CDR_Ret

Hi, Giorgio. I'm with Julie on this topic. It's likely that someone proficient in Rhino would be able to eventually develop a nice hull, and then add on all the topside embellishments. However, trying to learn how to use a general-purpose 3D-CAD program like Rhino to create a hull comprised of surfaces varying in three dimensions, adhering to an existing set of basic plans, has proven to be challenging to a lot of folks attempting that. DELFTship, on the other hand, is a for-the-purpose naval architectural program with built-in features, like the three standard hull form views (sheer, halfbreadth, and body plans), along with features like "intersection" lines to show stations, waterlines, buttock lines, and diagonals—that all help in hull faring process. This is almost always needed because classic vessels were constructed from hand-drawn plans, and these plans, especially if they were developed before the advent of CAD, tend to lead to lack of fidelity among the standard views. In addition, DELFTship provides surface analysis tools that enhance the faring process, like Gaussian surfaces, that visually reveal bumps in the hull surface as well as providing local curvature analyses. The program is primarily used for hydrostatic and hydrodynamic analyses, but the structural features work well for simply modeling at any scale. One difficulty that most new DELFTship users have is what Julie mentioned—the surface mesh (called the control net) doesn't actually lie on a curved surface because of the mathematical way the program works, which is something you simply have to get used to. I suggest that you take a look at some of the reconstruction projects here in the various forums that utilized DELFTship to see how it presents. Like most 3D modeling programs, it has its own steep learning curve, but once you become familiar with it, the results are directly useful for developing plans of a vessel hull. Terry

Here's my two cents: My Galilee was an 1890s-vintage US-West Coast brigantine. As-built, her standing rigging was steel cable. For the DTM charter (1905--1908), her mast standing rigging was swapped for arctic-service hemp rope to reduce her magnetic signature. Photos of her prior-to and early into her DTM charter period showed rope running rigging throughout except for light chain sheets for the jibs. The foremast yard tye-lifts were of heavier chain, which were retained even during the DTM charter period. Some of the heavier service running rigging for the main boom, like pendants and lifts, may have been wire. Hard to tell from the photos. Hope this helps. Terry

This is a recent BBC article about the Sutton Hoo ship, including a site photo.

Sadly, this just kicks the inevitable can down the road. Digital media also has a half life. The only way to perpetuate information in any medium is to recopy it before the reading-writing technology becomes obsolete. There is the story about a well-known ancient British history book (The Domesday Book) that was digitized in a proprietary format, involving an immense amount of time and resources. However, within just a few years the digital format became obsolete, negating all that work.

Wow, Julie, what an intro! You seem to be what they called a polymath in back in the day. If you need any assistance with getting started in DELFTship, I may be able to assist. It's very good for developing fare hydrostatic hull forms but it bogs down when creating lots of fine details. Terry

You should visit the many threads in this CAD/3D Forum that address your question. For basic hull creation from plans, I believe that DELFTship Free will produce the most faired and smooth results. Then export the resulting model into other recommended programs to create the details.

Those guys all look pretty buff!. Aren't there any striplings in your crew? 🙂

You might try these fixes: https://pdf.minitool.com/news/cant-download-pdf-files.html

And digital is even more forgiving and takes up zero space in the livingroom!😉 Terry

Nice! This configuration shows her several years after I left the boat. Terry

On submarines, we always slid down the main stairs between decks on the handrails with hands only. You controlled your speed with your grip. I even saw our COs do this on occasion! For vertical ladders, there were always hand grips positioned somewhere above the top rung to help the transition between ladder and the deck.

Hi Wefalck. Thanks for the pointer. In Underhill, Figure 44, there is indeed an image showing the lower topsail yard supporting rod/stay/strut. This is in the context of an iron and steel-sparred ship. The figure shows the upper end of the rod hinged to a hefty lug at the bottom of the center band, as stated earlier. The hinge plane was in line with the yard and vertical. The lower end of the rod terminated at the steel cross support at the base of the topmast. Scan from Figure 44, page 39, Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship & Ocean Carrier, Harold A. Underhill, Reprint 1969; Brown, Son, and Ferguson, LTD Interestingly, all the diagrams of the LTS yard (including Fig. 44), show the LTS yard mainly supported by a swiveling crane arrangement, rather than the universal-jointed truss as in the lower yard (and as was the case for Galilee). So a crane plus a support rod for the LTS yard seems to be overkill except, perhaps, in larger ships. I finally found a side illustration of the LTS yard strut in Underhill, Plate 16, on page 80 (there is so much information buried in this book that it is easy to overlook things!). The plate illustration suggests that the lower end of the support strut is simply an eye-in-eye swivel, bolted through the forwardmost top platform crossbeam. So, lacking any other information, that's what I will go with. Plate No. 16, Ibid, showing the arrangement of the LTS yard support stay or strut. In Galilee's case, the entire weight of the LTS yard, hardware, rigging, and sail rests on this one rod! When the yard tilts, I'm still not sure how that motion is accommodated by this support system.🤔 Thanks for the prodding! Terry @wefalck @BANYAN

This is a plea for input from the general membership to identify the depicted iron hardware shown below and/or for direction to a source that illustrates (or at least describes) this object: What's it? The upper end of the rod is attached or hinged to the centerline band of the foremast lower topsail (LTS) yard. The bottom end of the rod is somehow attached to a cross-brace in the decking of the foretop platform. (Courtesy Carnegie Science Library, September, 1906) The ship it was used in was the US West Coast merchant brigantine Galilee, built at the Matthew Turner shipyard in Benicia, California, in 1891. The reference photos I am using are mostly from the period when the ship was chartered by the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC, between 1905 and 1908 for geomagnetic data collection in the Pacific Ocean basin. Captain Matthew Turner, by all accounts, was the most prolific shipbuilder on the West Coast during the latter 19th century, and he frequently incorporated in his wooden sailing ships innovations that were common to iron-masted sailing ships during this period. I have a variety of other images, all together indicating that this isn't some kind of running or standing rigging ropework. It's always absolutely straight and typically runs in a direction at an angle to all the other lines in its vicinity. At this point in the ship's life, virtually all iron standing and running rigging had been replaced with hemp in order to minimize the rigging's magnetic effect on the ship's instruments. Only structural iron that was absolutely necessary for the operation of the ship was retained. Other images: Various depictions of the LTS yard support rod. (Sources: left and right, Carnegie Science Library, c. 1905-1907; center, SAFR, prior to 1905) Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Terry

I just noticed this problem tonight (3-Jan-25), but I was trying to add an image to a PM and noticed that all the usual buttons in the gray bottom margin for selecting and inserting images and attaching files to PMs and topical threads are missing. I can't even include a screenshot because this post is also missing the image/file controls. Is it MSW or my browser/computer? Terry