What's on my desk? Part 65.
Hello and welcome. April 1st today. Don't let em fool you!
Fram is steadily getting rigged.
I've completed the shrouds of the mizzen mast. Once the shroud lines have been properly lined up, tying the ratlines is not very difficult, it's just a bit repetitive. I make a small simple knot in the leftmost thread, then wrap it around the next three and tie it up with another small knot in the rightmost one. I apply a little water-diluted wood glue to the knots, let that dry and snip off the extra thread.
You'll notice there's something missing all of a sudden. I almost dropped the Fram off my table, was able to catch it just in time, but broke off the davits of one of the lifeboats. I thought I was being careful, using the stand, but I can't get a good grip on both the ship and the stand. I'll need to remember to first move the stand, then put the ship on it every time I move it...
The shrouds on the mizzen top are also done. These consist of only two lines, so the ratlines are a little easier to knot.
The next mast I shrouded was the foremast. And here my 'good-enough-itis' struck again. Remember a few episodes ago, I attached the chainplates and cut the spacers too short? I used the smaller deadeyes, thinking that would be the easiest solution. Well, that came back to bite me in the ass. There's not enough small deadeyes, so I have to use the bigger ones for the top line. As a result, these interfere with each other, when they're supposed to be separated cleanly. I should have just re-cut the hull plank and spaced the chainplates properly...
Anyway, as a solution I again tied a spreader bar to the bottom of the shroud lines and superglued it to space the deadeyes properly.
At least the lanyards are now the correct thickness... I also improved the tie-off of the lanyard. The final end goes up, through the loop around the deadeye and is wrapped around the shroud and tied off without using glue.
You'll also see on the second line from the right, I spliced in a length of rope. I cut this one a little too short, and not wanting to waste too much of the .5mm thread, used a bit of leftover thread to lengthen it. I do need to cut off or glue that fuzzy superfluous piece.
I ended up drilling through the trestle tree and mast again and inserting a metal rod to provide extra strength for pulling the lines taut.
I now also understand why the shrouds are usually rigged first. The shroud lines needed to be threaded around and under the square-rig lines, taking care not to cross anything and pull it out of alignment.
Moving over to the mainmast: its deadeyes and shrouds go behind the navigation lights and through their supports, so this will be fun to do...
Finally, as per usual, an overview photo:
Still a lot of work to do. Hopefully I can finish the shrouds and tie the ratlines this week.
That's it.
See you next week!