Help Please - fitting Yards

[BANYAN]

Hi folks,

 

I am starting the final stages of fitting the spars to my Endeavour and I have finally fully dressed the lower fore yard ready for fitting.  The slings are in place on the mast head / trees but I am trying to figure out how to fit the parrels to hold the yard to the mast without damaging the rigging (very little working room).

 

Any suggestions for a method/technique welcomed

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited May 22, 2016 by BANYAN

[mtaylor]

Pat,

 

If it's not too late, pin the yard to the mast.  It'll give you some stability and hold the mast in position.  

[S.Coleman]

Just as Mark suggested. I cut the head off a small brass nail and drill a hole into the mast halfway the Dia and the same on the yard. CA glue the nail in the holes and attach the yard to the mast.

[BANYAN]

Thanks Mark and S - I did that with the jib etc and intended to do so for the lower yards at least, but my real issue is fitting the parrels.  To fit these correctly they need to be threaded on the bottom row first, then a loop taken around the yard and the top row threaded (or vice versa) then around the other side of the yard; then the whole assembly must be pulled taut and several passes of the line made around the parrels and the yard.  That is my issue - how to achieve this without damaging anything, as some force is necessary to pull the parrels taut around the mast after threading.  Even the threading will be very difficult in such a tight space.  i would be very interested in any techniques people have used for this?

 

Sorry guys, my initial question was not specific enough and you have answered my initial question.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

Never had to fit rope parrels, Pat, but it strikes me that if you have several turns around the yards you might be able to fake it.  Thread the parrel, take a turn under the yard and secure; thread the reaminder. take a turn around the yard and secure; hide the faking with extra turns over the top.

 

Is that a possibility?

 

John

[mtaylor]

Pat,

 

Faking it will work.  I've set up the parrels and trucks off ship such that there ends up a single line coming off each end of the parrels much like a necklace.  I then wrap and tie the parrels to the yard.   I hope that makes sense.  If not I'll try to find a picture or make a quick drawing.

[allanyed]

Pat,

 

Are you using ribs between the trucks and did you put lash lines on the ends of the parrel ropes to make the final tie off?  Page 126-7 of TFFM Volume IV gives a good description and comments that it is an exacting task so you are not alone in finding it anything but simple or easy.

 

Allan

[BANYAN]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  

 

John and Mark, that appears to be a solution (faking it ) but, if possible I wish to do them properly and may have conceived a method which I describe below.  i will certainly revert to this if i cannot get the real deal to work. 

 

Allan, many thanks.  I read that info after posting and it gave me a couple of ideas.

 

My rigging actually works, so I intend to lower the  temporary 'stub' yard and fit the actual yard to the lifts/slings while in a lowered position to gain  more manoeuvre room.  I will make up the parrels as described by David in the TFFM and temporarily hold the parrel assembly together with some sacrificial light cotton thread wrapped around the hollow in the ribs.  I will then tie/size one end of the parrel ropes (with the eyes) around the yard on one side of the mast, wrap the rope and parrel around the mast then loosely tie the other end of the ropes around the yard on the other side of the mast and haul these as taut as i can allowing some room for the parrel to slide up the mast.  I will then raise the yard into position, tighten the parrel and then wrap the ropes as described by David.

 

One further point raised by a member off-line is the  handling of the tail ends.  Do the tail ends of these parrel ropes tie off on the parrel, or are they led via block to the deck to allow them to be re-tensioned or loosened as required to work the yard?

 

I'll see if this method work for me and advise.  Thanks again all for the very helpful info.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[popeye2sea]

Parrel tyes for the lower yards led down to tackles hooked into eyebolts in the deck abreast the mast.  For the upper yards they most often led down to the tops.

 

Regards,

Edited May 23, 2016 by popeye2sea

[BANYAN]

Many thanks

 

Pat

[BANYAN]

Hi again folks,

 

I am getting myself further confused (not hard to do)

 

According to the AOTS - Capt. Cookes Endeavour, the Fore and Main lower yards were fitted with 2 row parrels (6 ribs with 5 trucks per row). Ray Parkins does not discuss/show them at all in his H.M. Bark Endeavour.

 

According to Marquardt (18th century rigs and rigging), the version of parrels used on English ships changed during the 18th Century and were not in common use after mid-century.  Early in the 18th century, the version that could be adjusted with a truss fall and purchase were phased out in favour of the standing parrel (which is the version described by David Antscherl in TFFM vol 4 - I think).  James Lees and Mondfeldboth provide similar info/advice and the Truss, with fall ending in a tackle secured to an eyebolt adjacent to the mast at the deck, was in common use on English Ships from the mid-18th century onward.

