6ohiocav

Thanks Jerry,
 
Your eloquent description put's my landlubberness to shame.
 
Then again, the Niagara is not designed with a Bumpkin, or at least my plans don't show one. Based on discussions with fellow members, I am going to use the backside of the cathead, or may simply tie off on a cleat.
 
BTW, have you had your Constellation in the water lately?
 
 

Gents,
 
HELP!
 
I need some guidance on a rigging question. I decided early on to include cluelines and sheets to all of my yards, even though I am not adding sails. For the royal and topgallant, I simply tied the sheet lines to the yards, and ran the cluelines down through a block to the deck (as per the Niagara narrative instructions). The Niagara plans were pretty vague on how to handle the Topsail, so I turned to my Petersson rigging book and used his design.
 
I am now faced with the Course Yards. Again, I have turned to Petersson. Following his diagram for the Foremast, I tied two blocks together with a single tack line as seen in the photo I have attached. My question though is this ok for the Niagara, and more specifically, where would I belay the end of the tack line?  In the diagram, the tack line runs through a block extended beyond the bow on a rod. There is no such apparatus on the Niagara, so where to belay the tack line.  The Niagara plans seem to indicate that the tack line should belay to the chock rail.
 
In my photo of the ship, you will find my prototype. I ran the tack to the chock rail and one end of the sheet will be belayed to an eyebolt on the outside of the hull and the other will run through a hole and tied to a cleet inside the bulwark.  Does this make any sense?
 
I also have a general question that will show my landlubberness. I believe the sheet and clueline attach to the bottom corner of the sail. If that is correct, why would Petersson pull the blocks so close to the mast, rather than out at the end of the yard.
 
The first photo is from the Niagara plans. It is hard for me to fully understand this. Petersson is a lot easier to understand.
 
Any suggestions?
 
 

MAIN MAST STAY SAIL HALLIARDS
When I got back to the workshop, I was able to finish off the halliards for the main mast stay sails.  Here are some photos of the final product.
 

SPANKER BOOM TOPPING LIFTS
I had previously seized the topping lift lines to the spanker boom.  I just need to weave them through the blocks under the tree and attach them to the deck.Not as easy as I had anticipated. I had to seize a double block to end of the lift lines....

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
and then seize a lanyard to the same block....

 
 
I stropped another double block with an eye bolt and attached that to the deck. Then weaved the lanyard and tightened the whole assemble.

AND..... after looking at this picture, realized that I rigged the lanyard in the upper holes of the block, and will have to redo it all over again. What the camera finds.
 

Gents,
 
HELP!
 
I need some guidance on a rigging question. I decided early on to include cluelines and sheets to all of my yards, even though I am not adding sails. For the royal and topgallant, I simply tied the sheet lines to the yards, and ran the cluelines down through a block to the deck (as per the Niagara narrative instructions). The Niagara plans were pretty vague on how to handle the Topsail, so I turned to my Petersson rigging book and used his design.
 
I am now faced with the Course Yards. Again, I have turned to Petersson. Following his diagram for the Foremast, I tied two blocks together with a single tack line as seen in the photo I have attached. My question though is this ok for the Niagara, and more specifically, where would I belay the end of the tack line?  In the diagram, the tack line runs through a block extended beyond the bow on a rod. There is no such apparatus on the Niagara, so where to belay the tack line.  The Niagara plans seem to indicate that the tack line should belay to the chock rail.
 
In my photo of the ship, you will find my prototype. I ran the tack to the chock rail and one end of the sheet will be belayed to an eyebolt on the outside of the hull and the other will run through a hole and tied to a cleet inside the bulwark.  Does this make any sense?
 
I also have a general question that will show my landlubberness. I believe the sheet and clueline attach to the bottom corner of the sail. If that is correct, why would Petersson pull the blocks so close to the mast, rather than out at the end of the yard.
 
The first photo is from the Niagara plans. It is hard for me to fully understand this. Petersson is a lot easier to understand.
 
Any suggestions?
 
 

Henry,
 
A thousand thanks. Your description on the mechanics is exactly what I needed to understand how and why this is done this way.
 
I will take my single fore tack to a cleat, which is a better fit (along side of the bulwark) than pinning it in the chock rail, which moves it too much to the center of the bow.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the dimension of the rope.  I plan on rigging the main tack as a double, and already chose a heavy line (just luck) assuming the heft of the course sails would require a heavy line.

Don,
I have been a way for a while and am just catching up on this wonderful build. Love the ship's boat. I will be following along more closely as you enter the stretch run. Your ship is exquisite.
 
 
 
 

Mike,
Here is your answer.  The topmast stay runs through the forward hole in the Bee.  I attached a deadeye to an eyebolt on the starboard side of the hull and attached the end with a lanyard.  The Inner Jib Stay runs through the other hole and is attached to the port side the same way.  At least that is how I did it.

