Off and running with the schooner rigged pond yacht

[Keith Black]

Mike, it could have been rigged with just a boson's chair. I personally don't like the looks of ratlines as they disturb/break the flowing vertical lines of mast and shrouds. 

[Dr PR]

Fore-and-aft rigged schooners often did not have rat lines, and the spacing between your shrouds makes it unlikely that the boat had them.

 

Access to the upper mast was either by bosun's chair as Kieth said, or just by climbing the mast rings when the sails were set. And "bosun's chair" is a rather loosely defined term. Often it is just a rope sling that you sit on while someone hoists you up the mast.

[amateur]

The pic you showed of the original rigging (or at least, the remainders of it) do not show any signs of ratlines on the aft mast. 

I would leave them out, without ratlines, she has a cleaner look.

 

Jan

[Elmina]

Good morning. I have been looking at this piece of bronze hardware since I purchased this project. It was with all the proven parts and pieces but to date I have no idea where on this model it would belong. Could it possibly be part of the pond yacht steering??? Can’t wait to see if this puzzle gets solved . Thanks again to all who have been so helpfull

[Keith Black]

 Mike, will the mystery object slide over the tiller? The only thing I can even speculate is that it's a rudder limiter. It's a weird one that's for sure.  

[Elmina]

Hello all , I have been dabbling with some running gear. I was able to determine the length of the main boom from the remnants of them main sail. I had a couple pieces of it and fabricated the missing pieces. Not too bad , I have to do some additional blending of the finish but at a glance I think it’s going to look ok . I replaced the main sail sheets , from what I can tell I replaced them to what was originally there.  It appears this was typical to all 3 booms . I am looking for opinions or comments to see if I am on the rite track. I have added a few photos , my questions are , should there be rigging in the center where my fingers are pointing in the photo. There is an existing pulley on the boom and a center connection eye on the aft deck ?? Also I have added main boom end lift rigging. I had nothing left of original and decided to rig it from a plan I saw here on this site.  Thanks to all and God bless 

[Elmina]

I fabricat pieces of main boom not sail. Sorry. On a phone without my glasses 

[Runner]

Hi, how is this project progressing? I have two large sailing model projects--a reproduction of a 10-gun cutter built by four British veterans of the War of 1812 in the early 1830s and the possible restoration of a yawl-rigged pond yacht from the mid-1890s (I think). The cutter's helm was rigged with a lead bullet that slid across the deck to pull the helm over when the model heeled and the yawl had some bizarre pre-Braine gear steam-punk-like helm control device that only partially survives. The cutter is five feet long overall and as high. The yawl's hull is five feet long. Both of these projects are currently stalled.

I find that the pond yacht people are focused on standard classes of yacht that can be raced and are fitted with Braine or vane gear, and that in general they know little about early sailing models.

[Keith Black]

 I think I remember this model coming up for sale on eBay? 

[Runner]

I did buy it on eBay after going to see it. Interesting history to the model and interesting rig. It was listed as dating from the 1920s and presented as a cutter with a very long boom, but it was originally a yawl (with the mizzen mast located in the step used later for the crutch supporting that boom. It was acquired in the 1980s by the vendor's father in Port Washington on the north shore of Long Island. The father was a long-time member of the Port Washington model yacht club (formed 1898) and served as president. He did a cosmetic restoration and it was shown in the club's centenary exhibit. 

[Keith Black]

If you bought the model then I don't understand the question "Hi, how is this project progressing?" as you would know better than anyone else. 

 

 Having said the above, how is the model today, has all the restoration work been done? Current photos would be greatly appreciated. 

Edited September 2 by Keith Black

[Runner]

Ah, no, I was asking how your project is progressing. Mine are stalled currently and I have yet to do anything to the yawl Wasp other than remove the over-long boom. I'm still figuring out how to rig it. Most is straight forward but I can see no evidence for mizzen mast rigging and cannot figure out the original helm control device. The portion on the rudder post seems to be original and complete but the forward part has been replaced and beneath the current confection there are concentric circular marks with a central screw hole. I'm thinking maybe a fitting with concentric cylinders over which an elastic band linked to the tiller could be placed, with each cylinder used changing the tension on the elastic band and therefore on the tiller. But I have yet to find contemporary evidence for any remotely similar device. I've attached photos of the tiller and the circular marks, and the only period photo of a similar model yawl I have found.  This model is not Wasp. It has too much sheer and a hatch. Unfortunately, its mode of steering is not visible.

Wasp intrigues me. She was clearly a major project for her builder and yet she has no hatch. She is lightly built for pond sailing and not more heavily built for open water skiff sailing, and does not have the peg board for that. Her yawl rig and wooden fin with integral ballast suggest British influence since the yawl rig never quite caught on stateside and American model yachtsmen preferred metal fins and bulb keels in the 1890s. She was reportedly owned and likely built by a Port Washington resident named James Smith. The likliest candidate I have found in the census returns available lived in a neighboring town in 1891 and was born in the UK. He would have been in his 20s in the 1890s.

[Keith Black]

 I'm sorry, I was confused and thought you had bought Mike's ship, see photo.

 

 Your tiller is a quandary, at least you have witness marks to help in trying to solve the mystery.  It's meat you were able to track down a bit of her history.