Spanker inhaul/outhaul on the USS Constitution

[Jose Gonzales]

I'm down to the last few sails on my Revell USS Constitution, and I have made a blunder on the spanker boom. The Boom has a hole at the far outboard end, presumably to run the Spanker outhaul through, but the instructions only call for that corner of the sail to be tied to the boom. I decided to follow the Lennarth Peterson book and rig outhaul and inhaul to run along both sides of the boom, and tie off to some cleats on the boom itself, so I superglued a couple of cleats to the boom, one on each side, near where it will eventually be hooked up to the spanker trysail mast. When I looked at where the cleats are, I realized that the darned boom would be about 15 feet above the deck - too high for anyone to be hauling the spanker in or out by means of any lines tied off on these cleats. How do the other models of Constitution handle the outhaul/inhaul?

Thanks!

Jose

[Modeler12]

Marquardt's book shows it that way and so do the plans for the Model Shiipways kit. 

I put the outhaul cleat where the plans call for it, but now that you mention it, that would be a long way up from the deck. It is not too bad when the boom is in its saddle. I am surprised that it is not closer to the mast, so one could climb up that part to reach it. Lots more things to hold on to.

[Force9]

Jose

 

I am no where near that point in my build, but I intend to utilize Olof Eriksen's book for much of the rigging.

 

The Olof Eriksen plan shows something similar - the spanker outhaul ties to a "gun tackle" purchase that is tied off to a cleat on the inboard end of the spanker boom.  I wonder if we can see some posts of your build?  Is the boom positioned at the correct height?  The Eriksen plans don't appear to have the boom quite that high from the deck...

 

EG

[Jose Gonzales]

These are my first pix posted in this forum. The first is of the spanker boom - not too visible, but the brown spots are the cleats. I put one of the figures underneath the boom for scale. The second picture is of the launch. I've added some details to the floor of the boat, including some eyebolts, mast mounting hardware, and I've made a rudder - not pictured. I'm debating whether to mount the rudder on the stern or tie it down on one of the benches. I'll post more as I get my feet wet on how to do things in this forum. Thanks for all your input!

Jose

[Jose Gonzales]

Note, the mast and the spanker are not yet permanently fixed, I just put them in place temporarily. I also noticed that the spanker gaff is mounted so close to the mizzen top that there is hardly any room to rig a proper throat halyard - I can barely get a single block in there. I'm sorely tempted to make my own trysail mast and lower the whole spanker assembly, but I'm not so experienced with scratchbuilding yet.

Jose

[Modeler12]

I really think that you have the boom too high. For what ever it is worth here is a picture of the actual Conny in Boston. I am sure the picture was taken by someone at eye level. The boom is resting on the boom rest and would go up a little bit when sails are raised, but not all that much. My guess is in total from deck to boom would be about seven feet.

[Jose Gonzales]

Thanks for the picture. I concur, the boom is set too high on the model. Unfortunately it is set because the parts were made that way. The saddle is integrated on the plastic part that is th trysail mast. I have seen pictures of the hull mode and the boom appears much lower . I will do some surgery on the mast to "lower the boom" ;-)