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Old 15-08-2018, 13:16   #31
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Re: Never seen this. What is it?

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Originally Posted by az_r2d1 View Post
It doesn't need sumo wrestlers, 4 people can make it move easily.
It's A Dutch ship btw, and the older ones were made of wood.

Back when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel.
Yes, I know they're Dutch ships, but the iron their hulls are made of is usually referred to as "Swedish Iron" because it was soft enough to be cold-formed and cold-riveted by hand when industrial facilities were unavailable. Don't forget that many of these were one-off backyard builds.

The "poles" shown might also be those used to push the normally self-tacking foresail out when rounding a marker, I don't know, but I still think that "poling" a Skutze (much less a Tjalk) would be akin to trying to push start a Freightliner.
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Old 15-08-2018, 13:43   #32
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Re: Never seen this. What is it?

The Tjalk my friend owns is about 90 feet. The boat is based in Muiden, near Amsterdam as many others are as well. Once a year, at the end of the season they have a two day race, and the year I raced with her, she placed first in her class. I was amazed at all the sails the boat carried and yes, to sail it fast you need alot of crew, we had about 12. When the wind gets up to about beaufort 4 and alot of sails are hoisted I felt the boat was surprisingly fast. We passed many modern monohull sloops one day in particular.
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Old 15-08-2018, 13:45   #33
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Re: Never seen this. What is it?

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I had no idea, however I can assume Neeltje knows what it’s made from.

I didn’t know how many were in actual use anymore, but assume likely quite a few are being lived in?
FWIW, the Skutzes you see in the various racing videos have kept their original configuration, with an open hold covered by planks and tarps, full rigging, tiller steering, and no motor.

Most of the (larger) Tjalks were scuttled by the Dutch during WWII to prevent the Germans from using them as troop ships for their invasion of England, and the remaining ones are the ones that have most often been motorized and transformed into canal "houseboats", where all the rigging (leeboards included) have been removed, and a full-length cabin has been tacked on to the open hull.

Mine, for example, was originally a manure barge built 10 years before the sinking of the Titanic. It now has 8' ceilings in the salon, dual-zone AC and over 500 sq. ft. of living space.
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Old 15-08-2018, 14:01   #34
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Re: Never seen this. What is it?

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Originally Posted by Neeltje View Post
Yes, I know they're Dutch ships, but the iron their hulls are made of is usually referred to as "Swedish Iron" because it was soft enough to be cold-formed and cold-riveted by hand when industrial facilities were unavailable. Don't forget that many of these were one-off backyard builds.

The "poles" shown might also be those used to push the normally self-tacking foresail out when rounding a marker, I don't know, but I still think that "poling" a Skutze (much less a Tjalk) would be akin to trying to push start a Freightliner.
I know it works because I've done it. You won't go fast but once it's moving it is very easy.
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Old 15-08-2018, 15:17   #35
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Never seen this. What is it?

If you look at old photos you’ll find lots of pictures of Canal barges loaded with huge, heavy loads like granite rocks etc being pulled along by a couple of donkeys.
There has to be enormous inertia, but once overcome, it seems to not take too much force to maintain a slow pace
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