cdrusn89

Fore mast lower shrouds and deadeyes in place and rigged. I have to tie off the lanyards yet but am wondering about the next step(s) after that.. I could go ahead and bit the bullet and rig the ratlines now and then the Carpathians before moving on to the main mast. Or just move on now while I remember the "lessons learned" from the foremast - like to keep the bitter end of the shroud on the same side as the standing end at each shroud - dah! I need to find a better way of determining which side of the shroud wants to face outboard. On more than one occasion I had to reverse that orientation because the deadeye refused to face outboard despite repeated twistings and tension on the lanyards.

Soon you too can join the rigging fun - assuming you are going to rig yours.

Thanks TBlack - will give that a try on the Main Mast. Starboard side of fore mast is done but on this side I did not more or less permanently 'install" the deadeyes. I am going to start rigging the lanyards and hopefully if a deadeye needs to be moved up or down (hopefully only a small amount if at all) I can do that before they are "secured". On the port side I am pretty much stuck with whatever is "there" now. Hopefully I can use more or less tension in the lanyards to even the deadeyes out. So I think I will rig the lanyards on each mast before moving on to the next. Am considering doing the ratlines as well. I am not sure I want to "prolong the agony" but my shoulders do not hold up as well as the used to doing ratlines and this is my first experience with three masts of them.

Thukydides - thanks for the info. I was just following the rigging drawing included with the kit. I looked in my "Rigging a Six Rate Sloop" book by David Antscherl and it too shows the throat seizing, and only three sets not four as shown in the drawing. However, since the port side deadeyes are more or less permanently installed I think I will press ahead and blame any errors in authenticity on the kit drawing.

I have started the somewhat (to me) daunting task of getting the fore mast deadeyes attached to the shrouds. There are doubtless many ways to do this but always ready to plow new ground I built my own 'jig". According to the drawing it is 20mm between the outermost "holes" of the deadeyes. Sorry the light did not hit the ruler very well - trust me 20mm. I then cut a short piece of 3/16' X 3/32 boxwood and drilled #68 holes 20mm apart on the centerline. I then used a deadeye to mark one of the other holes for each deadeye and drilled holes there as well. I cut some short (one shorter than the other) pieces for each end from .032" piano wire. I pounded the piano wire in (#68 drill is a bit short of .032 -.031 according to my chart) and then used a drop of thin CA on the back side of the wires. I put the two sets of wires on opposite sides of the wooden batten to help keep the new deadeye on the jig - don't ask me how I know this works better than both sets of "pegs" on the same side. Here is the jig verifying that it is 20mm between the "pegs". The end with the rounded end goes into the deadeye on the channel and the shroud deadeye on the other end making sure the upper peg goes in the "top" hole. Now loop the shroud around the deadeye and use your favorite method to secure the deadeye to the shroud. I also built a jig to bend .032 phosphor-bronze wire to the 20mm spacing and use them to keep the already completed shroud/deadeyes out of the way. Here is the port side shroud/deadeyes completed.

Thanks guys - some things just take a little more time (and effort).

I decided that good enough really wasn't so I redid the shrouds trying to pay closer attention to how they "stacked" around the mast top. Tried to get both sides looking approximately the same. I think it looks better but then I would. I also remade the two 5mm double block with becket that are part of the fore yard lift system. I think they hang below the platform enough now to rig the lift but only time will tell. The other two double blocks carry the sprint yard braces down to the pin rail forward of the fore mast. Now back to figuring out a jig for getting the upper deadeyes on "straight".

I have the fore lower shrouds in place. I worked for quite a while to get the shrouds to lay like you see in the rigging books but the serving on the upper parts of the shroud pairs (about the center 2") makes them quite stiff (and the line is .035" ("I") so it was pretty thick to begin with) and after awhile "better" became the enemy of "good enough". So this what the upper portion of the lower fore mast looks like now. The weights you see in the foreground are attached to the two blocks that will form the fore yard lift (the blocks are under the chocks half way down the mast top. Rigging these is going to be "really fun" as they just barely clear the bottom of the platform. I weighted all the shrouds and tried to align them with their respective deadeyes. So here is what the fore lower shrouds look like at this point. Next I need to come up with a clever jig to help getting the deadeyes in place and all at the same level. I have a couple of ideas but need to flesh them out before trying to construct the jig. Bad news I will probably have to make a custom jig for each mast.

Lower Fore Mast is in place and the first two "elements", the pendant tackles are in place. The serving of the .025" line makes it somewhat more stiff than one might prefer so I have weighted them down and will let them sit overnight in hopes that they will hang a bit lower and straight in the morning. Then it is on to the first set of shrouds which if I remember correctly are a single "pair"; one on each side instead of the more usual two on each side as was done with the pendants. I have (I think) all of the lower shrouds for all three masts "ready to go"; served where necessary and hopefully getting them on the masts will be relatively straight forward. How many times have I thought THAT?

