classic german lifeboat - Konsul John

The Konsul John was built for the DGzRS in 1929. About 13 meters in length and with a displacement of 18 tons she was equipped with a 50 hp motor and auxiliary sails. Little is known about the history of the boat, the archives of the DGzRS have been lost in the havock brought by the last great war. Only two known photographs exist and a simple plan can be bought at the online shop of the DGzRS.

Built in the scale of 1/20 the model has a decent size. The hull was made of grp, moulded over a plug of styrofoam.

The cockpit was made of ps and equipped with a freeing tube.

She rides the waves like a duck and has excellent maneuverability. Cant wait to test her in rough conditions 

that's a very nice, very unusual lifeboat max.

look forward to seeing that finished

The rub rails and grab lines have been added and the removable cabin is taking shape.



cheers, Max

Love the colour! Deffinalty different from the traditional white red and blue or modern orange for a change.

Thanks for sharing!

With the superstructure almost finished it was time for another test on the lake.










As already said, she has excellent maneuverability and sailing her is pure joy.

Planks, portholes and railings are already ordered, now I'll have to play the waiting game until the parts are delivered.

Roadrunner wrote:

Love the colour! Deffinalty different from the traditional white red and blue or modern orange for a change.

Indeed, the bright green hull is a nice change from the traditional colours.
I'm still kinda undecided which boat I'm gonna build once the Konsul is finished.
Perhaps the Geheimrat Sartori (~Councillor Sartori), another classic german lifeboat with a dark green hull.
Or the Borkum, a boat built in the war years and well known for rescuing the crew of the freighter Teeswood in 1951.

I like both boats, Maybe I should leave the decision to you guys 

cheers, Max

Time to muster some brave lifeboatmen.
I used some milliput to add a cork lifebelts to two figures.







Then I created a mould out of silicone and casted the first crew figure.
As I ran out of silicone I could only finish the mould for one figure.
Once new material has been delivered the second mould will follow.

cheers, Max

Hi Max , any further development of your lifeboat ...we are all sat here awaiting an update of your model , so please let us know how it is , or if you have started another .....let us know 

Hello ivor,

thanks for your kind message   
Unfortunately I had do scrap the lifeboat. It was permanently taking on water and I couldn't find out the reason.

One day I'll build an improved version. But currently I'm busy working on a 47ft Watson in 1/20.
If you're interested in a build log, let me know.

Cheers, Max

Thats a pity Max , I assume you checked for water seepage up the prop shaft casing  and packed it well with white lithium polymer grease   and packed it well around the rudder control shaft [ sorry if I'm teaching you how to suck eggs ] but if the hull is intact thats the first place id start looking , although your previous trials on the lake seemed to work out well from what you said 

Always worth checking again , and did you fit any brass thrust washers between the prop and the lower end of the prop shaft casing , as on a rough water surface it will soon creep up the shaft and into the lower hull I have found earlier on .

Dont lose heart and resurrect the model and check it out again please ....

Yes would love to see your current build project to.....let us know how you get on Max 

Quote :

sorry if I'm teaching you how to suck eggs

No problem mate, I really appreciate your help   

The first places I checked were the areas around the rudder and prop tubes.
I poured a lot of epoxi onto this areas and thouroghly greased the shafts. But the water kept on rushing inside.
My first guess is, that the rudder tube was way to short, even in calm conditions it was barely reaching over the water line.
Another possibility would be the droppable keel.
After ten minutes of sailing there would be a few centimeters of water inside the hull, once the battery pack was completely submerged.
Battery pack and motor soon started rusting.

There were some other shortcomings. The removable superstructure was way to heavey (the sloped area was completely made out of filler and sanded down to shape)
and the droppable keel was made out of polystyrene instead of brass and therefore practically useless.
Last but not least the shape of the hull was wrong and not symmetric (I'll never ever build a plug out of styrofoam).

So with a heavy heart I scrapped the whole boat. I really regret doing so, she was a lovely little boat and sailing her a real joy.
But thinking of the problems and the endless search for the leakage, building a complete new hull is the best solution.
Once my current projects are done, I'll build a new Konsul John.

Till then, there's a video of her in action:

Quote :

let us know how you get on Max 

Alright, I'm gonna post a build log right away.

Cheers, Max

and the droppable keel was made out of polystyrene instead of brass and therefore practically useless.
Last but not least the shape of the hull was wrong and not symmetric (I'll never ever build a plug out of styrofoam  



as soon as you said drop keel bells rang. i had water pouring in at this point on my lifeboat  (see photo) and had to make it higher, as when you put the boat in water the weight pushes the water up and floods, i am certain this was your problem as you checked the other normal places 




david

                                                         

There you go Max problem solved