Bob Cleek

Airbrushes are the best way to go for the "wide open spaces," even assuming you are an experienced hand-painter, because building up coverage goes much faster, as does drying time overall. There's usually no problem in returning to cover a light patch along the way with an air brush or to go continuously "round and round" a hull until the job is done, all at one go.  With bristle brushes, you have to wait for the coat to dry completely before going over it with another brushed coat or you risk brush strokes, "curtains," "drips," and "sags." To do a brush job properly, the paint must be conditioned to the point where several, if not many, coats will be required to finally get enough paint on the piece and in a manner which avoids application defects. And, while less of a problem on the small areas of a model than on full sized jobs, the risk of "holidays" (missed or thinly covered areas) is far less with a spray rig.  On the other hand, masking is a more exacting and time consuming exercise for air brushing because, while the tendency for paint to flow under the tape is much less with the air brush, the slightest flaw in the masking process is almost certain to cause an overspray near the masked interface that will have to be repaired.
 
Brushing generally requires masking as well (use 3M "fine line" tape) if one wants a perfect edge, and more time and coats, besides a greater knowledge (acquired through trial and error, usually) of proper "conditioning" (thinning and adding driers or retarders to the coatings.)
Sometimes, there are places that simply can't be, or don't warrant, the complication of masking, and that is where free-hand brushing, which really separates the men from the boys, comes into its own.
 
The coating type also enters into the equation. Acrylics can be more difficult to condition for spraying than oil-based enamels. (Use denatured alcohol as a thinner or Flood's Flotrol, depending upon what solvent is compatible.) Thinning acrylics with water is a bad option because it takes water a long time to dry and when applied without out an oil or shellac sealer, will often raise the grain of the wood when applied. Oil based coatings, applied properly and competently will always yield a better looking, and often easier to apply, final finish, but I think it's easier for an inexperienced painter to get a moderately acceptable finish with acrylics on their first try than with oil based paints. As with all things, experience begins when you start.
 
The accomplished painter choses his weapons from the entire spectrum of tools available to suit both his personal preferences and the circumstances of the job.

Just a possibly redundant safety note: Real tung oil (Which should be clearly disclosed on the container, rather than "tung oil finish," which can be darn near anything, is basically "Chinese linseed oil." "Linseed oil" is also known as and sold as "flax seed oil," often in health food stores (and for a lot less than "raw linseed oil" in paint stores.)  Tung oil, a common component of varnish, like linseed oil, once a common component of paint, when "drying," or "curing," can cause oil-soaked rags to spontaneously combust. Everybody seemed to know this in the days before water-based coatings became popular. I've had younger people look skeptical when this is explained to them. Back in the day, a lot of shop fires were caused by oily paint rags left lying around or just tossed in the trash can.
 
All rags and other material containing tung, and linseed oil, or any wet solvent, should be carefully disposed of by hanging outside spread in the cooling open air away from where fire might spread and cause damage, or better yet, submerged in a water-filled covered metal container and left to "cure" in the water before final disposal.  An oily rag or paper towel balled up and tossed aside can burst into flames without warning long after you've left the shop.
 
A bit "preachy," I know, but it doesn't seem to be common knowledge to the extent it used to be.

Just a possibly redundant safety note: Real tung oil (Which should be clearly disclosed on the container, rather than "tung oil finish," which can be darn near anything, is basically "Chinese linseed oil." "Linseed oil" is also known as and sold as "flax seed oil," often in health food stores (and for a lot less than "raw linseed oil" in paint stores.)  Tung oil, a common component of varnish, like linseed oil, once a common component of paint, when "drying," or "curing," can cause oil-soaked rags to spontaneously combust. Everybody seemed to know this in the days before water-based coatings became popular. I've had younger people look skeptical when this is explained to them. Back in the day, a lot of shop fires were caused by oily paint rags left lying around or just tossed in the trash can.
 
All rags and other material containing tung, and linseed oil, or any wet solvent, should be carefully disposed of by hanging outside spread in the cooling open air away from where fire might spread and cause damage, or better yet, submerged in a water-filled covered metal container and left to "cure" in the water before final disposal.  An oily rag or paper towel balled up and tossed aside can burst into flames without warning long after you've left the shop.
 
A bit "preachy," I know, but it doesn't seem to be common knowledge to the extent it used to be.

