Young America 1853 by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 239 – Revisions - Spencer and Headsail Rigging

 

The running rigging described in the last two parts has been revised.  In the case of the spencer gaff the fall of the vang was obstructed by the outer boats on the skid beams.  To correct this, I added lead blocks to the forward topmast backstay and led the fall down to its pin through a fairlead on that stay.  The first picture shows the original configuration on the port side and the revision on the starboard side.

 

 

The revised rig retains the same eyebolt for the standing leg of the vang, which then passes through the block on the shortened pendant, then through the lead block and a fairlead, both on the forward topmast stay.  The fall then belays on the same pin as before.  The next picture shows the starboard lead block and fairlead.

 

 

The old rope coils and belaying were removed as shown in the next picture.

 

 

A cotton swab soaked in isopropanol was laid on the rope for a few minutes to soften the wood glue. The rope was then easily removed.

 

The other revision involved the halyards on the three headsails.  I initially considered three typical configurations for these – no blocks, a single block whip from the deck, and a single block at the head of the sail.  I installed the first, simplest method as described in Part 238.  Shortly after installing these, I thought more about this and was concerned about no mechanical advantage on these rather large sails.  In checking (belatedly) the 1870's photo of the ship in New York, the blocks at the lower ends of the stays are clearly visible.  So, that configuration has now been installed on all three stays.  The foot of the topmast stay is shown in the next picture after revision.

This may be compared with the first photo in Part 238.  The revised lower rigging of the outer jib halyard is shown in the next picture.

 

To avoid re-rigging the downhaulers, the lower blocks were strapped to the shackle in place – a most difficult task, especially with shaky hands. The shackle eye was tied first, then the splice at the base of the block.  The inner jib stay at the left of the picture has not yet been converted. 

 

The upper ends of the stays are shown in the next picture with the standing ends of the halyards tied to the stays.

 

The last picture shows all three halyards converted.

 

So, we are now back on track after a short detour.

 

Ed

Edited September 30, 2017 by EdT

[BANYAN]

Great info Ed, and you were very meticulous in your work - would never know that they had changed.  I will need to watch for similar lead issues when i get to the rigging.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[AnobiumPunctatum]

It's allways a pleasure, if I get an mail that you have prepared a new update of your fantastic build. I love the elegant clipper ships and hope that I will have in the future the possibility to build a model of one - perhaps Young America

[kees de mol]

beautifull, the rigging is fantastic

[Mickgee]

What a wonderful project, truly inspiring.

I haven't read every single page, just areas that apply to my own project, and have already learned and knowing now to proceed, I'll gladly follow your procedures.

Thanks to you sir, for sharing this wonderful adventure.

Greetings from Germany,

Michael

[SJSoane]

Ed, I have a lot of reading to do, catching up on when I was last able to follow your build. But what pleasurable and instructive reading it will be!

 

Mark

[EdT]

Thank you, Mark.  Welcome back.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 240 – Ratlines 3

 

Apart from some work on the main topmast crosstrees (described later), most of the recent effort has been to make progress on the long task of tying ratlines – the seemingly endless "rattling down".  The first picture shows work proceeding on the lower main mast ratlines on the starboard side.

 

 

There are still a lot of loose ends waiting to be lashed down or clipped off.  Work can also be seen in progress on the port lower fore mast.  The next picture shows the current state of the work on the fore mast.

 

 

The futtock shroud ratlines have been added as well as the first several on the fore topmast shrouds.  A closer view of those is shown below.

 

 

The lower two are fitted to the deadeye lanyards, something I had not seen before but which can be seen in one of the photos of the ship – barely.  Another view of this is shown below.

 

 

I finally – after some mishaps – installed some people barriers just outside the whisker booms as shown below.

 

 

These might not withstand a determined punch – but the 5/8" dowels are more than enough to deflect or stop the casual nudge when I am focused on some nearby task.

 

In a previuos post I showed a jig for putting eye splices on one end of a ratline,  A production version of the jig is shown in the next picture.

