Rigging for Dummies?

[HakeZou]

Hi all,

 

I'm a newbie who's building his first kit, the Bon Retour from Artesania Latina. The ship itself is constructed and I'm now at the point of working on the rigging. Unfortunately, there are three factors working against me here: 1) my knowledge of rigging is minimal, 2) the instructions are no help (basically just saying, "Follow the diagram"), and 3) the diagrams are not as helpful as they could be (and not all "ropes" are labeled). I suppose I could add a fourth: the rigging in the photo on the kit's box is not identical to the rigging diagrams! I'm wondering if there is any sort of "Rigging for Dummies" resource out there?

 

In particular, I'm having a hard time figuring out where and how the running rigging ties down. (The standing rigging is straightforward, as are the places that the running rigging attaches to the spars and mast.) I just learned today, for example, that halyards often connect to eyebolts on the deck, as appears to be the case here, since there are two halyards and two eyebolts on the deck. But beyond that...things get confusing quickly, so this is kind of information I'm looking for.

 

The boat has three sails (gaffsail/throat, foresail, and jib), with one mast, boom, gaff, and bowsprit. The various "ropes" are labeled as travelers, stays, downhaulers, halyards, lifts, sheets, and a head luft. I think I'm good on the halyards, downhaulers, and jackstay, but I'd find it immensely helpful if somebody could explain (or point me to a resource that explains) the general function of the other types of "rope," along with a general sense of where and how they might be connected on simpler boats. I recognize, of course, that the ways these connect vary from ship to ship. If it helps, there are two belaying pins on the mastrack, 8 cleats (2 forward, 4 mid, 2 aft), two eyebolts on the deck for the halyards, two eyebolts on the stempost (one of which is for the standing rigging), and an eyebolt and a block on the stern (the block attaches to a block on the end of the boom).

 

I've found the third chapter of Frank Mastini's Ship Modeling Simplified very helpful so far, but his examples for rigging are on ships considerably more complex than the Bon Retour, a single-masted fishing boat. I'm struggling to translate his explanations to what I'm looking at in my hands. I've checked the "Articles Database" on this site, and the articles that are currently there are all beyond the basics that I'm looking for. I've also searched the forums here, but haven't (yet) found quite what I'm looking for. Philthy (on MSW) and Invictaag (on BrexitModeller) have done build logs of this kit, but when it comes to the running rigging, they aren't quite detailed enough for my needs.

 

Thanks in advance for pointing me in the right direction!

[wefalck]

This kit seems to be based on a French fishing boat from Brest in Brittany. If you can identify on the Internet on what type it is actually based, you may find images of the prototype or someone on a French forum who rigs the model prototype-fashion. There are various books on French boats, but these are usually in French   They may also not so easy to obtain, depending on your location ... identifying the prototype would be my first step to get to grips with this.

[HakeZou]

Exactly right, Wefalck. The kit is based on the Dizro Mad (Breton for "Bon Retour"); the société restoring is has a helpful Facebook page with quite a few photos that I've found helpful throughout the process. Everything on their is public, so one shouldn't need a Facebook account to take a look.

 

French is no obstacle for me, so I'd appreciate any tips on French ship-building forums or book titles. Thanks in advance!

[wefalck]

I am a bit pressed for time at the moment and cannot extract relevant works from my literature list, but you are welcome to browse it here: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/maritimebibliography.pdf. Beware it is long document ...

[HakeZou]

Thanks, Wefalck! I look forward to digging into the bibliography, which looks like a real wealth of information!

[Roger Pellett]

Solving this problem can be done by taking the following logical steps.

 

1.  Ship and boat rigs fall into a number of defined classes. In your case, one mast, gaff rigged mainsail, jib, and foresail.  This is what we would call a “cutter.”

 

2. Regardless of the boat’s nationality, the physics of controlling the sails to make it perform are the same.  There are two excellent books that describe how the sails of a cutter work.  Tom Cunliff’s Hand, Reef, and Steer, and John Leather’s Gaff Rig.  If the two, I personally prefer Cunliff’s book.  Cunliff is a working sailor who has made long distance passages in a number of cutter rigged boats.  After reading either of these you will understand not just what to do but why you are doing it.

 

3.  It is true that different nationalities and regions did things differently.  I have a book- Les bateaux des cotes de la Bretagne Nord by Jean Le Bot.  This book is packed with information about the indigenous sailing craft of Breton.  Although it is written in French, it is wonderfully illustrated, including an envelope of large scale plans.

 

By ignoring the kit supplied drawings and relying on well documented sources you will upgrade your model considerably.

 

Roger

[HakeZou]

Thanks, Roger! I see the John Leather book you recommend is also in Wefalck's bibliography, as are several other books by Cuncliffe. I'll definitely start with those these as soon as I can. Since my original post, I also stumbled across this video on YouTube (by Kevin...something?), which shows several details of a gaff rig in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_L-VGSbwc.