Airbrushes are the best way to go for the "wide open spaces," even assuming you are an experienced hand-painter, because building up coverage goes much faster, as does drying time overall. There's usually no problem in returning to cover a light patch along the way with an air brush or to go continuously "round and round" a hull until the job is done, all at one go.  With bristle brushes, you have to wait for the coat to dry completely before going over it with another brushed coat or you risk brush strokes, "curtains," "drips," and "sags." To do a brush job properly, the paint must be conditioned to the point where several, if not many, coats will be required to finally get enough paint on the piece and in a manner which avoids application defects. And, while less of a problem on the small areas of a model than on full sized jobs, the risk of "holidays" (missed or thinly covered areas) is far less with a spray rig.  On the other hand, masking is a more exacting and time consuming exercise for air brushing because, while the tendency for paint to flow under the tape is much less with the air brush, the slightest flaw in the masking process is almost certain to cause an overspray near the masked interface that will have to be repaired.
 
Brushing generally requires masking as well (use 3M "fine line" tape) if one wants a perfect edge, and more time and coats, besides a greater knowledge (acquired through trial and error, usually) of proper "conditioning" (thinning and adding driers or retarders to the coatings.)
Sometimes, there are places that simply can't be, or don't warrant, the complication of masking, and that is where free-hand brushing, which really separates the men from the boys, comes into its own.
 
The coating type also enters into the equation. Acrylics can be more difficult to condition for spraying than oil-based enamels. (Use denatured alcohol as a thinner or Flood's Flotrol, depending upon what solvent is compatible.) Thinning acrylics with water is a bad option because it takes water a long time to dry and when applied without out an oil or shellac sealer, will often raise the grain of the wood when applied. Oil based coatings, applied properly and competently will always yield a better looking, and often easier to apply, final finish, but I think it's easier for an inexperienced painter to get a moderately acceptable finish with acrylics on their first try than with oil based paints. As with all things, experience begins when you start.
 
The accomplished painter choses his weapons from the entire spectrum of tools available to suit both his personal preferences and the circumstances of the job.

The "netting" in the photo above is a good example of what is often encountered in kits: rigging that doesn't work. When examining it, "think like a sailor." What conceivable mechanical purpose could such a thing ever serve. At the end of the day, a single peak halyard would serve as well. There is no way to support weight distributed across the length of the spar from a single halyard unless there are blocks there which equalize the strain on the spar. It's obvious that people who draw plans like the one described know nothing about their subject, save perhaps their inaccurately copying a picture they saw in a book somewhere. Your "good eye" and common sense spotted this one straightaway.

The "netting" in the photo above is a good example of what is often encountered in kits: rigging that doesn't work. When examining it, "think like a sailor." What conceivable mechanical purpose could such a thing ever serve. At the end of the day, a single peak halyard would serve as well. There is no way to support weight distributed across the length of the spar from a single halyard unless there are blocks there which equalize the strain on the spar. It's obvious that people who draw plans like the one described know nothing about their subject, save perhaps their inaccurately copying a picture they saw in a book somewhere. Your "good eye" and common sense spotted this one straightaway.

The "netting" in the photo above is a good example of what is often encountered in kits: rigging that doesn't work. When examining it, "think like a sailor." What conceivable mechanical purpose could such a thing ever serve. At the end of the day, a single peak halyard would serve as well. There is no way to support weight distributed across the length of the spar from a single halyard unless there are blocks there which equalize the strain on the spar. It's obvious that people who draw plans like the one described know nothing about their subject, save perhaps their inaccurately copying a picture they saw in a book somewhere. Your "good eye" and common sense spotted this one straightaway.

The "netting" in the photo above is a good example of what is often encountered in kits: rigging that doesn't work. When examining it, "think like a sailor." What conceivable mechanical purpose could such a thing ever serve. At the end of the day, a single peak halyard would serve as well. There is no way to support weight distributed across the length of the spar from a single halyard unless there are blocks there which equalize the strain on the spar. It's obvious that people who draw plans like the one described know nothing about their subject, save perhaps their inaccurately copying a picture they saw in a book somewhere. Your "good eye" and common sense spotted this one straightaway.

All you need to do is use a thinner batten. The whole point of a fairing batten is to have a stick sufficiently stiff that it will bend in a fair curve when laid against the frames and/or planking. If there isn't a perfect faying surface between the stick and the hull, then there's a divot or a lump somewhere that needs to be built up or taken down. You can take a batten and rub carpenter's chalk on it and then rub it on the frame edges or planking. Where the chalk transfers to the frames or the planking surface is the "highs" and where it isn't are the "lows." Alternately, you can even glue sandpaper on your batten and then bend it across the frames or planking at various angles and lightly sand and you will end up with a fair hull with no lumps or bumps in the surface. There's no reason to soak a batten to get it to bend! Fairing battens are used dry. You don't want them to bend and stay put, by to bend and spring back.

