popeye2sea

Because of all of the weather delays the scheduled March 20 dry docking has been pushed to April. She is going to be there for three years. I say "there" like it is so far away, but in reality the dry dock is just on the other side of the pier from where she is now. So far the Navy anticipates the ship will stay open for visitors depending on the scope of work going on at the time. Obviously, there are safety concerns with a ship being worked on over a 40 foot deep hole in the ground.

If there wasn't so much snow around here I'd go take a picture for you.

I think Mark is right. You are getting chatter from the unsupported piece passing between the blade and the fence.

Of course, here in Boston color is pronounced "cullah" while coller is pronounced "collah"

I think you have to remember that those yards were not small. A person could easily walk out on one of them. Especially since there are plenty of things to hold on to: studdingsail booms, lifts, etc. Next, bringing the sail up to the spar was pretty well accomplished by hauling the clews, leech lines or martinets, and bunt lines. Then, at sea the gasket was very long and one started from the yardarm. Passing it in spiral fashion in from the yard arm it would gradually gather up even more of the sail. You would only have to deal with a lot of bagging to hand up at the middle of the yard. Last, when the sail was furled under the yard there was not much concern with getting that tight roll that we are used to seeing when the sail is furled on top. The sail hung in irregular bags and sags. Top gallants and royals were relatively light and could be furled with only a couple of men. Once the gasket was worked in from the yardarm on a top sail the rest could be accomplished from the top. The courses were the only significant amount of canvas to be handed. Rolling the sail on top of the yard inside of a tight skin of canvas was an innovation that came about because with the sail hanging more loosely under the yard the wet could get into the folds, bags, and rolls of the canvas. Jack stays were another innovation that came about because with the downward pull of the sail and its gear gaps and sags would form at the head between the bolt rope and the yard. Most of the the rigging that seems logical to us today was the result of someone having an ah-ha moment and finding ways to make it better. Reefing sails and all the attendant changes to the yard was one of those.

Here is what I have found out about this matter. The change from the sail hanging from the base of the yard to hanging in front of the yard corresponded with the advent of reefing. Prior to the practice of reefing sails (late 1600s) sails were bent to the yards with long robands that passed entirely around the yard. The sail hung from under the yard. A perforated bending strip was nailed under the center portion of the yard in order to pass robands so that they were clear of all the slings and halyards. Also linked to this time period was the fact that there were no foot ropes on the yards and the studdingsail booms were lashed abaft the top center of the yard. Sailors straddled or laid down on the yards to furl the sails. Sails were also furled under the yard. An interesting note: topsails were furled around the mast because, the geometry of the sail being much broader at the base, caused a lot of material to be gather up at the center of the yard. Once reefing started to come into vogue foot ropes were added to the yards. The topsails were the first sails to take reefs. Also at this time the studdingsail booms move towards the front of the yards to accommodate the sailors using the footropes. Jackstays, initially of rope then metal, started to be used around 1800. At this point the sail was bent to the jackstays and hung before the yard. Shorter robands were employed, sometimes they were fixed to the head rope and sometimes they were stapled to the yard. Also at this time sails were furled on top of the yards making a much neater and more water resistant bundle. By the way, the English adopted reefing prior to the French, so Hermione may in fact be correct.

I'm not saying that because I just want Chuck to get more business. I think that he has the best product out there; both line and blocks. Before I saw Chucks line I looked at a number of suppliers and ordered my whole rigging plans worth of Morope. It looks really nice; clean, crisp and no fuzz. The only drawback I found after I started to work with it is the material is nylon. That is what gives it the clean look, but it s t r e t c h e s a lot. It will also unravel instantly when cut. But that is easily controllable with a dab of CA before you cut it. So, given it all over again, I would order Chucks line. That said, there have been some newer members on MSW who are producing rigging line for sale. I have not had the chance to check out their product yet. If you look in the Traders/Dealers threads you will find some , I think.

Enough said !!

Kilo66, that object is painted red because it is part of the modern damage control systems (fire suppression) on the ship. I believe that it is a riser for attaching a fire hose to and it comes up through the deck behind the bilge pump. There is probably a fire hose mounted on the beam right next to it. Also in a bracket next to it would be a spanner wrench (painted red) used to attach the hose to the riser. I'll have to check my pictures to confirm. Not sure which item you have in your picture. If you post your picture (perhaps in another thread, so we do not continue to hijack Evans) I will be able to help you more.