Mike,
 
If I understand your question, I believe the course sling indeed runs through the square hole in front of the tree. My opinion on that is from a review of multiple places in the plan, and really comes into play by looking at the diagram of the tree and the reference to the sling bolster (a small rounded off length of timber that the sling runs over) and the sling hole. I attached a photo.
 
I also attached a photo of the plans that indicates, unclearly, that the sling runs UNDER the shrouds.  The last photo is of the diagram you speak of, and it clearly indicates that the sling wraps around the mast head.
 
Taken all together, I assumed the sling wrapped around the masthead above the tree and ran through the square hole in front. Considering the placement of the Course yard on my model, that makes perfect sense from a mechanical perspective.

Mike,
 
You can clearly not glue the masts in. As long as the slots are snug, you will be good to go. By the way, I installed all of the upper shrouds and the royal and topgallant yards on the masts BEFORE I attached the masts to the deck.  Doing that in a vice seemed easier to me. It was definitely better on my back. 
 
Just a thought.
 
I am also sending you a photo on how I rigged the course sling. The sling goes underneath the shrouds.  IF you are installing any of the Burton Pendants, those have to wrap around the mast as well.
 
Hope this helps some. The ship looks great.
 
 

SPANKER BOOM TOPPING LIFTS
I had previously seized the topping lift lines to the spanker boom.  I just need to weave them through the blocks under the tree and attach them to the deck.Not as easy as I had anticipated. I had to seize a double block to end of the lift lines....

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
and then seize a lanyard to the same block....

 
 
I stropped another double block with an eye bolt and attached that to the deck. Then weaved the lanyard and tightened the whole assemble.

AND..... after looking at this picture, realized that I rigged the lanyard in the upper holes of the block, and will have to redo it all over again. What the camera finds.
 

OHIO STATE FAIR FINE ARTS DISPLAY

I am proud member of the Shipwrights of Central Ohio model club.  Each year, the club reserves a table at the Ohio State Fair in the Fine Arts Building, to promote ship building and to display member projects. I attended this past Friday and brought my Niagara and some rigging tools and spent the afternoon rigging the ship for interested Fair Patrons. 

We had a number of folks come through the building.  For anyone that has done something like this, the predominate comment we receive from the public is that they don’t have the patience to do something like that. However, I was lucky to attract two young boys, about 12 years old, who watched me rig the Topmast Staysail Halliard. They hung out for over a half hour. They watched me strop the block, tie it to the Main topmast stay (I should have done that before I mounted the yards) and then run the lines through the blocks and tie them off to the pin rails.

They asked a number of questions, and watched with genuine interest in the project.  I gave them some suggestions on some styrene model kits, and may get one of them to join the modeling club with his father.

I have seen many posts on how we need to get younger people interested in our hobby. I never had a good answer to that question, but now I do. Getting out and doing some “field” work may have inspired some young boys to pick up this great hobby.

If you ever get a chance to do something like this, please consider it.  It is not easy to transport a work in progress (I spent the first hour fixing the block I knocked off of the spanker boom), and it does take some time. But from experience, it is the best way to get folks interested in this hobby.  

It was great to get back to working on the Niagara. The road trip gave me some well needed inspiration to forge ahead.
 
Here are a few photos.
 

MAIN MAST STAY SAIL HALLIARDS
When I got back to the workshop, I was able to finish off the halliards for the main mast stay sails.  Here are some photos of the final product.
 

Don,
I have been a way for a while and am just catching up on this wonderful build. Love the ship's boat. I will be following along more closely as you enter the stretch run. Your ship is exquisite.
 
 
 
 

Don,
I have been a way for a while and am just catching up on this wonderful build. Love the ship's boat. I will be following along more closely as you enter the stretch run. Your ship is exquisite.
 
 
 
 

Mike
Wow. I have been away for a while, and am just catching up on your build. My hat is off to you my friend for your incredible perseverance. The challenges that you have overcome would sink most of us.
 
I love your India dyed wales and commend your courage for cutting them in those authentic triangular shapes. This truly could be classified as a scratch build for all of the milling you have done.
 
I am going to watch more closely going forward.  I have a Mamoli Victory on the shelf staring at me for when I finally knock out the Niagara.
 
 
 

Elijah,
No sweat. I just took a 4 month lay-off to move, and am now glad to be back.  I just caught up with your build log. SUPERB work! I will be following along.

Well Here goes.
 