Ditto on Micro-Mark's mediocre quality and high price point. Looking where you might not first think often turns up far better quality and far more reasonable prices. Jewelers' supply houses, medical and dental supply houses, watchmakers' tool outfits, even manicurists' and fly-tiers' supply places will always have something of interest. Micro-Mark now sells a six inch Tacro proportional divider for a hundred bucks or so. I bought one from them years ago for about half that price and, while serviceable, it's fit and finish is pretty much junk. Today, one can buy a seven and a half inch standard rack and pinion adjusting or ten inch top quality rack and pinion adjusting decimally-scaled set of proportional dividers with Vernier-adjusting to .005 made by Dietzgen, Keuffel and Esser, Bowen, or other makers of what were the finest instruments made in their day, in a velvet-lined hard case, for what Tacro's cheapo will cost, often considerably less, on eBay. The Micro-Mark catalog is a good place to discover that somebody is making something you didn't know existed before, but I've found them to sort of be the Harbor Freight of small tools. They do have some quality tools and materials, but at a high price. "Google is your friend." Odds are you may find the same quality product for considerably less elsewhere on line.

As stated before I who have (as well as others)  shallow water pockets find Micro Mark and other tool suppliers a rip off. I refuse to buy such an overpriced this is the next best thing.
 
I find being patient there are many outlets to find the same items at a much lower cost. 
 
There are 2 groups of modelers.
 
1. Those that are advanced and need specialty power tools. Metal and wood working lathes to make your own shackles, stays, turnbuckles, cannons and turn wood, etc.
 
2. Those that need a few basic tools Dremel, and a bunch of knives, and glue. I have seen some impressive work conducted with a Dremel, scalpel, cutting mat.
Y'all are a bunch of hoarders, several walk in closets with models from the middle 1800s to present day, boats, planes, trains,  all be completed after 11 re-incarnations. Tools and workshops to start a shipyard to replicate a full size Vic or Queen Mary. 
 
Imelda Marcos only had 1200 pair of shoes she would be very jealous of how she has been relegated to last place. (hey all in jest)

But it has to be an incandescent bulb, not a LED-filament bulb ! The latter will emit very little heat in comparison.

Ditto on Micro-Mark's mediocre quality and high price point. Looking where you might not first think often turns up far better quality and far more reasonable prices. Jewelers' supply houses, medical and dental supply houses, watchmakers' tool outfits, even manicurists' and fly-tiers' supply places will always have something of interest. Micro-Mark now sells a six inch Tacro proportional divider for a hundred bucks or so. I bought one from them years ago for about half that price and, while serviceable, it's fit and finish is pretty much junk. Today, one can buy a seven and a half inch standard rack and pinion adjusting or ten inch top quality rack and pinion adjusting decimally-scaled set of proportional dividers with Vernier-adjusting to .005 made by Dietzgen, Keuffel and Esser, Bowen, or other makers of what were the finest instruments made in their day, in a velvet-lined hard case, for what Tacro's cheapo will cost, often considerably less, on eBay. The Micro-Mark catalog is a good place to discover that somebody is making something you didn't know existed before, but I've found them to sort of be the Harbor Freight of small tools. They do have some quality tools and materials, but at a high price. "Google is your friend." Odds are you may find the same quality product for considerably less elsewhere on line.

Ditto on Micro-Mark's mediocre quality and high price point. Looking where you might not first think often turns up far better quality and far more reasonable prices. Jewelers' supply houses, medical and dental supply houses, watchmakers' tool outfits, even manicurists' and fly-tiers' supply places will always have something of interest. Micro-Mark now sells a six inch Tacro proportional divider for a hundred bucks or so. I bought one from them years ago for about half that price and, while serviceable, it's fit and finish is pretty much junk. Today, one can buy a seven and a half inch standard rack and pinion adjusting or ten inch top quality rack and pinion adjusting decimally-scaled set of proportional dividers with Vernier-adjusting to .005 made by Dietzgen, Keuffel and Esser, Bowen, or other makers of what were the finest instruments made in their day, in a velvet-lined hard case, for what Tacro's cheapo will cost, often considerably less, on eBay. The Micro-Mark catalog is a good place to discover that somebody is making something you didn't know existed before, but I've found them to sort of be the Harbor Freight of small tools. They do have some quality tools and materials, but at a high price. "Google is your friend." Odds are you may find the same quality product for considerably less elsewhere on line.