 

Noting Endeavouur is mid-century (ish), it is possible that Endeavour still had Parrels in lieu of Trusses but I would like to be sure if possible.  If parrels were in use, they would have been the standing version which I assume, based on the above info, did not have a tye tackle or purchase?  So if standing, does this mean they were seized at the yards, with the seizings cut each time the masts had to be lowered, or swayed/braced at the more extreme angles?

 

John, if you revisit this thread, can you recall if the replica uses trusses or parrels please?

 

Can anyone enlighten me please?

Edited May 23, 2016 by BANYAN

[dashi]

Hi Pat. According to both the AOTS Endeavour and Rigging of Period Ship Models by Lennarth Petersson the parrel ropes were seized around the yards. Like you I make a working rig and have found it best to seize one end of the parrel rope to the yard away from the ship and the other with the yard in it's lowered position along with the halyard tyres. Hope this helps but sounds like you are on the right track.

[BANYAN]

Thanks Dashi; that is what I was hoping to do, great to have it confirmed as the better option.  TFFM also states this so I will do away with the tye/tackle option at this stage.  

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited May 25, 2016 by BANYAN

[JerseyCity Frankie]

I am actually kind of surprised that parrels on lower yards were deemed necessary on sailing ships. They make sense on topasail yards since those have to be hauled and then lowered every time the topsail is set or struck. But the course yards were seldom struck and the common lead of stays to the after portion of lower masts would keep them from working anyway, in lowering. The truss makes so much more sense. But anyway, if you have parrels on the lower yard you will need to be able to adjust them from the deck since the point in space from which the yard pivots when bracing has to move forward to get the yard to clear the futtock shrouds. And I suppose that if the parrels are left loose enough to get the yard to brace up tight, then they are too long for when the yard is athwartships.

[BANYAN]

What you point out makes a lot of practical sense Jerzy, but I cannot avoid the advice from several eminent authors that state that the lower yard parrels, where still used, had been rigged as static (no fall with purchase or tye with tackle) by mid 18th century.  Hopefully I will get to find out what the replica is doing but failing that I think I need to stay with the consensus of the various authorities even though the practical element is difficult to follow.  

 

Thanks for the input; appreciate your time to read and comment.

 

 

Pat

[pompey2]

For threading parrels I have rigged them on the bench and where necessary passed a double piece of thread through leaving a loop.

Then once in place pass the real thread through the loop and pull through.

It takes a amount of planning which thread goes where beforehand but reduces the in-situ work considerably.

 

Nick

[BANYAN]

Thanks Nick, an interesting concept which I may employ.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited June 2, 2016 by BANYAN

[BANYAN]

A small update.  I have rigged the fore mast lower yard and the method seems to work.  Photos of fitting the main mast lower yard will follow in my log.

 

I assemble the parrels on the bench top using two lanyards/ropes with a very small eye on one end of each.  I seize the eyes together and this forms one end of the parrel rope with each tail end reeved through the ribs (6) and trucks (2 rows of 5).  I use electronics micro-hook clamps (don't know the name) to pinch the rope at each end of the outer ribs to keep the assembly in place temporarily, leaving sufficient length of the seized ends of the ropes to form a loop that will easily slide over the pre-rigged yard.

 

I then offer the yard to the mast about 3 inches (75mm) below the tops, pass the tail end of the ropes around the mast and then counter-wrap these around the yard, pulling through the excess of the loop on the other end and cinch them loosely.  I then remove the clamps and tighten the ropes a little more, but being careful not to prevent the whole assembly being able to move up and down the mast.  I then wrap the tail end of the parrel rope back around the mast within the hollow of the ribs, pass around the yards on the other side and return the tails back to the other side where I tie them off (around the yard).

 

I then attach the tye sling strops (seize the two loops of each together) around the yard and hoist the yard back up to its required position carefully adjusting the parrel as it goes up.  Net result looks OK. However, I think the beads I am using for the trucks are a little small as the parrel assembly does not wrap around the mast as much as I think it should.

 

I hope this is of some use to others.

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

p.s.  Can anyone tell me what size the cat-hook (triple block) should be for Endeavour?  For other dimensions (spars etc), I have used a 6th rate as the equivalent, so that should suffice - I can't find anything except for a 1st rate.

Edited June 3, 2016 by BANYAN