I think I got everything on the "punch list" to complete the hull enough to get ready to start the masts. I added the figurehead and boomkins at the bow. I installed the gun port doors - both sides. I put up the safety rails around the q-deck companionway using some after market "two hole" stanchions. And I decided to rig the lines for the fore and main sheet tackles that run through the sheaves in the bulwark in the waist. Not the most seamanlike job on the cleats. I probably should have added these lines before the catwalks were added - would have made it much easier to get the lines on the cleats. I also recognize that excess line would not generally be left on deck but I think I was faced with just omitting the excess line or laying it on deck. There really isn't enough room on the cleat (for me) to get even a small amount of excess line there. This is the heaviest running rigging line used (D .75mm) although I used Syren .025" line which is actually a little smaller (.75mm = .029"). Now for some shop cleaning and re-organizing to support the next phase. I am going to deviate from the instruction suggested sequence and step the lower masts and get their shrouds and ratlines done before adding the bowsprit. It is just too tempting a target, especially when shifting from side to side as the shrouds are added on each mast.

Q-deck railing completed. It was easier than I had anticipated. I installed all the timberheads first as they do not impact the railing. Railing assembly went as per the instructions - no surprises. I installed the rail and stanchions two at a time starting at the front. The stanchions fit into the railing, as is usual with Vanguard kits with a snap so I knew it was seated correctly. Then I pushed it into the gunwale slot after removing the paint on the part that fits in the slot. Ditto for the next stanchion going aft. With two in place I used thin CA to freeze them in place and worked the rest in a similar fashion. There is enough "give" in the rail to allow sliding the stanchions into the gunwale slot after inserting it into the railing if you are very careful. Don't ask me how I know but it is possible to pop the railing off one of stanchions where you thought it was secure. So now some clean up work, installing eyebolts on the hull exterior, gun port doors, boomkins, figurehead etc. I am undecided about the hammock cranes on the q-deck forward railing at this point. I may wait until the masts and shrouds are done. I am absolutely going to wait on the waist and forecastle hammock cranes until "later".

This is only my second square rigger (Niagara was the first and that was 6 years ago) and I am NOT looking forward to doing ratlines on six sets of shrouds but "ya gatta do what you gatta do". So that is coming up shortly - after I get the q-deck stanchions and railing done. I am creating a spreadsheet of every piece of rigging (I did this on Niagara) - it is a good deal of work but allows me to pre-build the various rigging pieces (single block with becket, single block with hook, single block with hook and becket, etc.) all in one "session" rather than building them as needed (and potentially forgetting how I built this type this last time). This will be my first experience with the shroud cleats. I believe that the shrouds will need to be tensioned more than "normal" as the lines belaying on the shroud cleats will tend to pull the shrouds in different directions and potentially distort them. The ratlines should (in theory) help distribute the load but I am planning on trying to keep the lower shrouds pretty taut.

Q-deck forward railing is done. As I mentioned above I had to use one of the spare railing stanchions for the waist railing. Seems whatever misalignment occurred is still haunting me. Except for a slight misalignment between the two waist railings everything came out "okay". I am also taking this opportunity to install the lines that belay at the main jeer bitts. There are five lines according to the rigging plans. The main yard lifts (port and starboard), the topsail yard lift, and the fore yard braces (port and starboard). Although not pictured below i am making similar provisions for the lines that belay on the fore bitts. The jury is still out about the lines that belay on the forward pin rail. I will look at those agin when i have the fore bitts lines done. Now for the q-deck stanchions and railings.

With the forecastle (hopefully) completed attention turns to the q-deck. I got all the eyebolts and cleats installed and then took a gander at the rigging sheets which show a 3mm single block on each side just aft of the main channels. Given that the main. shrouds might make access here difficult I went ahead and added the blocks and ran what i hope is plenty of line through to complete this part of the rigging. I also added 2 3mm blocks on the transom and added lines to the very small cleats on each side of the transom. Getting lines on these cleats will never be easier than right now so I decided to take advantage and rig them now. For the railing at the forward end of the q-deck I "tacked" the lower rail to the deck, fashioned the stanchions and assembled the stanchions and the other components of the railing hopping that the "tacking" would hold the bottom rail in place on the curved deck. When the glue was set (but not really fully hardened) I removed the entire assembly from the deck. Then I cleaned up the deck area and the bottom of the lower rail, painted everything black and will reinstall the railing shortly. While the railing was in place I tried to fit the waist rail stanchions and rail. For whatever reason the provided stanchion is too short to have the waist railing meet the middle railing of the q-deck railing. I am going to modify two of the "extra" q-deck railing stanchions to fit the waist railking and hopefully this will resolve this issue. More later. Here is the q-deck with most of the furniture in place.

Be careful with the filler there on the scroll work on the q-deck. Those two slots will house timberheads. Don't ask me how I know but it would be useful to stick a "place holder" in the slots before adding the filler. Will make things easier later.