 

 

This one has plenty of pins to support "mass" production.  Also, the two-faced carpet tape is applied to the jig itself allowing me to remove the fixture from the vise without cleaning it off the vise jaw.  There is also a fence just forward of the pins so glue may be applied to each splice without welding it to the fixture.  In the last picture, one of the short legs is being sliced off the splice while held taut with tweezers.

 

 

Up to about 20 ratlines can have eyes spliced at a time – and very quickly.

 

Ed

[stm]

Ed I have seen lanyards rigged with ratlines before and it is not that uncommon. The one thing that got my attention in the photos of the topmast shrouds is that you did not include a stave above the deadeyes as done with the lower shrouds.  Bill Crothers shows the same setup in his plans of YA and must have had a reason for omitting it. I looked at the photo of YA that was taken showing her port side. When I enlarged the picture it kind of looks like the line just above the deadeyes on the foremast top is heavier then the rest of the ratlines. This might indicate that a stave was used, but it is inconclusive. I was under the opinion one would be used to prevent twisting of the lanyards since that is normally what I find with other vessels, but it probably was not always the case. I was just wondering if your sources indicated that was the case.

Regards, 

Scott  

[BANYAN]

Great production line you have going Ed, the results are up to your usual very high standards.  Once again, many thanks for sharing your techniques; and, the addition of the people barrier is a point well taken

 

cheers

 

Pat

[EdT]

Scott, this issue of the stave on the topmast shrouds is worth considering for the reasons you cite and to help keep the shrouds apart.  this last point is a problem when trying to make ratlines taut.  I may well add these.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Ed

[michael mott]

On 10/11/2017 at 11:43 AM, EdT said:

I finally – after some mishaps – installed some people barriers just outside the whisker booms as shown below.

Ed it is funny that you mentioned these, as I was reading through doing a bit of catching up, I kept thinking that it must be an ever present worry catching or snagging something while focused on a small detail.

Stunning work on the running rigging.

It also occurs to me that the seamen on a ship of this nature would likely spend time in one specific area for a while to become very familiar with the lines and functions, at the rails.

 

Michael

[EdT]

Thanks, Micheal.  I do feel a lot more comfortable working around these booms with the barriers up.  I actually had to replace one a couple weeks ago.  

 

Absolute familiarity with the locations of all these lines on the various rails was critical to the operation of a ship.  Crew had to be able to pick out the right line quickly, night or day.  Having to trace lines down through fairleads and the tangle of other lines would be a non-starter.  In the pictures you will see many pins along the side rails and fife rails.  When the model is finished, virtually every one of these will have a line attached.  There was a sort of logic to the placement, but no doubt there had to be a lot of memorization.  I guess on a reduced scale, its like me knowing instinctively where to find a certain drill bit or chisel in the many, seemingly dis-organized cubby spaces in my shop.  Its still kind of mind-boggling.

 

Ed

[wefalck]

Although the layout of each ship was different, I gather, there has been some sort of general convention, where what was belayed in order to cope with changing crew compositions.

[Sailor1234567890]

Pins further forward were for lower down bits and pieces. The further aft you went on the pin rail, the further up the line went. There's a logic to it. Pin rails were generally in the same location in each vessel, as near as can be, and the general sense of things was understood by anyone rated anything over landsman. For anyone interested in the subject, Harold Underhill's "rigging the clipper ship and ocean carrier" is an excellent tutorial on the subject. Written for modellers but it talks of the full sized vessels mostly. He was writing at the end of the age of sail, (WWII) and had knowledge of the subject matter first hand having sailed in some of the vessels earlier in his life. It may not be as pertinent to rigging your Victory or Sovereign of the Seas but for getting Clipper ships, larger steel vessels and a general sense for any vessel, I don't think it can be beat.

[jo conrad]

Hello Ed.

 

On 13.10.2017 at 12:57 PM, EdT said:

Absolute familiarity with the locations of all these lines on the various rails was critical to the operation of a ship.  Crew had to be able to pick out the right line quickly, night or day.  Having to trace lines down through fairleads and the tangle of other lines would be a non-starter. 

