Tomculb

My next accomplishment was the mizzen mast shrouds. My biggest challenge here was that I had cataract surgery this past Monday on my left eye (the one that I use for distance vision), and my right eye surgery is still two weeks away. It still has a contact lens, for reading distances. For some reason the combination threw off my depth perception (with contacts in both eyes, that never seemed to be a problem). Several times using tweezers to grab the end of a piece of thread, I found myself grabbing thin air half an inch or more away from the target thread. I have a post-op appointment with the ophthalmologist this coming week and I’ll ask him about this. Other than this one issue, everything has gone very well surgery-wise. First I rigged the two lower shrouds which will hold the ratlines. The other lower shrouds will be installed only after the ratlines have been completed. Then I rigged the two upper shrouds. Since things are getting a bit crowded at the top of the mast, with more shrouds still to be secured up there, I decided to run these shrouds through a hole in the mast. Trying to hold the mast steady while drilling was a bit challenging, and in the process of not doing that well, I broke loose the upper two stays running between the mizzen and main masts. That proved to be a bit of a blessing in disguise, as I had used some thread that was a little bit thicker than the tread I used for all the other stays. Barely noticeable, but it bugged me, and this time around I used the right size of thread. Rigging ratlines is pretty tedious, and I decided I would do two or three on each side at a time, in between working on other, unrelated, projects on the model. So far I have done two ratlines at the bottom of the lower shrouds just above the deadeyes, and I have done the most challenging ratlines, the ones that tie the lower shrouds to the futtock shrouds, just under the top. It was here that I had the most problems with depth perception. OcCre has you install ratlines on the upper shrouds as well, but as others have pointed out in their logs, the Hurley photos show the upper shrouds without ratlines. Much as I wanted to tie more ratlines [sic], my Endurance won’t have any ratlines up there. I’m beginning to see a small glow in the darkness; could that be the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel??

Thanks Mark. If you look at the first page of my log, you'll know more about how I planked the deck than I remember. I do remember that it was darker and perhaps a little redder than I wanted. Fortunately I think it's aged well, but maybe I've just gotten used to it. I toyed with the idea of staining each strip of wood separately before cutting them to plank length, with the idea of having some plank specific variation, but at the time I decided was too much work. I'm thinking I'll do that on my next build. I do think that OcCre's planking is way too light in color, but maybe that's just my personal preference.

Progress on several fronts . . . Blocks and cleats for the gaff and boom sheets were installed on deck and rigged, and rope coils were then glued on top of the cleats. The previously described halyard and outhaul for the mizzen topsail have been run down to, and secured to, cleats at the base of the mizzen mast. The three stays running between the mizzenmast and the main mast have been installed. OcCre has you install the upper two of these stays running upward as you move forward, not downward as all the other stays run between the masts. The Frank Hurley photos I looked at shows them running downward; that is, they are fixed at a higher position on the mizzen mast than on the main mast. I chose to rig them as Hurley’s photos show. Stanchions and railings have been completed. Threading the rails behind the main mast shrouds was a challenge; the rest went pretty easy.

Thanks Phil for setting me straight. As I look at OcCre's photo of the finished model, I see that the two gaff sails rigged without booms are furled in the way you describe. So perhaps I was correct months ago when I questioned why OcCre rigs those gaffs with throat halyards when the goosenecks for those gaffs were fixed to the mast. The two models I have done of smaller vessels (America and Joshua Slocum's Spray) have gaffs with jaws and parrals. My Niagara model, on the other hand, has only one gaff rigged sail, on the mizzen, and its gaff has jaws and a parral, so it can be lowered to the boom. Thanks again for your insight.

