Deck Cleats

[hof00]

Hi All,

This question relates to my build of the Mamoli, 1/96 Flying Cloud

A conundrum for me recently is the addition of 7.0mm Cleats located at various points around the circumference of the Deck. (8 per side.)

 

There are another set of 6 Cleats around the base of each of the Masts and two either side of the Boom, this I can understand.

 

Scott Bradner's' plans do not show Cleats at all, rather, Deck Rings. (I would have thought that Eyebolts would look better at this scale anyway.)

 

From my ruminations, I wonder if the Deck Cleats are just some "Mamoli" artistic license. (There are two "Deck" Cleats I can see sense in, these are on the Inboard, top of the Catheads.)

 

Bitts and Fairleads, (Deck/Main Rail) are straightforward and I have no issue with these.

 

If someone could please advise me further, it would be very much appreciated.

 

Cheers....HOF.

Edited Wednesday at 08:58 AM by hof00

[Jim Lad]

Not sure about American ship building practice Hof, but in European practice there wouldn't be any cleats to secure the rigging.

 

John

[hof00]

7 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Not sure about American ship building practice Hof, but in European practice there wouldn't be any cleats to secure the rigging.

 

John

Thanks Jim,

I think that Mamoli may have used some "Artistic" license.

 

I'll go with the "No Cleat" solution and use Eyebolts in thier place unless someone comes back to the contrary.... 🙂 (Much more in scale.)

 

Kind Regards,

 

Harry.

Edited Thursday at 03:52 AM by hof00

[Dr PR]

On all the American ship plans I have seen lines with tackles were belayed to eyebolts on deck (near bulkheads or around the base of masts) and the falls were belayed to belaying pins on pin rails on the bulwarks, fife rails around the bases of masts, or to cleats on bulwarks or other places. There are a few other options, but the load bearing parts usually belay to eye bolts.

[hof00]

5 hours ago, Dr PR said:

On all the American ship plans I have seen lines with tackles were belayed to eyebolts on deck (near bulkheads or around the base of masts) and the falls were belayed to belaying pins on pin rails on the bulwarks, fife rails around the bases of masts, or to cleats on bulwarks or other places. There are a few other options, but the load bearing parts usually belay to eye bolts.

Thank you Gr.PR,

Much appreciated!!

 

Kind Regards,

 

Harry.

[wefalck]

I am confused by the wording now: tackles usually 'hook' to eyebolts, but their runners are then belayed to pins or cleats. Cleats are for belaying, not for making fast tackles.

 

 

[wmherbert]

I am confused too. Lines are never tied off to an eyebolt.  There would be a block attached to the eye bolt and then the line through it would be tied off to a cleat or pin.

[wmherbert]

And never run through an eye bolt and then tied to something else.  Always there would be a block. 

[wefalck]

Indeed, a tackle or at least a single block.

[Kenchington]

1 hour ago, wmherbert said:

I am confused too. Lines are never tied off to an eyebolt.  There would be a block attached to the eye bolt and then the line through it would be tied off to a cleat or pin.

Not quite.

 

In running rigging, the static end of a line (to use a non-nautical term but one that perhaps avoids potential for confusion) typically has a hard eye (meaning that there is a metal thimble in the eye) spliced in. That is fastened (by hook, shackle, clevis pin or bolt) to either the thing being pulled (if the pull is direct, as with a buntline for example), to the becket on a block (if the line forms a three-part or more-powerful tackle) or else to an eye bolt -- typically one in the deck but sometimes elsewhere. I'd agree that, at full-size rather than scale, that end of a line is "never" tied to the eyebolt (jury rigging excepted) but it's the tying not the eyebolt that is never done.

 

I'll also agree that the working end of the line is never tied to an eyebolt. But it's never exactly tied to anything. After being rove through a turning block, if necessary to allow a good pull, the working end is belayed to a belaying point -- pin, timber head, horn cleat, kevel or whatever. The important things are that the belaying point should allow for the line to be tightened as it is belayed, while not causing undue wear on the line, and that the belay should hold securely, yet be swiftly freed when needed. The classic figure-of-eight turns around a belaying pin meet those objectives, though they rely on a delicate balance of friction: Too much and the line will get worn, while you won't be able to sweat it up, too little (as with modern Kevlar and similar rope) and the line will slip.

 

Not something we need be concerned about with models but, at full-size, there's a detail that the textbooks rarely bother to mention:

 

Ten men haul on a line until mate or bo's'un calls "Belay!" Then they can rest their weight on the line, holding the tension. But how to transfer the line to its pin, without the line running back through the blocks? Turns out that (with the high friction of hemp or manilla rope), one man's hands can hold the parts of the tackle together firmly enough that they won't run across one another. The next command is something like: "Come up!", which tells the men on the line to take a step forward. If the friction fails and the line slips, they can throw their weight back onto the line. If not, most drop it while the man nearest to the block swiftly belays the line. 

 

I wondered about that for years, before seeing it done.

 

Trevor

[wefalck]

I gather, learning to sail helps ... in many cases you the business end partly around a cleat, pin or spill head, because the friction helps you to control the line and takes out jerks.

 

There is also a difference between 'belaying' and 'fastening'. Belaying end always refers to the business end of a line, the one that is handled. The other end is 'made fast', e.g. with a shackle through a spliced eye to an eye-bolt.