davyboy

oh Dear,
 
i can see a lost in translation problem here

Ken,why not just push your drillbit into the pin vice chuck until only .175" protrudes. That´s what I do to control depth,no need to glue tubing on then.
 
Dave    

Ian,
 
The main topsail sheet bitts were often a gallows bitt or sometimes a gallows was fitted just fwd of them. Spare topmasts and spars were stowed on these,the fwd ends resting on the aft edge of the forecastle. The largest boat would be stowed on top of these with possibly the smallest boat stowed upside down on it. There was not enough width to place boats side by side. If your capstan is aft of the mainmast it may be possible to stow a third boat on the deck underneath the others.
 
TBH,Lavery is a bit vague on all this giving lots of possibilities. As his book is 25+ years old maybe further research has turned up better info. Perhaps one of our knowledgeable members will be able to give you a better answer,I´m no expert    Stern and quarter davits were a late 18th century development on large ships and skid beams (Lavery calls them boat booms) across the waist from the gangways also late in appearing on frigates. Around 1800 according to Laverys´book.  
 
Hope this is of help to you.
 
Dave

Canvas comes from old French “canevas” or “canevaz”, literally, ‘made of hemp’. Over the years, it morphed. The Dutch, not being able to grow cannabis, used flax; they called it “zeildoek”, literally, ‘sail cloth’. The weight of the cloth (pounds per square whatever) determined its usage. The lighter grades were called linen, the heavier grades were called canvas (presumably because some hemp fiber was incorporated into the weave).  After a while, sailcloth was just called “duck”; soft-duck, hard-duck, canvas-duck, etc..
 
The Russians developed a technique for double carding flax to make it more pliable. It was very useful on linen-weight and intermediate-weight cloths. Sailcloth prepared in this way eventually became known as, simply “duck”. The heavy-weather stuff was still, simply “canvas”.
 
All made on hand looms, till about 1800, so the lighter, softer, fibers made for a more tightly woven, resilient, and stronger cloth (for its weight) than the larger fiber flax/hemp equivalents. For all its advantages, the cost (and time) needed to trim, card, and twist flax into fibers of a size useable for courses or topsails, made it uneconomical for all but the wealthiest. The Russian Navy used it, but then, the Czar said so, so …
 
The colonies were cut off from internal manufacture of this sort in the normal course of events, and during the unpleasantness, were supposedly cut off from  Euro imports altogether, so we had to do something. There was decades of experience with cotton as an alternative to flax, but it was all simple short staple: hardy, coarse, but flexible, it wasn’t much better than flax, and cotton had the disadvantage of being more hygroscopic than flax. Okey dokey, except for the weight aloft rule.
 
Then somebody (who deserves a statue) thought about the long-staple Sea Island variety. Not as hardy, but just as flexible, if not more so, but could also be carded fine, and woven tight. Because the fibers could be linked and twisted, it was a perfect solution for light and intermediate sailcloth weights. The biggies, of course, still used hemp in the weave. Until about the 1800s or so, when the power loom came on-line and could weave ‘tighter and lighter’ than before.
 
So, even today, sailboats raise “canvas”, even though it’s Dacron. Rarely, will you hear the term duck. Hemp is what ya smoke, and flax is what happens to your winkie with too much hemp.
 
I really hope I haven’t given you more information than you really wanted.
 
Ciao. John

Keith, Many thanks for the link. Incredible work which shows the limits of our expertise.
 
Making small steps with perhaps a half of the running rigging completed.
Preparing the netting over the bees, using blackTulle.  24 gage dark annealed wire was used for the supporting lines, glued to the tulle and the excess netting trimmed off.
Netting in place
Photo showing Spritsail sheet and clue line and bowsprit topsail sheet and clue line.  Also spritsail yard brace and topsail yard brace.
Foremast lower yard clue line and block (just under the yard); tack line leading forward to the bumpkin and sheet running aft to hull.
Starboard bumpkin. Tack line leading to outer kevel at foredeck.
Lines attached at timberheads at the beakhead.
Foremast lower yard clue block, sheet block (aft) and tack block (fwd). Real ship.
Sheet originating from an eyebolt on the hull, terminating through the hull to a cleat on the upper gun deck.
Top mast yard sheet and clue line.
Stb'd and Port bumpkins.
Spritsail yard lift originating from the cap and returning to pass through a block at the cap.
Lines terminating at the timberheads at the beakhead.
Lines terminating at the timberheads at the belfry

Yikes.... he's gone and done it... he made a real shackle....
 
