1:18 scale passenger ferry Duchess of Cornwall - RC Groups
Summary
In Falmouth, Cornwall there is a long history of passenger ferries which ply many times a day throughout the year across the Carrick Roads to the town/village of St Mawes on the Roseland Peninsula. However, unable to determine the ships lines to any degree of accuracy from photographs, I managed to get hold of some small size, low-resolution scans from the owners of what I thought would be the original plans of the boat. In early March, the boat had been taken out of the water for its annual pre-season repair and refurbishment and, through the contact who provided the plans, I was able to spend a couple of hours on board in the boatshed just before lockdown started, photographing everything and taking measurements. With the on-line supply of boat-building timber a slow process at present, the only construction I have been able to start so far is to cut, laminate, shape and notch the keel using some good quality seasoned 8mm thick pine, 33mm wide which I managed to purchase locally from a DIY store. In the meantime Im waiting for my shipment of various thicknesses of birch ply and a quantity of 9.5mm x 2.4mm spruce planking to arrive and then I can get on with cutting the bulkheads from my templates and dry-fitting to the keel to check the hull shape and amend if necessary.