"New" Standing rigging

My new standing rigging is finished!  After much research, and a bit of stepping back to look at the big picture, I decided to go with the "nico-press" type of fittings because it was inexpensive, I could to the work myself, I didn't need expensive new tools or machines, and I could reuse a bit of the material I already had.  I fully realize that many might be critical of the use of this type of fitting, and I might be to, if I were setting up a boat bound for open water or even strong weather, but in this case the boat is to be used for recreational, fair weather sailing, and having "made" the rig myself, I will be more mindful, and aware of the conditions of both the rig and the weather.

Had I been using this rig a year ago, I might have been more conservative about what I put the boat thru, decided to quit sooner, or not gone out at all, and saved my self the experience of being very, very cold and wet. (on the good side, I now know what that is like.  Ignorance can breed fear, and knowledge allows for better judgement, I hope)

SS thimble, 2-Swaged copper sleeves on lower shrouds
coated with anhydrous lanolin, then covered in shrink wrap tubing

Some info on this rigging technique:
-1x19 S.S. doesn't want to bend the short radius of the thimbles.  It seems that the sharp bend may compromise some of the strength of the rig.
-1x19 S.S. requires 2 copper sleeves, each swaged 3 times along their length.
-I made sure that the sleeves did not actually touch the thimble, or each other.  I did this to promote a full compression of each swage.
-The end of the SS wire stuck out of the lower swage, but was covered by the heat shrink tubing.  Before the tubing was applied the entire fitting was slathered in anhydrous Lanolin for protection.
-I used a swaging tool that uses 2 bolts, tightened down to compress the copper sleeves.  This tool was the least expensive(a priority in this boat), smallest (so that in the future it can be kept on board my larger boat for emergency rigging), and it was simple.
- I checked the swages with a micro meter to see if they fell in the specs that I found on a forum thread about home built airplanes and this type of rigging.  the tool was pretty consistent with the thickness of the finished swage and that dimension collaborated with the aviation specs.

I believe that Brian Toss mentioned that most of the boats he'd seen rigged in this way were in the UK.  He didn't recommend these fittings very highly and seemed to think they were the wrong "tool for the job".  I wouldn't disagree with him ultimately, but, I think that they will serve fine in this application.  Most of the negative comments I found on the forums about pressed copper sleeves seemed to be about the way the finished fitting looked.  I actually like the work boat kind of look they have.  It is even more attractive because the look reflects that I did the work myself.

Using this tool with these parts required really taking my time setting up and making each swage, three for each sleeve, two sleeves for each eye, two eyes per stay, six stays, plus a few practice sleeves.  I have to enjoy each moment of the work or I will rush to be done and botch the job.

Now on to recutting the sails.

Re-rigging

I got a delivery of rigging gear today.  I got some wire rope for the stays and shrouds, some thimbles, some copper crimp sleeves and a tool to crimp them with.
I took some measurements on the boat, of the mast and did the geometry to get the needed lengths of the new rigging.  I will use some cable clamps on the bottoms of each stay on the first attempt at raising the mast and then when I know all the lengths are right I will to it all up with the copper sleeves.
This is my cost efficient way of rigging the boat and should be fine for the kind of sailing we hope to be doing.

The mast step is back on the boat and I replaced the damaged wire lifelines with rope, which I prefer anyway.  I also put some new line on the rudder for lifting it out of the water.
I am varnishing the wooden keel winch bridge but it is ready to be put onboard.

I think I will go without a bow pulpit for now.  There actually is a bit of work to be done to get Ventura ready to go back in the water, but it is only now that I am feeling like working on her.  The winter was just too long, snowy and depressing.  The weather is great spring time sailing weather right now.  It would be nice to be out there using the boat rather than working on her.  Oh well.

A year on

One year ago today Ventura was out on the Hudson and I was in the Hudson.  Funny that the weather today is probably just about the same wind wise, strong gusty, not to be trifled with.

winter reading

"Racundra's First Cruise" by Arthur Ransome, yes, the Arthur Ransome of "Swallows and Amazon's" fame, seems to be a not very well known earlier work of Ransomes and it is hard to understand why.  It was a great read for anybody who cruises in a small boat.  In it are lines that seems as though they are perfectly fit to quote and the first page of the book is just the thing to make a small boat cruising sailor forget any appointments he might have had and instead just sit, read, and turn pages.
I purposefully took my time reading this book, a chapter at a time, as it is a small book and I know enough to be wary of consuming the entire thing in one sitting and then wondering what I was going to do about the anticlimactic nature of still being snow bound for another few months of winter.
I highly recommend this book, if you can find it.  The worn 60 year old paperback copy I found was not inexpensive, but it is one that I suspect I will keep on my shelf and return to each winter for many years.
The book is a log of his cruise, just as advertised, not with any great plot line or moral, but it is more like what most of us experience when cruising, we leave a port, venture to many others experiencing weather, people, meals, the suns rise and set, changing winds and then eventually a return to the port from which we began.  For a cruiser being able to be there, if in mind only, with Ransome, all those years ago, is a pleasure in the middle of a winter when he may not be able to be out on his own cruise.

Lemon Skiff

Lemon Skiff model
scale 1 1/2"=1'

Lemon skiff
Thole pins reduce the price of materials.

LEMon Skiff

Almost done!  I need to finish up the oars.  I may also change the rowing thwart as I think the build would be easier with the middle station incorporated into the framing for the thwart.

Lemon yellow picture, Lemon Skiff!
the picture just came out this way, honest.

Here is a less yellow pic.

Not much rocker but really simple to build.
Note the oars and the pad on the transom for an small motor.
Thole pins over bought hardware makes this boat very cheap to build too.

LEMon skiff

This is the model, so far, of the boat I have come up with for my brother to build in his garage.  It is for use fishing in his local lakes, to be transported in the back of his pick up, propelled by oars only and to be easily built in his garage with simple tools, fasteners and adhesive.

scale model of the LEMon skiff
(My brothers initials are L.E.M.)

seems that no matter what the scale. wooden boats require
lots of clamping!

Building scale models does have the benefit of being able to work in the house, which is warmer than the shop!  It is also more conservative on materials.