US Brig Niagara by 6ohiocav - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[6ohiocav]

*QUESTION*

 

​​I will be working on the fore topgallant mast riggings next, and may decide to attach the royal and topgallant yards before stepping the mast assembly. That begs an important question that I will now have to face.

 

I am rigging without sails. The plans have the royals and topgallants in the raised position, since it is a plan for full sails. If the sails have been taken off, shouldn't these yards be in a lowered position.  And if that is correct, How low should they be.  My plans don't give me that.

 

I have a lot of questions of what to do with the bunt, leach, and sheet lines, for the course and top yards but that can wait for another day, and perhaps another portion of the forum. I have already installed the blocks for them.

[jbshan]

No sails, they should be lowered, yes.  The topgallant would come down to near the topmast cap.  The topgallant royal MIGHT be carried housed, tilted up and lashed parallel to the topgallant mast, out of the way of the topgallant yard, but I defer to other opinion on that one.  It wouldn't be as aesthetically pleasing, of course as if it was left crossed a bit above the topgallant yard.

Darcy Lever should show how the yard was housed.

[jbshan]

I looked through some material this morning and didn't find any reference to an un-sailed topgallant royal yard being left on the mast.  When they took the sail in, they bundled sail and yard together and lashed it to the shrouds in the top.  The sail was bent to the yard on deck before it was hoisted.  There were no lifts or braces to hold it aligned with the other yards, only the sheets from the lower corners of the sail that went to the topgallant yard, and no reef points or other furling mechanism.  If you take the sail off, there are no longer any sheets, just the halliard or tye.

All that being said, there is nothing to prevent you displaying it raised, you just have to come up with a way to hold it in place, a pin into the mast perhaps, which is not a bad idea for all the yards.

[mikiek]

Don't know if this is the same period but I thought the course and top gallant yards were "fixed" - they were not raised. The top and topgallant royal were raised. So the TGR might be lashed to the TG when no sails are present. Same for the top to the course.

[jbshan]

Topsail and topgallant can come down to their respective caps, to'gallant royal I suppose could come down near and be secured to the t'gallant, for display purposes.

Harland, 'Seamanship...' has a lot, if you have that.  Lees, 'Masting and Rigging...' should have some also, though I haven't looked there myself, and don't forget Lever.

[mikiek]

I'll check both. And I suppose there may be a difference between how things were really done and what looks better for display. I imagine a big gap where the top and top gallant royal would be might look odd when the build is displayed. Most would expect evenly spaced yards.

[6ohiocav]

FOREMAST UPPER SHROUDS AND RATLINES

 

I worked on the upper shrouds of my foremast. I created a jig to set the correct length of the shrouds before I seized the deadeyes.  Doing this on the bench had great advantages.  After setting the length, I was able to mount the rope end into my vice to seize the deadeye.

 

I used .025 Syren rope for the shrouds, and the 3/32” deadeyes. I experimented with .012” and .008” rope for the lanyards, and found that the .008” looked much better in the small deadeyes. The .012 rope was too bulky, and bunched up.

 

I made my staves out of cherry strip wood. I initially glued them in place with a drop of CA to hold them in place while I lashed them.

 

I used .008” for the ratlines. I used half hitch knots on the ends and clove knots in the middle. I dabbed a spot of CA on the half hitches. After tying a few, I started to get into a rhythm. Tedious for sure, but much easier while lying flat on the bench. I was going to paint them black, but like the oiled natural look of the cherry.

 

Tonight I will finish up the topmast shrouds, install the topgallant mast and work on those shrouds. Then a few more stays, and perhaps, just perhaps, I will ready to step the mast. A monumental accomplishment.

 

Then I can finish rigging the jib, and then work on the lower foremast shrouds, a ton of ratlines, and THEN, start all over on the main mast.

[6ohiocav]

Joel and Mike,

 

After some experimenting, and going to with the "best look" for display purposes, I think I will have the yards in their upper positions. I will be pinning the yards initially.

 

I am still trying to figure out what to do with clews, buntlines, sheets etc.  I will seizing all of the blocks, whether I actually rig them will depend on whether I ever figure out how to tie things off.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

[mikiek]

Moving along nicely Darrell. I am amazed ANYTHING threads thru the holes on those small deadeyes.

 

I was reading where some will do temporary fastenings to get opposing tensions correct (shrouds for instance) and then go back and do the real seizing, knots, etc.  Are you doing this?

[6ohiocav]

I did not do any temporary fastening. When rigging the lanyards, I did not seize them until all were installed. That allows some give and take to make sure the lines are all tight.  The rope does not easily travel through the three holed deadeyes when pulled. If you want to tighten them, you have to pull on the rope coming from the middle hole first to create some slack, and then pull the end.

 

I was kind of surprised that all of the tugging and contorting of the shrouds when I attached the staves and ratlines did not loosen anything up.

 

Up and onward!

Edited October 31, 2016 by 6ohiocav

[jbshan]

I'm thinking Darrell must be a surgeon, he's so fast tying knots.

[ca.shipwright]

Darrell, Beautiful work. Love the spacer jig.

[6ohiocav]

MORE KNOTS

 

I worked on the starboard side upper shrouds. I now know why so many folks lament over the ratlines. Of course, mindless repetitive tasks suite me….and Joel, I am not a surgeon, but if anyone needs stitched up with .008 Syren brown rope, I am your mate.

