Rigging question -- yacht America

[gsdpic]

I am working on Bluejacket's America 1/48th scale.  I am getting close to rigging and have started studying the rigging plans, such as they are.  I am not a sailor by any stretch of the imagination, and am a bit unsure of a couple things I see.  Most of the running rigging I can figure out...I can see how pulling a line here moves that thing up there.   But there are a couple places where there are a couple blocks that appear to just be there to tension standing rigging and it is not at all clear how/where the line terminates.  For example, see the two pictures below.  One is the top of the fore mast the other is obviously the bowsprit.  In these cases you can see the line through the blocks (or bullseye in one case) but the line just appears to be a loop, it does not terminate anywhere.  At least in a couple cases it is obvious the line starts off tied to the first block, but then where does the other end go?   Maybe it is tied off to the other block, or to the line the block is attached to  (similar to the lanyards for the shrouds)?  Looking at the build logs for the Mamoli America kit, it looks like they have those lines by the bowsprit go back through a hole in the bulwark to a cleat on deck, but that looks rather clumsy.

 

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I am not really concerned about hyper realism, mostly just curious about this.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.

 

 

[Tomculb]

I hope my response is not too late to be helpful.  

 

I finished the Model Shipways yacht America about a year and a half ago. The plans were more helpful that the ones you are working off of (at least what you have shown us), and I simply followed the plans.  Below are photos that might help. The first three I took a few minutes ago, the final one two years ago.

 

What your plans show as a couple of blocks at the top of the mast my plans identified as a "rigging screw", and depicted what I have always known as a turnbuckle.  I have done a lot of sailing over the years, and seen many boats with headstays, shrouds and the like tensioned with turnbuckles at either end of the cable, but I've never seen an arrangement quite like what the America apparently had.  The kit didn't come with a tiny turnbuckle, so a fashioned a reasonable imitation out of wire.

 

What appears to be the one of two bobstays that is not adjustable is actually the lower end of the headstay, which runs through a sheave (I just drilled a hole) in the bowsprit. I don't know why the other one is adjustable; I can't think of any reason to have it anything other than very taut.  

[Gregory]

I have plans drawn by George Campbell for an old Model Shipways kit.

 

 

They show what Tomculb is speaking of.

 

The  two block tackle doesn't look right to me, but I'm no expert...

[gsdpic]

@Tomculb @Gregory  Thank you for the replies.  I apologize that I have not replied sooner....I failed to "follow" my own post so did not get notified of your replies.

 

What you say makes sense and is helpful....I ended up working on sails first instead of rigging so I have not tackled these bits yet, though I am close to starting it. 

[gsdpic]

Just to follow up, I've completed two of these things.  So far I've just been running black line through the blocks (or bullseye in one case) and seizing the line to the line attached to the block on one or both ends, as shown below.  There are three more on the bowsprit rigging that I will do the same with.

 

 

[bdb]

Sorry to contribute so late.

 

Reference "The Low Black Schooner" by John Rousmaniere. In the back of the book is reprinted John Stearman's rigging plan of 10/1851. Notes on the following page indicate the foremast rigging as "7/8" iron rod (from jib stay) set up by a Turnbuckle to head of / mast"

 

I'm not sure as to the exact way of fastening the rod to the mast and to the stay, but maybe others can help.

 

Bruce Bollenbach