Ditto on Micro-Mark's mediocre quality and high price point. Looking where you might not first think often turns up far better quality and far more reasonable prices. Jewelers' supply houses, medical and dental supply houses, watchmakers' tool outfits, even manicurists' and fly-tiers' supply places will always have something of interest. Micro-Mark now sells a six inch Tacro proportional divider for a hundred bucks or so. I bought one from them years ago for about half that price and, while serviceable, it's fit and finish is pretty much junk. Today, one can buy a seven and a half inch standard rack and pinion adjusting or ten inch top quality rack and pinion adjusting decimally-scaled set of proportional dividers with Vernier-adjusting to .005 made by Dietzgen, Keuffel and Esser, Bowen, or other makers of what were the finest instruments made in their day, in a velvet-lined hard case, for what Tacro's cheapo will cost, often considerably less, on eBay. The Micro-Mark catalog is a good place to discover that somebody is making something you didn't know existed before, but I've found them to sort of be the Harbor Freight of small tools. They do have some quality tools and materials, but at a high price. "Google is your friend." Odds are you may find the same quality product for considerably less elsewhere on line.

Guys and gals. Call me crazy and get angry with me but except for the power tools (of which I've only purchased one) I find Micromark "tools" very ordinary in quality and
often overpriced.
 
It also bothers me when they rip off the tools that others have designed and marketed but I know  other companies do this. Many suppliers are small cottage companies and supporting them may keep them in business which often benefits us.
 
That said I still purchase many products from them and have usually been satisfied. It's hard to beat their extensive selection of items I can't find anywhere else.
 
I hope this doesn't get me banned from this site...Moab

If I can avoid it, I don't buy new tools. Either they are ridiculously expensive or not the same quality as pre-1960s ones. This applies to both, hand- and machine-tools. Just bought a couple of pin-vices, they were relatively cheap and the best ones I have seen on the Internet, but their finish still isn't as good as that of the ones I fished out of junk-boxes on flea-markets (unfortunately, I don't get to flea-markets very often anymore and flea-markets aren't what they used to be).
 
And: as I don't have the time to hone my skills with hand-tools, I have to hone my machine-tools
 
A confirmed tool-junkie.

"He who dies with the most tools, wins!"
 
That said, as a recovering tool addict, there are some tool rules that will stand you in good stead.
 
1. Never buy a tool until you actually need it.
 
It's just too tempting to grab the "latest and greatest" just because you "might need it some day." The more you have, the harder it is to find the one you are looking for, anyway.
 
2. Always buy the best quality tool you can possibly afford at the time.
 
As the old saying goes, "A cheap tool costs twice as much when you have to buy another one." Besides, good tools can always be sold for decent money, sometimes even more than you paid for them, depending upon how long you've had them.
 
3, An old (hand) tool is often better than a new (hand) tool.
 
"They don't make 'em like they used to." is generally true.
 
4. Store your tools in a well-organized fashion and always return them to their place as soon as you are finished using them.
 
They will be easier to find and you will save an amazing amount of time looking around "where you last left it."
 
5. Never loan a tool.
 
Whether you borrow a tool if somebody will lend it to you is up to you.  If somebody asks, your options are to politely decline or loan them one from your "junk drawer" that you won't mind never having returned!

"He who dies with the most tools, wins!"
 
That said, as a recovering tool addict, there are some tool rules that will stand you in good stead.
 
1. Never buy a tool until you actually need it.
 
It's just too tempting to grab the "latest and greatest" just because you "might need it some day." The more you have, the harder it is to find the one you are looking for, anyway.
 
2. Always buy the best quality tool you can possibly afford at the time.
 
As the old saying goes, "A cheap tool costs twice as much when you have to buy another one." Besides, good tools can always be sold for decent money, sometimes even more than you paid for them, depending upon how long you've had them.
 
3, An old (hand) tool is often better than a new (hand) tool.
 
"They don't make 'em like they used to." is generally true.
 
4. Store your tools in a well-organized fashion and always return them to their place as soon as you are finished using them.
 
They will be easier to find and you will save an amazing amount of time looking around "where you last left it."
 
5. Never loan a tool.
 
Whether you borrow a tool if somebody will lend it to you is up to you.  If somebody asks, your options are to politely decline or loan them one from your "junk drawer" that you won't mind never having returned!

