Yesterday I finally finished the CAD drawing of Peggy. If you would like to see a version of the model in 3D, please click this link which will take you it on the Manx National Heritage Sketchfab page.

Peggy 1789 (left) and 1802 (right)

There have been, I admit, some moments when, like the proverbial grape, I have "let out a little whine" of frustration over the quantity of work this has amounted to. But it's a fact that drawing Peggy in this way has really forced me to look at her properly. Without this level of study we can't hope to understand the form, function and provenance of each frame, stay, cleat and fixing. And it's vital that we do if we are to explain how she looked and how she sailed.

Using what I have learnt has enabled me to separate the two versions ('Peggies'?) - the original, 'racing' Peggy which was fitted with sliding keels and oar ports with rowlocks, and the 1802 'safe' Peggy with raised gunwales and no fancy contraptions. 

In the next two pictures I have arranged them next to one another so that the differences can, at last, be easily appreciated. The position of the masts in the 1789 version is rather conjectural at the moment and will be subject to revision in due course.

Peggy 1789 (left) and 1802 (right)

Peggy 1789 (left) and 1802 (right)

The paint colours are a basic representation of her appearance in 1789 and 1802 respectively. The scarlet red you can see peeping out over the gunwales in the 1789 version is not a mistake!

In 1950 you may recall, Peggy was restored for public viewing after 150 years of neglect. Scant records were kept of this intervention so we have never been certain exactly how many of her timbers were replaced at that time. Using the 3D drawing it is now quite easy to see those interventions. I have highlighted them in blue in the photo below. The photo shows both the underside and the view from the top of the 1802 Peggy.

An image of the 1802 Peggy with the replacement timbers dating from 1950 coloured blue

Final Adjustments

I'm making final adjustments and additions to the CAD drawing of Peggy. This includes identifying the remains of the 1789 Peggy and separating them from the 1802 modifications. This has been quite a headache because George Quayle's conversion of Peggy to the form we see today resulted in hundreds of changes.  Inside the boat for instance there's a veritable forest of frames; using the CAD drawing it is much easier to see patterns and correspondences in these and to categorise them to either period. Easier - but not easy.

This is Peggy in her current, 1802, form. The colours help me navigate the model.

The 1802 Peggy from above.....

… The same view of the 1802 Peggy, but in a 'rendered' view that's easier to understand

And finally, a view of Peggy with the 1802 additions stripped away, & with sliding keels

Drawing progress

Every day I have been adding to, adjusting and correcting my CAD drawing of Peggy. I have been concentrating wholly on the interior so far. 

I reached a major milestone today when I finished drawing every timber on the inside of the boat and was able to put the results together with the image of the hull exterior made for me in 2012 by Martin Cooper (then of Conservation Technologies, Liverpool and now Lynton Lasers, Wilmslow, Cheshire). 

Progress in the CAD drawing of Peggy, Friday 17th April 2020

Working from home....

Here on the Isle of Man controls to contain the spread of the coronavirus have been pretty draconian and I, in common with so many others, am forced to work from home. Turning the situation to my advantage I am taking the opportunity to complete the CAD (computer aided design) drawing of Peggy. The drawing is in three dimensions and will show each individual timber from which Peggy is made. Working from 3D scans of the boat each piece has to be drawn with lines which can then be used to create a virtual image of it.

This is a view of Peggy's interior. It's from a 3D image on the computer.

This is the same view showing my 3D CAD drawing of some of the timbers

All this is very laborious, and until the pandemic hit us I was struggling to find the time to complete it. But why, you may ask, am I bothering?
The CAD model of Peggy will be accurate (if somewhat rationalised) and it will be useful for two really important pieces of work. One is the reconstruction of Peggy's rig and her original form (and original rig too). We still don't really know much about this. The second piece of work is to explore how she may have handled. For this we can put the CAD model in a simulation.