An elementary question about ratlines. Real ones, I mean ...

[probablynot]

How were the horizontal 'rungs' of ratlines tied onto the uprights?
Wouldn't a simple overhand knot have been inclined to slip?  Or was each knot seized on?
If the overhand knot was used, was the knot inboard and the bight outboard?  Or vice versa?
Would splicing-in have been too complicated - and inconvenient if one of the vertical ropes broke?

[russ]

According to Steel, pg 155, they were "fastened round each shroud with a clove hitch, except at the ends, which have an eye spliced in and seized round the shroud."

 

He also says they are spaced at 13 inch intervals beginning at the top where the uppermost ratline was placed 13 inches below the futtock stave.

 

Russ

[probablynot]

Thanks Russ.  Just what I wanted to know.  I'd guess that the knot of the clove hitch would be located on the outboard side, with the double bight inboard.  Does that sound right?

I wonder how many modellers bother to take this sort of detail into their builds ...

[russ]

I have never delved into that sort of detail really. It might have to do with whether you are right or left handed. At the usual scales in which we work, I seriously doubt that very many people would notice the difference.

 

Russ

[popeye2sea]

Russ, small point, but I do not think the ends were seized around the shrouds, but rather seized to the shrouds.  The eye does not actually go around the shroud. 

[russ]

Henry:

The quote comes direct from David Steel's text. 

 

Russ

[Stockholm tar]

I'm not saying Steele was wrong, but Henry's suggestion would seem to be the more usual. I also remember ratlines being finished off like this:

 

http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/public/ratlines.jpg&imgrefurl=http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?2712-Ratline-Rigging&h=393&w=602&sz=33&tbnid=I4mMmq0CYOhj-M:&tbnh=72&tbnw=111&zoom=1&usg=__Q9NtIuZNi52qUDxwapHiiFkJF2E=&docid=fMmCY6wNVT0GmM&sa=X&ei=GASfUpTiN6jJygPYy4A4&ved=0CFoQ9QEwBw

 

I'm not sure how many would go to these lengths on a model – but it shouldn't take that long to do.

 

Brian,

 

Footropes break periodically through wear, and were/are regularly replaced, thus very likely methods were employed to make this job quicker. Things like splicing were, therefore, usually out.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Stockholm tar

[probablynot]

Thank you everyone.  Nothing's ever simple, is it?

I don't think I was seeking to reproduce exactly the appearance of the ratlines.  But model-making is easier if you have a fair understanding of the object you're trying to simulate.

[russ]

Kester:

The illustration looks exactly how Steel described it.

 

Russ

[shipmodel]

Hi Brian -

 

You are right that at most modeling scales the hitch cannot be easily seen.  But if you use a simple overhand loop around the shroud the difference is readily seen. 

 

The ratlines coming off a clove hitch are perfectly horizontal with each other.  The ratlines coming off an overhand loop have a distinct angled look.  That is, depending on whether you hitched from forward to aft or vice versa, the forward ratline will angle up leaving the shroud, while the aft one will angle down.  To get to the next shroud, the ratline then must take on an "S" curve, which is easy to see. 

 

After practicing for a while, I found that tying a clove hitch is pretty easy.  It's a lot like knitting, it becomes almost automatic after a while.  I have to admit that in small scales I do not seize an eye into the ends of the ratline and lace them to the outer shrouds.

 

Best of success with your project

 

Dan