Billing Boats Marie Jeanne Part 1 

Thanks for your hard work and sharing your experience with us, always learning something new.

This was a good video, I am kind of new to ship building, but have been building R/C airplanes a long time. So I have a few new tricks to learn.

I built this very same kit a few years ago after a thirty year sabbatical from model making. It was not the newer version you have but a kit I had got as a gift in the 1970's. Yes its been around that long. The plans were terrible, as were the planks. Not obechie but balsa I believe. The trick was to soak the strips and heat gently over a candle, in affect steaming them to help form properly. It worked. There was very little on the internet about the Tunny boats, bit I found enough information from pictures to enhance the kit a little after the deck was planked, I added extra frames between the kit frames to give the illusion of a full complement of hull frames. As for the deck and you may have already laid the strips. Between each strip I laid a length of black thread to simulate caulking. Very labour intensive but the effect was worth it. I used danish oil thinned a little after a light sanding to coat it. I used the sail plan to make my own sails using old worn white pillow covers on a sewing machine. Again labour intensive, but a more natural look in the way the sails sit. I'm a patient man, I have been married a long time. 😄 I used very strong tea to stain the cloth and a tiny bit of red food colouring for the red sails. Tested on scraps first of course. Some of these tricks you may well know already of course. I sprayed the hull and it looks well. A tip suggested to me was to make a block to support the masts and rig them off the hull. Its easier for some people that wat if you have big fingers and arthritis. The end result was good enough for my wife to place it in the hall of our house. Six months after I finished my kit. I was buying fish in the fishing village near where I live and I noticed some tall masts where trawlers normally berth. I took a look and there was a Drascom Lugger over 100 years old and a Marie Jeanne. I luckily got a lot of things right with my build. One of the crew said they were all similar but never exaxtly the same. I had to turn down an offer of a tour on board as I was wating for a hip replacement and could not manage the ladder from the quay wall. They are a lovely little ship in real life. I look forward to the next video. The hull looks well shaped at this point.