After I put the frame together, I worked on the kit supplied filler blocks at the bow and stern.  I picked up a tip on this forum that I should add additional blocks.  That was good advice.  When it came time to plank, it provided a firm base to secure the curved planks.  I used balsa wood. It was easy to cut on the band saw, and easy to file down to size.  I used my dremel drum sander for rough work, and a flat file for finish.  Getting them to the right shape was a concern, but I found that once they were mounted to the ship, the frames acted as good guides for filing. It was not as daunting as I thought it would be.
 
Here are a few shots of the bow.

Here are some better pictures

I sheepishly reenter the water with my fellow Niagara shipwrights.  I have been "lost at sea" for the last three years after my Niagara build (and as I later found my build log) took a raking broadside in a work bench accident causing damage to its stern and keel. More on that later, But I start with a short introduction.
 
I am an amateur woodworker in Northeastern Ohio with a keen interest in military history.  I am a true landsman, with no sailing experience.  I built styrene models as a kid, including Revel's Cutty Sark, and gained an interest in building ship models, albeit in plastic. In the late 80's after graduating from college, and with a misguided motion that I would have plenty of free time, I purchased a POB kit, the La Toulonnaise. My unsuccessful efforts to negotiate the poorly translated, and nearly non-existent instruction manual, coupled with my lack of proper tools and modeling skills, doomed the project from the start. I kept that unfinished kit (I hit a road block at the construction of the stern fillers) for many years.  I now regret that I must have thrown that kit away during one of my many moves and life changes. I sure wish I had it today.
 
In 2011, I rediscovered my interest in wooden ship building after a visit to a tall ships event on Lake Erie where I toured the Niagara. That fall, Model Shipway put the kit on sale, and alas. I found myself back at it. There was one big difference however, While surfing the Model Shipway site, I came upon the link to this Forum. This was a real game changer. I found build logs from expert modelers like Bahama Diver and others that were building the Niagara. While the Model Shipways Niagara has a pretty good instruction manual, the color pictures on this site and the ability to ask stupid questions gave me the confidence to forge ahead.
 
I started my build and the build log in January 2012. I completed the framing and bulwarks (and got past the dreaded stern fillers) by May of 2012. Then disaster! My bench table, an antique drafting table with a swivel top, somehow gave way, and my Niagara in its stern vice, and all of the material, tools and everything you can imagine we carry on our benches, was dumped onto the concrete floor. The fall crushed the stern fillers (of course) and broke off half of the keel.  Surprisingly, there was no other damage, but the mess was extreme. I had just enough energy to clean up the mess, but not enough to continue the build. 
 
Fast forward to today. I was in Boston in December and had the privilege to see the Constitution in dry dock. What an experience. The inspiration of witnessing such a beauty gave me the initiative to take my Niagara out of ordinary and get it back to the shipyard. Of course, I attempted to access my build log, and discovered my ship was not the only thing that took a raking broadside. It was gone by way of the big crash (the administrators need to use live oak to build their hard drives). Since all of my photos were on an old computer that is long gone, I thought the log was a lost cause.
 
I have been hard at work since January.  I fixed the damage, finished the bulwarks, planked the hull and the deck, built the guns and most of the deck furniture, and just about finished the masts and yards.  Here are some photos (forgive the poor quality) of where I am. Nothing is glued down, and is set in place just for the photos.
 
I wasn’t going to post a log, but guilt and finally some luck pushed me otherwise. Over the holiday, I got my camera out for a family picnic and lo and behold, the shots of my build log were still on the camera disc. Since I spend so much time getting tips and help from others logs, I felt compelled to give back. Over the next several weeks, I will be adding the old pictures and recreating the narrative (that is truly gone). And as I go forward, will humbly place myself along side my fellow Niagara builders for the end run.
 

Elijah,
No sweat. I just took a 4 month lay-off to move, and am now glad to be back.  I just caught up with your build log. SUPERB work! I will be following along.

Elijah,
No sweat. I just took a 4 month lay-off to move, and am now glad to be back.  I just caught up with your build log. SUPERB work! I will be following along.

Elijah,
No sweat. I just took a 4 month lay-off to move, and am now glad to be back.  I just caught up with your build log. SUPERB work! I will be following along.

SPANKER BOOM TOPPING LIFTS
I had previously seized the topping lift lines to the spanker boom.  I just need to weave them through the blocks under the tree and attach them to the deck.Not as easy as I had anticipated. I had to seize a double block to end of the lift lines....

 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
and then seize a lanyard to the same block....

 
 
I stropped another double block with an eye bolt and attached that to the deck. Then weaved the lanyard and tightened the whole assemble.

AND..... after looking at this picture, realized that I rigged the lanyard in the upper holes of the block, and will have to redo it all over again. What the camera finds.
 

Bob,
 
I feel guilty to even say this. I purchased all three racks, two of which came with Craftsman metal benches, all for $35 at an estate auction. I will never use it all, so if there is anything you need, send me a private note. I might just have it.