How much rope do you leave after tying things off?

[RPaul]

Hi All, 

When you're tying running rigging off on cleats, pegs etc., how long a tail do you leave? 

In practical terms, I would think that, let's say, if a yard is fully up, the halyard will have quite a long tailing end - long enough to be still tied off when the yard is fully down. I would coil it and hang it somewhere. If something is fully out - garnets, buntlines etc. when the sails are deployed - I'd leave something like at least two feet's worth (well, scaled down), long enough to hold on to. But that's my uneducated guess.

Looking at the pictures of my current build, they just left short-ish tails, I reckon about a foot's worth or so; no coils anywhere. Well, as I've mentioned  in another thread, OcCre did say to me in an email that they care about the looks more than functional accuracy, so that could explain it.  Looked at photos of real life decks on square-rigged ships; lots of coils hanging from pegs.

So, coils then? If so, coils everywhere, or selectively as I've described? 

 

Thanks in advance, 

Pavel 

 

[Jim Rogers]

I leave very short tails and then add coils made on a jig later. I have used one on every pin and to tell the truth dependent on scale it can look really crowded. We as modelers always try to make things neat and tidy when the real world is more haphazard and crowded. 

[HSM]

I generally put the line through the pin-hole, then around and through again, then I put the pin in the hole to hold it in place. Once I have adjusted all (or most) of the rigging I glue down all of the pins and clip off the excess line. I then add rope coils of appropriate sized line that I make off of the model. You are right... If they yard is down then you would have less of a coil than you would if the yard is hoisted and there would be lots of line to coil.

[RPaul]

Cool, thanks, that's what I was thinking of doing - that is, cutting a tail very short and then adding coils made on a jig. On the last build I honestly coiled long tails in situ... Managed somehow, but I can tell you, honesty is not always a good thing

[JerseyCity Frankie]

On a model, just enoughto get the line belayed and then for accuracy’s sake glue on a pre-formed coil afterwords. On an actual ship each line needs enough length for the use of the line. for instance hailyards need to be long enough to account for the fall of the tackle at its extreme length. But there also needs to be enough additional length to allow for the number of men needed to handle the line in any circumstance.  so if the strain on the line caused by the weight of the load requires three men to hold it safely, you need enough length for three men to lay on to the line, roughly four feet for each person. How can you tell which line needs more extra length? Broadly the thicker heavier lines will be the ones requiring more people hauling. The hailyards sheets and braces will have much larger coils than other lines since they have longer tackle falls.

Edited January 17, 2018 by JerseyCity Frankie