 

Right ! And that´s why we were given the famous "flounders" aboard "Gorch Fock" , a belaying-plan of this ship where each line had it´s place on wooden and/or brass pins. We learned very quickly; after two days the NCO´s started their time-honoured "rope-race" around the deck, and you better had learned your ropes. Back then there were neither illumination at night nor mercy allowed: if you hadn´t grasped the plan or, be it night or day, laid your hand atop of the wrong pin and thus missed these tests, you were not allowed to go aloft; shame on you, landlubber . I was lucky having built the "Pamir" in 1:150 shortly before, rope by rope, ratline by ratline, buntlines, clewlines, stays´l halyards and all. So I could rattle them ropes off  by heart like nothing.

A wonderful time that was, and Hans Freiherr von Stackelberg, First Mate then and her Captain for the following six years, was a genius, someone whom I hold in the highest esteem as a prime sailor, a first-class naval officer and, descendant from the old baltic aristocracy : a professional horseman.

I remember him well to this very day.

Greetings to you all

Germanus

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2017 by jo conrad

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 241 – Main Mast Cap

 

The cap on the lower main mast is identical in configuration, but very slightly larger than the fore mast cap that was described in Part 227.  That cap was relatively simple to make since the 18" round and square openings scaled conveniently to a ¼" drill bit.  None of the other caps offer this convenience.  Because of this, the need to for precision in spacing the holes, and to accurately cut the outer radii, a method was developed to shape all the remaining caps on the milling machine with the aid of its rotary table.  The first picture shows the lower mizzen cap being milled by this process.

The method used requires a number of sequenced steps and various calculations that I will not attempt to describe here.  The next picture shows the mizzen cap after the milling steps.

The holes, spacing and exterior radii are all accurately formed and the piece is ready to be sawed out along its straight sides.  The hole for the lower mast tenon (on the right) will be manually squared to match the hole diameter.  The piece is pictured on a worksheet that was used to facilitate the calculations and prescribe the 16-step sequence used.

 

After this, the steps for the main mast cap were the same as those described in Part 227.  The next two pictures show steps not described earlier, in which wire "bolts" were placed on either side of the boss for the lower topsail truss to assist in taking the weight of that yard on the forward end of the band.  

 

Holes were drilled on both sides at the forward end.  The eyebolt on the aft end serves a similar strengthening purpose.

 

 

Copper wire was then forced into the holes, cut off just above the band surface, and then peened over.  The next picture shows a similar copper wire bolt being inserted to secure the cap iron.

 

 

Each of these was then nailed in and peened over as shown below.

 

 

The picture also shows the ends of the four eyebolts inserted from below.  In the next picture the entire assembly has been washed (and is still wet) with liver of sulfur solution used to blacken the copper.

 

 

The wood is still wet, but will dry to its normal color.  The yellow spot on the paper toweling shows where the solution was blotted.  The last picture shows the dried and finished cap temporarily in place with the topmast inserted.

 

 

The double blocks for the topping lifts were strapped to the cap iron shackles and the fid fitted before this photo was taken

 

Ed

[BANYAN]

Very accurate fitting of the cap and mast tenons  Ed; it shows the care and attention you place on making each part.  I still haven't gained the confidence to do that peening as you show; my efforts would have destroyed the fitting.  Very nice work!

 

cheers

 

Pat

[cog]

Do you teach ...?

[EdT]

Pat, like hammering a glass nail.  For through bolting or nailing - leave only about 1/64" above the surface.

 

Carl, by most accounts not very well.  If you mean as a profession - no.

 

Ed

[cog]

"by most accounts not very well.  If you mean as a profession - no"

In either case: A pitty!

 

Pensilvania is no go if ever I come to the States ... what a pitty ... it'll be the old fashioned way ... books!