It can work well in some instances, depending upon the wood species. Some species aren't as amenable to absorbing wax as others. The color selection is somewhat limited, as well. The result is about the same as waxing after staining, but shoe polish is probably a lot less costly than "model" paints and stains. Similar wax-based colors can be sourced from fine cabinetmaking and furniture restoration catalogs. There is also a selection of wax-based filller (slightly creamier than Shinola and in every color of the rainbow) sold for covering nail holes and gaps in the miter joints in picture frames.
 
https://www.dickblick.com/products/amaco-nail-hole-and-corner-filler/
 
http://www.framingsupplies.com/PuttyFillers_amaco.htm
 

 

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 310 – Some Loose Ends
 
In moving the main rigging installation forward, some finishing-up work inevitably got bypassed to be done later.  Some of this was for access reasons, some to escape prolonged tedious tasks – for example, the seemingly endless "rattling down."  Sometimes this multiplies the work, as in the first picture, where topgallant ratlines are being lashed after surrounding lines were installed.
 

This should have been done earlier, right after the tg crosstrees were installed.  In the picture one of the ratline eyes is being lashed to the forward shroud. Two pairs of tweezers are being used.  The blur in the picture is due to shaky hands.  Use of a paper shield like the one in the next picture, helps avoid lashing down other rigging and helps visualize the work.
 

On these tg shrouds, where the work is obstructed, the second ends were clove-hitched due the difficulty of forming lashed eyes that were used on the lower and topmast ratlines.  In addition to the upper ratlines, those on the lanyards and the futtock shrouds below must also being added.  Fortunately there were no ratlines on the royal shrouds.
 
The next few pictures show the addition of the jib sheets on the forecastle.  Each of the four jibs has a sheet on either side.  Each sheet reeves through a double pendant middle and seized to the sail's clew cringle.  The standing ends of these sheets are shackled to eyebolts on the rail.  After they pass through bullseyes in the pendants they are belayed on cleats on the forecastle breast rail - with the sheet on the weather side taking the strain of the sail and the lee side slack.  Lacking sails, the eight sheets are simply coiled on the forecastle as shown in the first picture.
 

Coils for the jib downhaulers were also added to the forecastle rail to the right.  These are large coils because the long downhaulers are fully hauled in with no sails.  The next picture shows the "off-site" fabrication of the sheet coils.
 

The lines were first spliced to eyebolt shackle assemblies, then wrapped around the plastic rod, then wetted with diluted glue and slipped off to dry.  As with most of the rope coils on the model, the lengths approximate requirements of the line.  The next picture shows the coils glued to the deck on the starboard side.
 

The two on the right, for the staysail and the inner jib, are 3 1/2" and 3" rope respectively.  Those on the left, for the outer and flying jibs, are 2 ½" rope.
 
The next picture shows rope coils for the foremast rigging on the port pin rail.
 

Altogether there are about 60 coils associated with the foremast running rigging – on the port and starboard rails and the fife rails – excluding those for the yard braces and other deferred lines that will be added later.  This picture also illustrates the role of the shroud fairleads in organizing the lines.  I'm sure these also assisted in line identification.
 
The next picture shows most of the coils on the mizzen spider band, those associated with the rigged lower yards and the spanker.
 

 
Finally, after completing the belaying between the skid beams, the cutter was retrieved from storage and lashed down as shown below.
 

The other cutter will be hung from the quarter davits on the starboard side - later.  I have yet to decide where to place the two lower studdingsail booms lying on the cabin roof in this picture.  Also, lanyards on the last three backstays on each side, like the fore course sheets and tacks at the far right of the photo, have yet to be secured.
 
Ed

It can work well in some instances, depending upon the wood species. Some species aren't as amenable to absorbing wax as others. The color selection is somewhat limited, as well. The result is about the same as waxing after staining, but shoe polish is probably a lot less costly than "model" paints and stains. Similar wax-based colors can be sourced from fine cabinetmaking and furniture restoration catalogs. There is also a selection of wax-based filller (slightly creamier than Shinola and in every color of the rainbow) sold for covering nail holes and gaps in the miter joints in picture frames.
 
https://www.dickblick.com/products/amaco-nail-hole-and-corner-filler/
 
http://www.framingsupplies.com/PuttyFillers_amaco.htm
 

 

 

It can work well in some instances, depending upon the wood species. Some species aren't as amenable to absorbing wax as others. The color selection is somewhat limited, as well. The result is about the same as waxing after staining, but shoe polish is probably a lot less costly than "model" paints and stains. Similar wax-based colors can be sourced from fine cabinetmaking and furniture restoration catalogs. There is also a selection of wax-based filller (slightly creamier than Shinola and in every color of the rainbow) sold for covering nail holes and gaps in the miter joints in picture frames.
 