Mizzen mast running rigging . . . Last summer (post #126 above) I said that I didn’t understand why OcCre included gaff throat halyards when the gaffs were attached to the mast with fixed goosenecks. What I failed to recognize at the time was that gaffs generally are attached to the mast with jaws and parrals, and gaff sails are usually brought down by lowering the gaff (to the boom if there is one), which requires both throat and peak halyards. Maybe I should have attached the gaffs on Endurance with jaws and parrals, but it’s a little late to do anything about that now. After a somewhat cursory search, I haven’t found any Frank Hurley photos to confirm whether I’m right about any of that. But if I’m correct, then it appears that OcCre (and I) erred in placing the foremast gaff above the lowest yard, where it can’t be lowered to bring the sail down, or it can’t be done without lowering the yard as well, which seems unlikely. Maybe that gaff should be attached to the mast below that yard, not above it. The first running rigging I installed on the mizzen is a topping lift, running from the outer end of the boom to a block just below the gaff gooseneck, then down to a cleat at the foot of the mast. If I had been thinking about what I described above, I would have placed the block on the mast above the gaff, not below it. I did this and what follows with the mast off the ship, slipped into a hole in a 2 by 4, as I did with a lot of the running rigging on the other two masts. All but the final photo in this post are with the mast only dry fit on the ship. I am not installing sails on my Endurance, and as I mentioned in a prior post, I am keeping the rigging simpler by not installing most rigging that attaches directly to a sail. However, I decided to make an exception for the topsail that is above the gaff on this ship. For whatever reason (or perhaps no logical reason), I liked the idea of suggesting a sail up there, even though I wasn’t installing one. So I ran a halyard through a block at the top of the mast and an outhaul through a block at the outer end of the gaff, and attached the ends of each such line to the other. Assuming there would be something like a snap shackle at the end of each line to attach it to the sail, I simulated a pair of such fittings with a pair of linked tiny rings. So that the gaff will be firmly secured in place, I won’t secure that halyard and outhaul to the cleats on the mast until I have secured the gaff sheets to blocks and cleats on the deck. The base of the mizzen mast fits into the slot built for it long ago with some wiggle room, which sure is better than no wiggle room and misalignment. As can be seen below, to get the mast rake right, I pulled it forward with some thread at the top of the mast, gently weighted with some mini clothespins (they’re only about an inch long; somehow they look a lot longer in the photo). And I leaned an eraser against the foot of the mast to get it aligned with the other masts. All that after fitting the mast into its hole and slot with a gob of wood glue at the bottom.

Hi Mark. No, I haven't thought of anything I want to do with those kennels, even though I agree with your characterization of them. Maybe I should put some thought into that. Probably wouldn't add dogs, because then I'd think I need to add people, and I don't really want to do that. Different subject . . . I took a look at your Lynx log, which is coming along really nicely. I'm about 80% sure that my next build will be Vanguard Model's Baltimore Clipper Grecian. Despite the fact that Vanguard models are highly detailed and result in beautiful models, I may do some modifications (mostly cosmetic) to make my model more of a generic Baltimore Clipper instead of the specific one Vanguard chose to model. To get ideas, I've been looking at other Baltimore Clipper build logs, along with pictures of and articles about other Baltimore Clippers. So far, this is only fun window shopping.

Before rigging the mizzen mast, I needed to finish rigging the main mast; that is, I needed to rig the gaff sheets that have been hanging from the main gaff for a few months now. OcCre has you simply secure them to eye bolts installed in the outer edge of the deck, but as I have said before, securing running rigging that way just doesn’t seem right to me. I decided on a double block (secured to an eye bolt at the edge) and a cleat (glued to the deck). OcCre doesn't supply cleats, but I had ordered some online knowing that I would need them. Rigging the sheets that way meant I had to make a decision about the dog kennels. As the kit is designed, they get in the way of any rigging of those gaff sheets. Personally, I don’t like the look of those kennels anyway, but they were certainly part of Endurance once she headed south from Buenos Aires. What to do about the kennels has rattled around in my brain for a long time now, and I couldn’t put off the decision any longer. What I decided to do was break each of the two strings of kennels into three parts, leaving some space for rigging and for access to the two aft ships boats (yet to be built and installed). Not historically accurate, as reflected in Frank Hurley’s photographs, but then the two uniform rows of kennels as contemplated by OcCre isn’t very accurate either. The kennels reflected in those photos are pretty ramshackle and haphazard in appearance. Once the kennels could be placed I was able to secure the gaff sheets as described above. I also installed stays for the funnel. And I secured the lowest stay between the main mast and the mizzen to an eye bolt just behind the funnel. Now I can start to work on running rigging for the mizzen mast.

Quick update; the mizzen mast has now been assembled. The base of the mast has a slot that it fits into, deep inside the hull. That slot leaves a little wiggle room, and the eraser you see in the photo leans against the mast pushing it forward enough to have its rake conform to the other two masts. Obviously not glued in place yet, and it won't be until I have blocks and any other fittings tied to it. I may also rig the gaff and boom before gluing the mast in. Every spring for a week or so I am treated to our magnolia tree in full bloom, out the window behind my shipyard. The picture doesn't do it justice . . .

Your model is progressing really nicely. Planking the inside of the bulwarks looks really nice. As I mentioned in my log, I wish I had thought of doing that. I admire your willingness to try many varieties of things (ladders and doors most recently) to get just what you want; I don't have that patience. From the look of things, you trashed some ladders I would have found quite acceptable. Keep up the good work.