Edited November 1, 2016 by 6ohiocav

[donrobinson]

nice shrouds and rats, great work

[mikiek]

Darrell - is that mast in the boat or laying on your bench?

[6ohiocav]

It is laying on the bench. I have a soft clamp on the end holding it down. Tying the ratlines while the mast lays horizontal is about as good as I can get it.

 

I will be attaching the top gallant mast section next and then working on those shrouds. I think I am also going to attach the yards, at least the top gallant and royal, before stepping the mast in the deck hole. I am trying to do as much as I can before I attach the mast. Once I do that, I will then work on the lower shrouds and back stays - at least that is the plan.

[Tigersteve]

Looks great!

Steve

[scott larkins]

Man those look great.  I understnd what you mean about those rat lines.  Using only the special knot for those is tough enough, but making sure you don't pull the shrouds out of place on each rat line is madening.  I remember tieing over 400 knots on my Rattlesnake lines.  It is mindless work.  Maybe mind numbing is more accurate.

Edited November 3, 2016 by scott larkins

[6ohiocav]

Foremast Course Yard Lift Blocks, Main Stay Blocks, and Upper Top Blocks

 

Spent an entire evening just attaching various blocks to my foremast lower and upper tops.  I also attached the Course Yard Lift Swing Blocks.  I should have added all of these before I assembled the bottom and top mast, and especially BEFORE I attached the cap and rigged the upper shrouds. I had to sieze the two block assembly on the mast, instead of on the bench. If I had given this more thought, I could have easily put this together in advance and slipped it over the cap before attaching it to the mast head.

 

Live and learn.

[mikiek]

Don't know about you but I am having a hard time even locating some of those blocks on the plans. Some that I do see, it's difficult to tell if it is centered or a P/S thing.

[6ohiocav]

Mike,

 

Glad you brought that up.  You have to peruse sheet 5 and 6 of the plans, the instruction manual, and diagrams of both masts just figure out where the blocks need to be located. And being a 2 dimensional drawing, good luck deciding where exactly on the top they need to be.

 

The hard part however is deciding what to do with all of these blocks. Half of the blocks on my upper foremast top are for sail rigging which I probably wont even do. I know I have said this many times over, but the rigging plans are extremely difficult to follow. Just a FEW simple diagrams of each top would be SOOOOOO helpful.

[ca.shipwright]

I think that is common to all fully rigged ship kits. The only thing I ever saw that maybe made this a little easier is to yellow highlight each line on the plan when you work on it. You can also highlight in another color all those lines you are not going to rig. Another way to simplify the plans is to use whiteout tape to cover all lines, blocks, etc you are not going to rig. What's left should be fairly easy to interpret.

 

Regards

[6ohiocav]

TOPGALLANT MAST AND SHROUDS, YARDS

 

I installed the topgallant mast and worked on the upper shrouds. I used .018 black Syren rope for the shrouds, and .008 brown for the ratlines. I lashed the cherry staves as I did on the lower shrouds. I finished the starboard side and will finish the port side tonight.

 

​The plans call for a pendant in the shrouds near the hounds to run the topgallant yard lift through. I decided to use a 3/32 single block instead.

 

I also spent the day getting the yards ready.  I installed the stirrups, using fish hooks (great tip from this forum).  I then primed and painted them with flat black paint. I will be seizing blocks, jackstays and the foot ropes next.

 

My thoughts are that I will pin the yards to the Foremast before finally attaching it to the deck. I have finally decided to leave the yards in their lowered position hanging on their slings and lifts. I should be able to do all of this running rigging before attaching the mast.

 

Right now, I have a spaghetti factory hanging from my foremast. I have seized every line I can think of, including some of the brace lines. I hope I can keep them straight when I start attaching them to the right locations.

[mikiek]

Looks great Darrell. Those yards raised or lowered is a tough call, but I think I will be doing like you. To some, it might look odd but I believe that's how they would be with a sail-less boat.

[JerryTodd]

There's photos and video online of them up-rigging and down-rigging Niagara, you could sort of diorama a scene from one of those, hauling a bundled sail up, or down, people aloft bending, or unbending another sail.  Gives you a reason to only have a few sails and some bare poles mixed.

[mikiek]

Sails? 

 

 

 

[JerryTodd]

Sail bundles anyway, not set and drawing.

 

[6ohiocav]

Jerry

Thanks for stopping in. You have certainly piqued my interest. I'll have to give that idea some thought. Thanks for offering.

[6ohiocav]

MORE TOPGALLANT RATLINES AND STAYS

 

I finished the port side ratlines on the topgallant shrouds. I also seized more backstays, topgallant, royal etc. stays and slipped them over the mast adding more vines to the assembly. It gave me cause to insert the mast and do some inventory to make sure I had all of the lines set correctly.  So far so good.... I think. I took a few photos.

 

This process is slow and a real mental challenge. I will be working on the foremast yards next to prepare them for attachment. The plan is to attach the royal and topgallant yards before stepping the mast. I will not attach the course yard until I have tied the lower shrouds. I haven't decided what to do with the topsail yard, but will probably attach it before stepping the mast.

 

And when and if I ever finish the foremast, I have the mainmast waiting in the wings.  

[mikiek]

Good steady progress Darrell. It's coming together nicely.

 

On your seizing, are you doing the thing where you make a loop with the seizing rope, wrap that, then stick the other end thru the loop and pull the loop tight? (Excuse the poor description). I've found that this is too much for my taste. I'm just half hitching one end, wrapping for as far as I need then CAing the end.