https://www.dickblick.com/products/amaco-nail-hole-and-corner-filler/
 
http://www.framingsupplies.com/PuttyFillers_amaco.htm
 

 

 

Having owned a smaller, but similarly rigged boat, a Laurent Giles Vertue, for many years, I'm quite familiar with the same infernal roller reefing gear you have so beautifully recreated on your model. Like most who have inherited the gear, I ultimately "bypassed" it and rigged slab reefing. I realize that you aren't going to be facing the full-scale challenges of the system and it is appropriate to, if not practically characteristic of the pilot cutter type, but I'll mention that the biggest problem with the roller reefing system is that it really requires at least two skilled crew to get it to work as intended. One crewman has to turn the crank while simultaneously lowering the throat and gaff peak halyards in coordination therewith, while the other has to tend the leech of the main, maintaining tension on the leech as it is rolled such that the sail rolls evenly on the boom without naturally creeping towards the gooseneck and making a dog's breakfast of rolling the canvas on the boom, and, unless there be three aboard, tend the helm with a foot at the same time! Some of the difficulty with all that can be minimized if the boom is tapered, with the larger diameter aft, so that it takes up the sail evenly, allowing for the greater length of the leech at the aft end and the shorter length of the luff at the narrower end of the boom. Without the taper of the boom accounting for the sail shape, the reef is rolled in, the end of the boom will droop progressively, ruining the set of the sail, even with the gaff peaked higher, and in some cases even to the point that the boom becomes so low as to foul deck fittings or, God forbid, the helmsman's head.  Of course, the builder must give some thought (and arithmetic) to calculating the degree of taper so it matches the proportion of the luff and leech lengths. On some rolling booms which were not tapered, I've seen six or eight tapered battens fastened to the boom to create the taper necessary to accommodate the shape of the sail. Additionally, although reef points would seem superfluous with a roller reefing rig, some also install these, with reef points long enough to be tied around the boom and rolled sail, to avoid the inevitable stretching which quickly impairs the shape of sail as originally cut when it is routinely reefed over time. This is, of course, much less of a problem with modern synthetic sailcloth than it was with cotton canvas back in the day.
 
Still and all, it wouldn't be a pilot cutter without that roller reefing gooseneck fitting and a beautiful job of it you've done, to be sure!

Having owned a smaller, but similarly rigged boat, a Laurent Giles Vertue, for many years, I'm quite familiar with the same infernal roller reefing gear you have so beautifully recreated on your model. Like most who have inherited the gear, I ultimately "bypassed" it and rigged slab reefing. I realize that you aren't going to be facing the full-scale challenges of the system and it is appropriate to, if not practically characteristic of the pilot cutter type, but I'll mention that the biggest problem with the roller reefing system is that it really requires at least two skilled crew to get it to work as intended. One crewman has to turn the crank while simultaneously lowering the throat and gaff peak halyards in coordination therewith, while the other has to tend the leech of the main, maintaining tension on the leech as it is rolled such that the sail rolls evenly on the boom without naturally creeping towards the gooseneck and making a dog's breakfast of rolling the canvas on the boom, and, unless there be three aboard, tend the helm with a foot at the same time! Some of the difficulty with all that can be minimized if the boom is tapered, with the larger diameter aft, so that it takes up the sail evenly, allowing for the greater length of the leech at the aft end and the shorter length of the luff at the narrower end of the boom. Without the taper of the boom accounting for the sail shape, the reef is rolled in, the end of the boom will droop progressively, ruining the set of the sail, even with the gaff peaked higher, and in some cases even to the point that the boom becomes so low as to foul deck fittings or, God forbid, the helmsman's head.  Of course, the builder must give some thought (and arithmetic) to calculating the degree of taper so it matches the proportion of the luff and leech lengths. On some rolling booms which were not tapered, I've seen six or eight tapered battens fastened to the boom to create the taper necessary to accommodate the shape of the sail. Additionally, although reef points would seem superfluous with a roller reefing rig, some also install these, with reef points long enough to be tied around the boom and rolled sail, to avoid the inevitable stretching which quickly impairs the shape of sail as originally cut when it is routinely reefed over time. This is, of course, much less of a problem with modern synthetic sailcloth than it was with cotton canvas back in the day.
 
Still and all, it wouldn't be a pilot cutter without that roller reefing gooseneck fitting and a beautiful job of it you've done, to be sure!