Edited October 15, 2017 by cog

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 242 – Main Mast Crosstrees

 

I cut the trestletree mortises for the fore mast crosstrees by hand but decided to mill them for the main and mizzen masts – for accuracy and simplicity.  It is an easy milling task.  The mortises in the mizzen trestletrees have been milled in a block of Castello in the first picture.

 

The top of this piece will be next ripped off at the depth of the trestrees and that piece then ripped to the width, producing two, identical trestletrees that can be cut to length and beveled on the bottom corners.  The basic assembly is shown in the next picture.

  

 

The arms have yet to be tapered on bottom faces.  The iron backstay spreader shown below was produced in the same way as the foremast counterpart, described earlier in Part 230.

 

 

In the picture the copper assembly has been soldered together, wire bolts have been inserted into pre-drilled holes in the crosstree arms, and the bolts are ready to be peened to rivet the spreader to the arms as shown in the next picture.

 

 

In the picture the holes for the underside eyebolts have been drilled but the eyebolts left out at this stage to allow hammering of the bolts on the small anvil.  In the next picture the eyebolts have been added and the ironwork blackened.

The assembly was given a thin coat of diluted Tung oil in the above picture.

 

 The next picture shows the futtock band on the main topmast being drilled for its eyebolts.

 

 

As mentioned in an earlier post, this band goes on after the lower mast cap, so it is fastened by means of the bent tab seen in the picture.  Setting the eyebolts in the drilled holes keeps it in place.  The last picture shows the completed assemblies.

 

 

The lower mast cap is on the mast but out of this picture.  The crosstrees are ready to be installed on the mast.  The next step will be to install the topgallant futtock shrouds before setting the mast.

 

Ed

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by EdT

[druxey]

Beautifully done, as usual!

[wyz]

Some things never change in life.  The quality of your workmanship seems to be one of them .... always top notch!

[EdT]

Thank you Druxey and wyz, and for the likes.  Sorry if some of the material is somewhat repetitive at this stage - a bit like groundhog day - good preparation for the 20+ yards and booms that lie ahead.

 

Cheers,

 

Ed

[cog]

"good preparation for the 20+ yards and booms that lie ahead"

As if you need it ...

[Mahuna]

Hi Ed - I tried to send you a PM but you're 'not receiving messages' - maybe a full mail box?  

[Dan Vadas]

Hi Ed. First, let me congratulate you on a truly great and epic build log/tutorial - your detailing of every step is beautifully written and very easy to understand.

 

When I read the following quote from one of your posts I thought of something that would make the final Tutorial even more understandable when you publish it.

On 22/08/2017 at 2:19 AM, EdT said:

My sense is that many new builders are looking for a foothold, so not taking a lot for granted in terms of skills seems appropriate.  At the same time there is a some fairly complex work on some parts, and if that can be made understandable it may be valuable for even some more experienced people.

My idea is to place a Reference in the plan drawings to the "Part (Step?)" number/s dealing with the drawing of the item to the written Part explanations, wherever possible. e.g. Alongside the drawing of the Foremast Cap in the plans the Part Number 227 would appear next to it, making it a bit easier to find in the Text description of it's construction.

 

Forgive me if you've already thought of my idea .

 

  Danny

[EdT]

Hi Danny,

 

I have noticed your catching up on the YA posts and appreciate the interest and your generous comments.  Thanks for your suggestion about references on the drawings.  I will consider it.  As you may know, the books have been completely separate from the online posts, both in content and format.  The books have been focused on modeling methods in detail and the posts more on pure progress with some process overview.  I expect this to be the case in the expected next book on masting and rigging Young America - and in fact the American 1850-60's clippers in general.  Although the basic planning of the next book is well along, I have just begun outlining it and deciding how to present the huge amount of detail that the topic involves - so thanks for the input.

 

Frank, I have made some space in my mailbox.

 

Ed

[Dan Vadas]

Hi Ed. I haven't actually seen one of your books yet . I assumed that the build log on here was a part of them. Never mind.

 

I've also only had time to skim through a bit of this build log, as I said - "epic" . I'll get through the lot eventually .

 

  Danny