The only thing missing is a hole in the outside end of the pin so it can be moused...
 
Michael, I must say I've been quietly following your build for some time, and your machining is utterly incredible, to say nothing of the impressiveness of your build.
 
Andy

Ian,
 
The main topsail sheet bitts were often a gallows bitt or sometimes a gallows was fitted just fwd of them. Spare topmasts and spars were stowed on these,the fwd ends resting on the aft edge of the forecastle. The largest boat would be stowed on top of these with possibly the smallest boat stowed upside down on it. There was not enough width to place boats side by side. If your capstan is aft of the mainmast it may be possible to stow a third boat on the deck underneath the others.
 
TBH,Lavery is a bit vague on all this giving lots of possibilities. As his book is 25+ years old maybe further research has turned up better info. Perhaps one of our knowledgeable members will be able to give you a better answer,I´m no expert    Stern and quarter davits were a late 18th century development on large ships and skid beams (Lavery calls them boat booms) across the waist from the gangways also late in appearing on frigates. Around 1800 according to Laverys´book.  
 
Hope this is of help to you.
 
Dave

Hi Ian,
 
I found this in Laverys´ Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War. " Probably the most important order was that of 1769 which regulated the boats issued to ships of 10 to 36 guns." 
 
Frigates of 28 to 36 guns had three boats each,a Longboat,a Pinnace and a Yawl. Ships of 28 guns had longboats 21 or 22 ft, Pinnaces of 28 ft and Yawls of 22 or 23 ft. That would seem to fit roughly with what you are looking for.  
 
Dave

Hi Hamilton,have you looked at the NMM website ? Type in `20 gun ship models´ in the search box,you will find several good photos on pages 3 & 4. You can enlarge them which may give you some other ideas rather than using the Blandford book.
 
Have fun  
 
Dave

Yes.
 
  Danny

At least we don't have to deal with Whitworth anymore... (Unless you are into old British machinery) Here's a great example from Wikipedia:
 
British Morris and MG engines from 1923 to 1955 were built using metric threads but with bolt heads and nuts dimensioned for Whitworth spanners (wrenches) and sockets.[5] The background for this was that the engines were produced using machine tools of a previously French-owned company that was set up for metric production; for the average British motorist to be able to service his car, the bolt heads had to fit imperial-sized spanners.

Any tool that is purchased and not used!
 
The whole Metric/Imperial debate is funny. The martians were laughing all the way to Jupiter eating their fig newtons about that crash.
 
A bigger issue than Imperial /Metric is Chinese language versus English or Malian or Hindi or Turkish or Russian. Were all different it's a big world and it would be so boring if we all used the same language and measuring systems, there would be nothing to debate.
 
All this is better than pointing sticks at each other though.
 
Michael

I think we have forgotten just how skilled many craftsmen and skilled artisans were in the past. I believe that their skill was predicated on a greater amount of time honing their skills and being taught the value of doing a job with the greatest care and attention, and not necessarily the fastest cheapest way. 
 
250 years ago some extremely fine optical and scientific instruments were made, not to mention clocks and watches, so I am not surprised by the quality of work done then.  I am more surprised by that same quality today.
 
We seem to be living in an instant world that is in a constant hurry to finish everything at the lowest cost. What I find so refreshing about this hobby is that this hurry is for the most part ignored.
 
Michael

T e i l  20

If only I had had high school teachers like you.... Your students don't know how lucky they are!

No wonder we will never have world peace.....we can't even agree on right and left (port and starboard).

Hi Hamilton,
 
In Lees Masting and Rigging Book there is belaying information for a 20 gun ship circa 1719. The only belaying pins called for are 3 per side on racks at the foot of the Mizzen Mast and 7 per side on racks attached to the Mizzen Shrouds. Re Staysails,Lees quotes Jib,Fore and Main Topmast Staysails,Main Topgallant and Mizzen Topmast Staysails.  
 
Hope this is of some help to you.
 
Dave

What did I say... "Never let Jan win!"
 
Andy

That picture really did it for me.  I'm going to throw away my one lumberjack shirt and then go undo and retie my boom vangs.  If anybody eats that stuff, give me a call from the emergency room and I'll send you a get well card.