The second smaller boat has now been completed and placed onboard. The first one has been moved to the port side. Neither has been glued in place yet. Now on to something completely different: the mizzen mast.

After an unfortunate mistake and some travel interruptions, I have now finished one of the two forward ships boats. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I chose to stow the forward boats inboard rather than hanging outboard from the davits as OcRre does, and chose to stow the smaller pair of boats forward, since the larger boats barely fit forward and inboard. I used some 1/32” strips for planking, since they are slightly thinner and bend more easily than the OcCre supplied 1 mm planks. As usual for me, the planking job looked abysmal and required much sanding and filling to hide my lack of skill when it comes to hull planking. The ugly . . . Now for my big mistake. The laser cut stem pieces have a longer end and a shorter one, and without noticing that difference, I glued them in place with the longer ones running along the bottom of the hull, which wasn’t correct. I found nothing in the instructions alerting the builder to this important distinction. In the following two pictures I have added tiny 2mm x2mm pieces to bring the stems above the laser cut rail cap piece as intended, but I still have some sanding and filling to do to make things look acceptable. The bad . . . And finally, after installing flooring planks, seats and the rail cap, the good . . . Some months ago I built the structures to stow these boats inboard, and I have now glued them in place, after adding eyebolts for the lashing that will hold the boats in place. The planks that run between the two decks are dry fit in place for now, as is the one boat I have completed. Now on to that second boat, with the hope that I have learned some things that will make things go more smoothly.

Great work Giddy, and glad you have found my build log to be helpful. A few comments . . . I like the color of stain you chose for the deck planking; it looks really authentic and certainly better than what I chose. Based on several recommendations on these boards, I use Birchwood Casey's Brass Black to blacken virtually all the brass on my models. Search the name on the MSW website and you'll find a number of tips on how best to use it. It's a pretty easy process and the results are good. Endurance had a wooden railing on top of the stanchions at the stern, which I overlooked when I installed those stanchions. I keep telling myself that I should go back and clip the tops off the stanchions (eliminating the upper cable), cut out a wooden railing using my jewelers saw, somehow drill holes in the right places to accept the tops of the stanchions, and glue the wooden railing in place. I haven't yet built up the courage to do that. If you choose to do so, it looks like you still have the opportunity to use the laser cut railing that OcCre supplies and has you install at deck level, and install it on the tops of the the stanchions instead. Or copy the supplied railing to make a second one for the top. I look forward to following your build. Tom

The foremast standing rigging is now complete, with the addition of three more shrouds on each side of the mast. With my attention focused on securing these shrouds to their deadeyes, and then lashing the pairs of deadeyes together, I wasn’t paying much attention to where I had wrapped each port and starboard pair around the mast. The lower pair was run through the top, no problem there (and no picture). The middle pair was secured to the mast just below the mast cap, and somehow the lashing slipped and it got twisted off center a bit. At this point I don’t think there is any way to remedy the problem. Fortunately it is not as evident to the naked eye at a viewing distance as it is in a close up photo. The pair secured at the top of the mast is much better, although the several lines secured there are a bit messy (again, worse in the photo). I also finished installing the braces; that is, the running rigging attached to the ends of the foremast yards and running back to double blocks on the mainmast, from which they run down to the spider band at the base of that mast. As I have mentioned previously, I have chosen not to put sails on my Endurance, and I am not installing running rigging that would be attached to those sails, which leads to a cleaner look (but not as accurate). You can also see the standing rigging described above in first picture below. OcCre has you secure the end of the lower braces, and the double block they pass through, to the stay running from the mainmast top to the deckhouse roof just aft of the foremast. When I rigged the jib halyard/downhaul lines with blocks attached to the forestays (again, as OcCre directs), I was unable to do it without distorting the run of the stays, as can be seen in the first photo immediately above. To avoid that, instead of attaching the lower braces to the stay, I looped them around the mainmast and through the top, and I attached the double block directly to the mast at the height of the gaff gooseneck. I have no idea which is more historically accurate, but I like the look of how I did it better. Taking a needed break from rigging awhile, I’ll next start working on the forward pair of ship's boats.

The foremast ratlines are finished! Slow patience was the trick, never doing more than three on each side at one sitting. As I expected, the most difficult ratlines were nearing the top of the lower shrouds, finishing at the futtock shrouds. Tying knots with tweezers has never been my strong point. As you can see, I have also completed the pair of lower shrouds (on each side) which parallel the ratline shrouds.

Thanks for the kind words Mike and Jeff. I hope you find my log to be helpful when you get around to your Endurance builds. I have gained immensely from what I’ve learned from the logs of others, so it’s nice to hear every so often that there’s something to be learned from mine.