All Those Ropes (and tacks, and loops)

As the light at the end of the tunnel appears more likely to be daylight than the headlight of an oncoming train I get to engage in some of the final preparations for the boat.

Last Sunday I took on the task of installing the oar leathers. Not being well versed in classic boat outfitting I didn't become aware that some oar leathers are sewn rather than tacked until well after the tacked version had been delivered. The sewn version appeals to me visually and structurally but it's too late now. 122 little brass tacks later the result is decent.

I do have one issue with the oar leather kit from CLC in combination with the oarlocks and oars they sell. The thicked portion of the leathers, the button, is supposed to 'trap' the oarlock on the oar. After I had completely installed the oar leathers I discovered the oarlock could slide over the button. The oarlocks don't exactly fall off but not much effort is needed to get the oarlock over the button.

I had all of the ropes figured out last summer when I made the purchases but organizing them now into their proper place and cutting them to appropriate lengths requires a bit of review. I've only sailed once before so this doesn't come second nature. "Dry rigging" everything in the basement helped me sort it out.

I tried to anticipate the range of configurations for each line (like running with the main sail full out to determine the length of the main sheet) and I cut each piece a little extra long just in case.

After I finished cutting thge ropes in the basement I actually rigged the sails on the boat in my driveway (Sorry, no pictures.) Those who have built their own boat will probably understand my reaction. It was a beautiful blue-sky day with a bit of a breeze and seeing the two sails fully hoisted was just way cool.

The reason I rigged the sails on the boat was to properly rig the stays. The instructions suggest that instead of using turnbuckles on the stays you can use about eight loops of 250# synthetic line. It's stronger and cheaper the instructions say. Perhaps I'm not familiar enough with the various lines available and perhaps the line described in the instructions is more common on the ocean shores, but here in the center of Michigan the best I could do was some 200# neon colored yellow/green line used to tow lures in sportfishing. I gotta tell you, trying to hold a mast in postion while adjusting ten loops of line makes turnbuckles look pretty attractive. And, since the line is about 1/16th inch in diameter, wrapping the 5" length of loops takes some patience. (And I wonder why it took me two years to build this thing!)

When I placed the motor on the transom I discovered the transom doesn't provide sufficient thickness for the motor clamps. The motor clamps wouldn't tighten down enough to grip the transom. I wanted to protect the transom from having the motor clamps dig into the finished wood anyway so I took the opportunity to make some larger diameter oak pads that were thick enough to fill in the gap. The pads have rubber backing.

Here's the nylon washer I used in the mast step - an arrangement I mentioned very early in my blog. I embedded it in epoxy so it would stay put. Now that I look at it I suppose I could have just poured some extra epoxy in the hole and just forgotten about the washer!

In any event the end is near!