck. And the Dutch like a lot of things but not paying to much tax. So the major of the city of Hoorn, mr Liorne, made a ship whit the sizes 4 : 1 and with a very small deck. Later on there were made even ships whit extended shape of 5 :1, 6 : 1 and even 6 ½  : 1 and 7 : 1.

fluitschip02.jpgThe fluytship had a very simple type of rigging so it good by sailed by 10 to 12 seaman. Other types of ships whit that size needed between 30 and 40 sailors on board to sail the ship. It was a “square box” whit masts and sails and in contrast of this she sailed very well.

Mr. Liorne was a pacifist. Therefore the first Fluytships did not have any weapons. Later on when other shipbuilders made fluytships  the made even fluytships of ware. An other reason wy fluytships did not have weapons was that the most of them sailed true the Sont on there way to Poland and Russia. There were no pirates or other enemies so de did not need any weapons.

Fluytships are used for many ways. So there were fluytships specialised for transporting trees. Therefore the had a hatch in the bow. After all the  tree’s are in the ship the closed the hatch and caulked it so the water good not com in. There are fluytships used by wale-fishing, transport of grain and everything you good think of. The where offend used by the Dutch fleet to transported gunpowder, bullets, extra sails and so on and so on. One of the ships the Dutch discoverer Abel Tasman used to sail around Australia in 1642/1643 was a fluytschip. The were even used in “the east”. There they were used in the local transport of spice. 

805 (6).JPGOn a day in 2009 I found  construction drawing in my archives. A lovely model from a small fluytship about 80 ton’s.

   The SIB Specifications   The Bottle Specifications 
       
   Length: 142 mm    Height: 320 mm
   Wide: 25 mm    Wide: 210 mm
   Height of Hull: 37 mm     Bottleneck:  28 mm
   Total Height: 122 mm    

The wood I use was peer wood. Whit line-see-oil over it peer wood had the right colour I wanted. I sawed the block of peer wood in 4 quarters’. The where held to gather whit wooden pins. One of the problems is that you can see the line between the both sides. Therefore is made my own  triplex used as deck. I planed different thin curls of red cedar wood. I glued them cross-wise upon each other and after the glue was dry I sanded the “triplex”.

Because of the fine ring’s in the red cedar wood it looks like wooden planks of a ships deck.

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I put two deck hatches on deck and a capstan at the front of the deck. The railing is made of peer wood but the frame you can see above the deck is bamboo. I made a wooden stick that passes true the upper deck to steer whit. In Dutch we called it a “kolderstok”. The “kolderstok” is placed conform the way the rudder stands. This time I wanted a model without any sails so you good see the rigging very well.

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The masts and spars are made of peer wood. The blocks are made of cattle bones. In the future I wanted to make a SIB made of (cow) bones. Therefore the butcher has given me some cow bones. Trying something out I discovered that the bones are flexible and very strong. I sawed thin lines (1mm. x 1 mm.) of cow bones and drilled holes in it of 0.4 mm. and cut them of at 1,5 mm. length. It worked out perfectly. 

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The rigging is separated in two sorts. One is the standing rigging. It is always black. The ropes are “painted” whit  Swedish cool tar to preserve it from the weather. The ropes to set the sails are in there natural colour. Therefore I used black and light yellow thread. Two anchors completed the Fluytschip.

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I placed the Fluytschip on a “chair” made of palm wood. To place the ship horizontal there was a problem. The bottom of the bottle is round. To make a flat bottom I put a “floor” of synthetic resin. While the top of the resin was still soft I put the chair on it so it is tightened in the resin. First I placed the two bottom sections on the chair. After that I removed the mast and rigging from the two upper parts of the hull. All the four parts of the hull are put together in the bottle without any problem. The were to come. 

The masts (including the bow sprit) and rigging is always the great problem to put it on the ship. This time the mizzen mast was during the “way in” turned over, including the rigging. That was the moment I discovered that the ropes from the sails were not as strong as I thought the were. Several ropes were broken but I managed to repair them all, almost invisible. It took two full days to place the mast and rigging in the bottle but I think the result is nice but it good be better. The spars are not all standing right. That is because some ropes are broken and to repair it the hat to be a little shorter.

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