juhu

Hello,

while dealing with jumbo sail preparation I came across this detail I cannot understand / resolve. It seems that the sail is like horizontally divided in 2 pieces. The marked line truly does not seem just like some strengthening canvas. I have not found this on any other model or googled picture. What would be the purpose? Even much larger main sail does not feature any necessity for being constructed like this.

Then of course, if you check the second zoomed picture, you see that both parts of the sail have the line of eyes like if they were to be stitched together. But there is no rope, no metal pin, nothing that would be inserted in those eyes. Above all, at the aft edge of the sail, there seem to be like some another strange teardrop shaped things/hinges - purpose of whose also is not clear to me.

If you have any ideas how this is supposed to work, whether I shall bind the sail part somehow together, which is not shown in the plans, or truly is ok to leave the eyes in the sail empty, any help is welcome!. Thank you.

Another very small step up. I have started to prepare sail cloth by coloring the tissue paper and following the web courses. As always, it looks much easier in the video than it really is, but lets see how it shows.

I am trying to finish as much sub steps as possible before final assembly knowing that once all the masts and booms are placed, my whole work desk will be blocked with the model.

Greetings after a while.

I have been working on booms and gaffs and they are considered as finished now. It took me a while. So many fiddly parts and work that I think will not be so visible at the end, just like plane cockpits in scale plastic kits....

And I have to add one big re-do to my list, that also costed me lot of time. I wanted to replace white metal blocks with the wooden parts. I found something so-so reasonable in size, but alas, found too late that simple shape-wise they do not look right. So rip them off, revert back to metal blocks from the kit, painting, weathering etc....  I have never been a fan of pretending something to be a wood, but here I must say that there was no other option and all the blocks from the kit represent the things very good with some paints and pencils on. My fault, not the first one, wish it be the last one?

And some fishing equipment in addition: dip net and boat hook:

Hi Phil,

thank you again for replies. Now with all your hints, coming back to plans and instructions (and with the help of Mr. Chapelle too of course) I think I got the picture. Let's see, if I would be able to make it into realization!

Regards

Juraj

Thank you very much for your comments Phil,  helped me a lot.

I went through your very detailed thread and also looked into Chapelle's book. I have one and am using it for my build presented also here in dedicated thread, it has lot of valuable info, just sometimes I simply do not know, what to look for, which "keyword" to search.

Yet some question still prevails, related mainly to fore topsail, which might not be so common configuration, but apparently used very often on fisherman of the era:

1. I understand now, that strange looking tack of the fore topsail hauled over the gaff to weather side would somehow relieve the stress on the mast, pushing part of the sail against the gaff. OK, but why this mechanism is supposed to be used only fore? Main topsail does not show the same feature and its configuration seems to be much simpler and nicely captured also in your thread. What was the practical reason?

2. If I make the simple fore set up with only one tack line, would the configuration of the fore and main topsail look identical, ok, maybe apart from that hanging fore topsail corner around the gaff ? 

3. Why the last picture in my starting post does not show any stretched weather line for fore tack corner going straight to the deck? This seems to be very strange to me. Is that an error or do I not understand the mechanism? Simply I cannot see any line fixing the bottom corner of the fore topsail.

3. What is the name and the purpose of the line marked here? I guess, it is used only when turning the ship and hauling the fore topsail to the other side, so it does not make sense, if I would adopt the simpler solution with just one tack line and can be omitted?

Thank you

Juraj

Hi all,

again am coming here to ask kindly for a help. This time with topsail rigging for my BJ's Smuggler kit.  The kit provides very detailed instructions here and my question may seem as unnecessary, but the problem is that English is not my first language and even with the help of the web, translators and very limited sailing practice, I got lost in the description attached. I see, that topsail shall have somewhat put their bottom corners over the gaff to the weather site, but am not sure of all those explanation of overhauling the cleaves and also why there is something more complicated for the for topsail only....  By chance, could anybody provide some drawing of how shall be the sails rigged having the ship starboard as a weather side? From the plans (where as described below something is not actually correct) I am not 100% sure. Of course, no blame on kit instructions here, just my language maritime skills are not sufficient. (Hm, maybe will leave fore topsail furled after all, although here again am little bit lost how to tidy up all the lines and make realistic sail package, but for now the idea of the full sails still prevails)

Thanks for help!

Thank you very much for help and confirmation!

Greeting,

am back again with a question that came to me and that I could not answer via search and research so far.

Am still working on Gloucester fisherman "Smuggler" kit by BJ. While working on topmasts I noticed strange sheave, that looked as if having no real usage:

Searching a bit I found the details of the same thing I believe in Petersson's "Fore-Aft Rigged" book:

Reading also here through the topics, I understood the sheave and top rope was used to manipulate topmast, presumably for to replace or repair, simply to get it safely down to the deck. Now as seen in the first picture, the kit plan omits any eyes or system to attach the rope, what is present is only declared "topmast tackle sheave".

And now comes the question: shall I only include these eyes, albeit unused, or the whole top rope mechanism as seen in the 2nd pic? Assuming it was used only for topmast maintenance, I can see it was in use not very often and as such may have been removed while sailing? My model will be displayed under sails, so is it more appropriate not to show it, or was it permanently deployed and shall be thus also modeled?

Thank you in advance!

Hello,

another update as promised. Some iron and paper work on lower masts...

and finished:

Topmasts follow, here the part is soaked and bent to resemble desired shape, simulating the rigging stress

Mast hoops made from Evergreen profiles. I try to avoid the use of plastic as much as possible, but here I could not find anything better. And after some paint and use of weathering pencils, I like the result

Completed masts, next will be back with booms...

