Gunboats... dreadnoughts... but most of all, the hauls. How do you do those to get things rolling?
As far as the dreadnoughts are concerned, there is not much I can say: these solid wooden hulls have been sitting 20 years on my shelves and are actually spare masters for 25mm resin cast triremes (!) here seen minus the oar banks. They were machine tooled at the time, but if you need only a couple, it can be done by roughly sawing a piece of wood to shape and manually sanding down bow and poop, unless you have a friend with machine tools around...
The paddle steamer, I explained: I used an Old Glory 15mm ACW resin hull and paddles as a base. The OG 15mm ship range has enough different models to please you (some might even serve as a base for a dreadnought/cruiser). Well worth a look and the money.
The hull of the (whitish) twin funneled gunboat is a wooden rowboat as can be found in giftshops (look carefully at the pic and it will become clear).
The torpedoboat is also based on a simple wooden gift item (a trawler). The original was not much of a model itself, but provided me with a suitable hull.
The ram is a 15mm OG ACW model with a 28mm deck, gun and smokestack added.
All the pirate ships shown also started out as mantlepiece items that have been waterlined & detailed (balse deck planking, extra guns & wheels added). The great thing about mantlepiece sailing ships is that they come fully rigged and with all sails attached to the masts, unlike resin wargames models. There are also some nice plastic Pirates of the C. models on the market right now.
My advice is: have a look at the OG range of ships and look for some (internet) shops for (not too expensive) mantlepiece models that will provide you with a base to start from. The rest is patience, tryouts and some balsa & plasticard (not forgetting a visit to the bit box).
Hopes this helps,
Rudi