gjdale

Just came across your log Matt. Amazing work! Very impressive indeed.

Hi all,

It seems ages since I posted some progress, though in reality it's only been a couple of weeks.  Life has been pretty busy lately, between work and house guests, but I've slowly managed to make a little progress with the yards.  I've now completed the basic shaping of all of the yards.  Not much to tell with this part of the build - cut to length, place in lathe and sand until you've got the right taper.  Fairly mind-numbing, but at least I was making sawdust again.  The yokes for the Driver Boom and Gaff were an interesting proposition to make. The kit instructions would have you make each of these from two pieces of timber.  I had some stock of sufficient size, so opted to make each from one piece of timber.  As simple as they look, there were some interesting challenges in making these (read, I got to play with lots of my toys ).

I've placed all of the yards together in the one picture below.  The ship in the background gives you some indication of the relative size of these.  In the picture, all of the Foremast yards are at the lower left (including the Studdingsail Booms), the Mainmast yards are in the centre at the rear, and the Mizzenmast yards are at the lower right.  I still need to add some 2mm x 1mm strips to the centre section of the lower two yards for both Fore and Main masts (this gives the larger octagonal section for these yards).  I then need to paint them and add all of the various fittings etc.

The glacier moves!

That's quite a difference Toni - on both counts!

Your build continues to look superb. I've really enjoyed re-reading your log as you've re-posted.

Ouch! Bad luck with the bowsprit Sarah, but as the guys have already said, you can make it even better second time around. I don't want to think about how many times I've nearly snapped the bowsprit doing the rigging on my Victory. Don't lose heart - you're doing a great job!

Congrats Kevin - and a week ahead of schedule too! Looking forward to more progress now!

Hi Mobbsie,

Your idea of inserting a solid block into the tube to give support while cutting, sounds like it should work.

Best of luck with that my friend! She is looking good.

Safe travels Andy. I look forward to seeing completion of Pegasus on your return.

Nice start to the ratlines Dan. As for glue, I used white PVA diluted about 50/50 with water. It seems to have worked just fine.

Good luck with the rest of it. As you say, once you get the hang of it, it's a pretty mindless task, and you'll be done before you know it. Just don't rush!

Remco,

You turn even the simplest of structures into works of art!

Well done on adding the missin Mizzen Sjors!

That, Sir, is a work of art!!!

Dip? What dip?

Congratulations on reaching this milestone Mobbsie, and of course on your promotion too!

Bruce,

I had only the bowsprit yards fitted when I did mine and found I was constantly knocking them when working on the foremast ratlines. Trying to tie them with all yards fitted might be asking for trouble.

Beautiful Nico, though she looks precariously balanced on that box for the photo shoot!

Bruce,

I've just finished my ratlines. I did them as the last item of the Standing Rigging. That worked okay, but I did find the backstays various to be a bit of a nuisance. Might have been a bit easier to do them a little earlier in the build, but it's probably six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Hey Sjors,

I was just having another look at your last batch of photos. It's obvious that Anja must have taken these, because you appear in your clown suit again, doing a handstand, in the background in one of them!!!

Looks like you're off to a good start there Dan. Don't worry, it took me a while to get it all fixed in my head. Once you do, and after a little practice, things will speed up considerably. Don't rush it though, or you'll end up having to re-do one or more lines (guess how I know!). Don't forget to put a tiny dab of diluted white PVA glue on each knot after completing each row.

Looking good Sjors!

Druxey makes a good point. I forgot to mention that before tying each ratline row, I ran the thread through a damp sponge for exactly that reason (a trick embroiderers use).

Dan,

I think that picture is from Danny Vadas' log of his Supply build. It certainly shows clearly how the outer clove hitches should be tied with both "tails" pointing inwards. Getting the right tension is a matter of trial and error, and lots of practice! I found that after loosely tying the hitch, I was able to hold the shroud with a pair of tweezers and then pull the hitch tight. Sometimes I found it necessary to pull the first half of the clove hitch reasonably tight first, and then do the latter part. I find this difficult to describe on words, but it is much easier in practice. Aim to get just enough tension to take out the slack in the ratline, without pulling the shrouds together. As for colour, that will come down to personal choice. We had a quite a discussion about this prior to the "crash". David Antscherl, in TFFM vol 4, says they should be the same colour as your shrouds. The current official Victory site says the ratlines are "lightly tarred", but that doesn't necessarily mean they would be black, as some tars are more of a "natural" colour. Gil Middleton did his Victory ratlines in a "natural" colour, but says on reflection he wished he'd done them black as he finds the contrast with the black shrouds somewhat distracting. It was this comment that clinched it for me in deciding to go with black. As I said, it comes down to your choice.

Great work Gil, and great explanations as well. Will be a real bonus of help for me as I come along hot on your heels!

Wow, dinner AND a show!!!

I feel my education is now complete - thanks Mark!

Hi Keith,

Thanks for your very kind words about my build. Let me try and answer your questions:

Ratlines are something that you definitely get faster at as you "gain experience". The topmast ratlines are easier in that there are fewer shrouds and hence fewer clove hitches to be tied, but the counter to this is that you are inevitably sitting with your arms in a very awkward position that makes the upper arms and shoulders tire quickly.

For the lower shrouds, I think it was taking me about 20 minutes to do one complete row (across eleven shrouds) and for the top masts about 10 minutes for a row across six shrouds. There are about 30 rows for each set. I'm not even going to try to do the math on that to work out overall time, but for me it was spread across several weeks. I seem to recall that it took me an entire (full) day to finish one complete set of lower mast shrouds, but I managed two sets for the top masts in one day. (Rough approximation, nine full days of work - not much really, since it's taken 16 years to get to this point )

I would have to say that while this is tedious job, it is certainly not a difficult one. And if practice makes perfect, there's plenty of opportunity to achieve perfection.

As for not seeing a sag anywhere - that must just be some clever photography on my part - there are a few if you look closely.

One thing I would advise though. Be careful with your selection of material for the ratlines - it really needs to be close to the scale size in diameter. For me, it was a happy coincidence that some of my wife's quilting thread was just the right diameter and it was an easy material to work with, having a bit of "body" to it.

Best wishes for your Swift build.

Wonderfully executed Remco (as always)!

Thanks for the extra eye candy Bob - she really is a beauty!