Thank you all for responses and confirmation. Yes, "preventer" is the term that was somewhere deep in my mind.

Mea culpa, should have looked better. There is a whole page in Chapelle's American fishing schooners dedicated to this topic. It confirmed my expectations - truly it is a guy for a boom to secure it, in plans presented in my first post the tackle is simply stored idle.

Greetings, while building BJ's Gloucester fishing schooner "Smuggler", I have come across rigging part called boom tackle. 

Before posting this question, I have searched and found this thread (

), still I am not sure: What is actually the purpose of this?

If I look into the plans, the whole thing is just attached to the boom, no connection with sail in any way. As such it seems to me like completely independent stuff, not usable at all. From my short yachting experience, I could imagine some lines that would go from the boom down to deck or rails to fix the boom while sailing, preventing it from "running" unexpectedly to the other side. But here the plans show the ship under full sails and the tackles are just hang with both ends from the bottom of the boom. Thank you for any help / explanation.

Just a small addition: moved up to the masts. Topmasts being prepared with the help of lathe (the fore one already done). The bottom section is square-profiled, which makes it a bit tricky for me as a lathe-novice, but doable. I think there will some break in this thread now - will come back once the masts are more complete...

Greetings,

posting some small progress after a while... Moved fore and made bowsprit and dolphin striker. I again opted with the latter one not to use the provided metal casting, but rather tried to make one from some spare wood. Fiddly little piece with all that bolts and rings made me some headache...

Both parts dry fitted only. I am a bit hesitating to glue particularly the bowsprit. The glued spreaders making me little bit nervous,  but with the bowsprit I see even more risk of damage. Probably will wait till the masts are attached.

I have been making slow progress on Smuggler for more than a year. It used to be a pleasure and nice refresh after work time and a way how to learn a lot of history and craft techniques. Today though, it is hard to feel the joy. There is a war in neighboring country and I feel somehow ashamed that even with all the unrest in mind, I could still enjoy the hobby in peace while the people there are losing their homes and lives under terrible aggression. Thank you all the visitors of this thread and for all the support I have received from you. But now I would like to dedicate all the likes and thoughts to the brave people and brave country. Just a symbol, I know, but thanks to all who join.

Hello again.

Dory is finished and secured in her cradle on the deck, added chain plates and attached anchors. If did not forget something, I shall consider the hull as done and investigate carefully, what is rigging about and where actually to start with it...

Hi Nirvana, thank you. Am so far happy with the progress and appreciate all the support from here - being my first wooden model ship, it always gives me the additional boost for further progress!

As for sail material, I have recently purchased this. It looks very finely structured, also the color I believe is more realistic than usual white. Will see, how it would suit:

Hi all!

Another update, the work on dory goes on...

Almost there...

Time to employ little bit of chemistry to make the thing "alive"

Thank you Bob and as well thanks to all encouraging likes. Here show goes on. I carry on with steering gear housing:

I also start to play with rope walk. Real fun to use. I enjoyed it so much , that I decided to place a final product on the ship. Originally I did not intend to, supposed seasonal mackerel seiner had probably both anchors operated by chain, but I could not resist . After all, am sure I have so many other mistakes in my build, that this additional historical inaccuracy will not harm. And as said, for full season vessels, the hemp cable for the starboard anchor is authentic and appropriate, so what

Once done, I have added some small details to make the ship more "alive". And started to work on a dory boat.

Thanks for all the hints - I think based on all the findings, will take the minimalist approach, maybe just a water cask, will see

I focused myself now on some fishing equipment. The ship is featuring quite a prominent rough grating, supposed to be a resting place for a seine as I understood. I created one using the kit stock, but I found it to be looking quite sad, being so empty. After a while of thinking, I borrowed a piece of bandage from our home med-kit and tried to simulate mackerel seine.

Am glad I tried - when properly stretched, squeezed and glued to a desired shape, it looks acceptable for me.

To complete the equipment, seine roller was installed on the top of the port monkey rail.

Thank you for all the hints and advises.

I have searched the net of course, but as also seen here, most of the picture you get are from the moored ships, where the deck is full of various things that would not be there under sails. The hint with the salt or fresh water being rather protected under than exposed atop got the points, I will need to think out. The limited experience from the small recreational yacht led me to this question - as said everything left unattached will fly even under not so hard weather conditions

As I was afraid, showing busy deck is eye catching, but under sail it does not have much support in reality.Could not imagine anything heavy and tall just laid on this deck

Hello Keith

thank you, I went through the referenced thread, yet am not sure I have found the answer. I understand that most of the supplies would be stored under anyway. The salt barrel is one that would be probably stored up to be available for a fishing vessel, maybe some fresh water casks too?.

While the reference contains a lot of interesting info on RN barrel sizes and loads, I still cannot figure how would be a barrel fixed on the deck. I doubt the Gloucester fishermen would have any strict rules like Navy, would be surprised if any regulations to be followed existed there, but maybe I am wrong. What I wonder is, how would be relatively unstable thing like barrel, opened at the top, secured safely on the deck during the voyage?

Thank you, Regards

Juraj

Hi all,

another maybe trivial question from my site, any help though would be welcome:

Am building the model of Gloucester mackerel seiner "Smuggler". I would like to show some barrels and similar ordnance on the deck. I know for example that barrel with salt would be stored there.  But I was not able to find any reasonable drawing or photo of how would be such an object secured on the deck against the movement during the voyage? Many ship models shows busy decks with simply standing barrels "somewhere" and busy decks look really good, but I doubt anything like that would be just standing there without any fixation. Any idea how to fix standing barrel so it looks realistic?

Thank you!

Thank you !