Worming and parceling are a lot of extra work, and some say not worth the trouble. To my mind parceling is overkill as it probably adds too much thickness to the line, especially given that whatever material you use to parcel with is going to be completely out of scale. However, worming gives a nice smooth appearance to the finished service. If the line is served without worming you end up still seeing the lay of the rope. On the other hand, I have read that not all servicing was done with worming. Some sailors believed that the worming trapped moisture against the line and promoted rot. It really is up to you, and whatever you do will just enhance the already beautiful work of art you have done. Regards,

Says a lot for your solid construction. If I did that with mine you would hear the loose cannon rolling across the gun deck. Seems the crew did not get the word early enough to lash the great guns properly when the ship pitched deep. I even managed to recreate Constitutions damage from the collision of 1803 with President. Although truth be told my models sudden pitching forward was not planned or controlled like yours. Regards,

Been good John. No tours on the Conny for a while. Getting more work done on the Le Soleil Royale, but a little thing like my job keeps me busy. Your Morgan is looking ship shape. Regards,

What scale are you working in and are you making a rope ladder or the shrouds and ratlines that angle up from the sides to the mast?

Alexeys' serving machine makes the job easy. Did you worm and serve with the lay, then turn and serve the other way? Regards,

Stand by for heavy rolls as the ship is coming about!

Beautiful work. There is something though, that I have seen with each model of Vasa. Why does the main top cant forward so much? I would think that it would be set so that it ended up level fore and aft. Every model I have seen has the top down by the bow, so to speak. Seems like it would make for some hazardous conditions aloft. Regards,

Jay, Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I have a tool very similar to this that I purchased from Micro Mark many years ago. It is part of a set called "5 piece Rigging Tool Set" and is still available in their catalog (part # 60378). They have both push and pull type tools and even on that has an offset reach. Regards,

It's been so long since I posted on my build log that it drifted down to page three under my content. Still working on the cannons. I have to say I have hated making all the tiny carriage bolts for all the upper deck guns. I made the decision to install eight carriage bolts on each gun carriage. So for the 28 visible guns that I am rigging that amounts to 224 carriage bolts. And I made them all the old fashioned way; ball peen hammer and an anvil. These things are tiny 2/32nds to 3/32nds inch long made from 24 guage steel wire. I could only stand to make about 20 at a sitting. Here is the pile of iron fittings for the cannons. This includes hooks, rings for ringbolts, eyebolts, and carriage bolts. And here is what they look like after blackening. In between doing all the iron work I started fashioning some of the specialty blocks for the rigging. Here is a rams head block. It will be used for the main and fore halyards. The tye goes through the hole in the narrow portion at the top of the block while the halyard reeves through the triple sheaves with the knight on deck. Next up is the topsail sheet and lift block. These look like fiddle blocks but the upper sheave runs perpendicular to the lower and the strop goes through the center of the block between the two sheaves. The lower (larger) sheave is for the topsail sheet and the upper sheave is for the main lifts. To go along with the lower lift blocks there are upper lift blocks. These have an elongated shape with additional holes on either side of the sheave. The standing part of the main lift is spliced in through one hole and the other is for the pendant that connects this block to an eyebolt in the mast cap. Also to be done will be euphroes, clew garnet blocks, and spritsail sheet blocks All of the specialty blocks are being made out of cherry strip stock (because that is what I could find at my local woodworkers shop). In addition to the blocks I started on the main yard. It is molded in two halves with raised rings that I think are supposed to tell you where to put all the furnishings. I sanded all that off. After doing a test run of rigging the tye and halyard to see how long the lines need to be in order to hoist the yard from the deck I realized that there is just not enough weight to the yard to put enough tension on the rigging. It ended up looking too slack. I knew that I was going to stiffen the yard with something inside of it so I went with solid brass rod. I also added cleats at the center and at the yard arms. In addition I filled all of the holes for the foot ropes and stuns'l booms. Astonishingly, I found that foot ropes were not commonly in use by the French on their lower yards during this time period. They came into general use for the topsails first. I started making boom irons to add later. I'll show them in a later post. Here is a comparison with the as yet untouched fore yard. That's all for now.

If the sail was set flying, that by definition meant it had no lifts or braces. The clew of the sail could just be lashed to the yardarms below, so no need for a sheet either.

I would think that they would be different dimensions given that the sizes of lines for each would necessitate different diameter sheaves.

Jay, The lead block for the fore topsail braces runs essentially the same as the fore brace. In the photo that I have the lead block is either attached to the trestle trees of the topmast or the collar of the stay close under the cross tree, I can't tell which in the photo. I have lots of photos of the ship. There is absolutely no need to be out in this weather taking more. I just blow up sections of the ones I have. Regards,

Jay, They are a day late and a dollar short, I know, but here are the pictures of the fore brace that I promised you.

Thanks Mark. Some good ideas to try.

Hi folks, Does anyone have a good way to make small thimbles to be inserted in the stropped eyes of blocks in order to take a hook?

That is looking really fine.