Edward Bowser

spent a few minutes folding tissue paper to see what furled sails might look like. I think you could get away with minimal extra rigging - just sheets and leave off the bunt etc lines.....

That's very impressive. More than I could aspire to. I am currently restoring a Billings Cutty Sark I made 35 years ago and am toying with the easier option of adding furled sails made from tissue paper. They would be a 'harbour furl' where the 'sausage' of the sail is pulled up on top of the yard and sits on the jackstays. All you need (I think) is to tie the gaskets onto the jackstay, sit the sail on top and tie it on with the gaskets. On the subject of the angle of the yards, unless sailing direct downwind, each yard will be braced up a bit further than the one below giving a corkscrew effect. Two reasons 1. the higher you go the more the direction of the apparent wind changes and the extra bracing takes account of that. 2. when sailing as close to the wind as possible, the helmsman needs some warning if he is getting too close to the wind. With the yards progressively braced, the highest sail will stall first giving the opportunity to bear away before the whole mast ( and then the ship) stalls - very dangerous indeed especially in any kind of wind. One more thought, if you are rigging the sails as if direct down wind, the main is often furled as it is blanketed by the mizzen and itself blankets the fore sail, or at least it is scandalised (i.e one side pulled up

That really is a surprisingly significant change and makes one wonder about other details of the plans. I can see that once the hull is planked there is little you can do about it.

Hi Doug That's really helpful - thank you. I now understand it and at least I wasn't being dumb over the plans ! The reason for the question - many years ago (before the days of internet forums) I started on Leon using Underhill plans and Plank on Frames. I built the keel and deadwood, the counter frames and a few main frames. I realised that unless I knew how to mark up the 'moulded' sides the interior was never going to be right and the internal stringers, planking etc wouldn't lie correctly - so I gave up. Most bits got lost over the years but I still have the keel and deadwood which I would occasionally wistfully look at. Your log is making me think that it may be worth taking up the cudgel again. Just to end with a paraphrase of Longridge in his 2 volume book on the Cutty Sark - it's important to remember throughout a build that you should devote significant time to sitting back and admiring what you have just done....

Hi, I've read your log with great interest and look forward to seeing its continued progress. You must be very satisfied with what you have achieved. One question for you (or any followers of your build) - which is way out of the current timeline and goes back to the frames. The Underhill plans and books show you how to mark out the outer face of the frames but give no clue as to the inner face. Does the frame get wider as you go down the hull or does it remain constant all the way down. If the former how do you determine it at each station ?

Hi. Delighted to see someone who has built the AL Belem. Have you done a full log of it ? I have just bought the kit having spent some months tracking one down. The reason I want to build it is that in the late 1980's I had two weeks sailing on her and have a couple of scrapbooks full of photos. I thought it would be nice to build a ship have sailed on. Would be very interested to hear of any issues you have had / tips

Hi all. Looks like there could be an entire forum for people restoring long made Billings CS's ! I am another of them. I wish I had found this thread a couple of months ago as it answers a number of queries I had (although raised a whole heap more !). Anyway, thank you all for the info and hope mine gets somehwre like as good as I am seeing. I made mine in the mid 1980's. Like others, I clearly lost the will to live and didn't finish some aspects - fife rails, rudder pintles, stern decal. The BIG mistake I made was not building a case for it. 35 years in various houses, including 10 on a beam in our kitchen and it looked more like something arisen from the deep in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie - rotten running rigging (thank you Mr Billings for using cheap cotton thread) greasy dust and spiders webs everywhere and enough dead insects to start a Natural History Museum and various parts missing. Thought I would remove the yards and all running rigging and replace the deadeye lanyards. After replacing all of the lanyards started setting them up and yes - 'ping' they went as the brittle fixing holes broke. Tried replacing some with new Billings ones but eventually gave up. Big breath, sharp scissors and the whole lot cut away. Bigger breath, trusty molegrips, and with a satisfying crack of the glue bonds, the masts came out. I'm now at the stage of all shrouds in and set up and all forestays in (except the bowsprit). About to start on the backstays and have a (probably stupid) question. Do they have to go in singly, or in pairs (one going one side, the other going the other side)?

Whilst a member for many years this is my first ever post ! I also made a Billings Cutty Sark many years ago. I did in fact pretty well finish it although I must have got bored at the very end because a few fittings never got put on. Anyway, my big mistake was not to build a case for it, and it spent 35 years sitting in various unprotected places including for 10 years on a beam in the kitchen. It eventually resembled something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. I decided to try and clean it only to discover that most of the rigging, particularly the running rigging had rotted and all the dead eyes and blocks had gone brittle. So - everything cut, masts removed and start again. I was considering doing a 'renovation' blog but on reading this forum wanted to put in a plea to CCoyle - I see you have the fittings kit - but if you get to the stage of rigging the boat - throw away all the dead eyes and rigging blocks and get wooden ones ! Also throw the threads out, at least the small stuff - save you many hours of frustration in 35 years time.