Rigging the Model Yacht

THE work has now come to an interesting stage, as we are ready to rig the yacht. All the rigging is made so that the boat can be rigged and unrigged in a minute or two for transit to and from the lake. This is done by fitting hooks to the ends of all lines and making their lengths adjustable with bowsers.

For making the hooks and bowsers, also the sheet horses, you require some 17 gauge hard brass (or German silver) wire, a pair of round-nosed pliers, and a pair of cutting pliers.

As the bending up of the eyes of bowsers and hooks sometimes presents difficulty to the novice, we will describe the way this is done before proceeding to the rigging generally. The noses of the round-nosed pliers are tapered, so you must use these at the appropriate position. Using one side of the pliers as a former, turn the wire into a circle, continuing round for about another third of a circle overlap. Bend the shank of the bowser round, making a sharp angle between the loop of the eye and the shank. Now make the other end of the bowser, starting with the angle between the shank and the eye. Carry the circle of the eye round until there is a similar overlap to that at the first eye. Snip off the superfluous wire at each end. This leaves the two eyes twisted open sideways, and it is quite easy to close them neatly. Remember also that if it is ever necessary to open the eye of a bowser, hook or even a screweye, the way to do this is by twisting open, not by bending the eye and increasing the circumference. This will enable the eye to be closed neatly, which is otherwise difficult.

You also need about a couple of dozen small brass screw-eyes of assorted sizes. In passing, it should be noted that nothing rustable must be used in yacht construction.

PLAN OF DECK LAY-OUT FOR 30-IN. SHARPIE

Scale—One-fourth of Full Size

N.B.—For the 36-in. model, deck arrangement is similar, allowing for difference in size.

KEY TO DIAGRAM

A.—Screweye for J ib Tack Hook (large su it)

B.—Screweye for Jib Tack Hook (smali suit)

C.—Jib Horse

D.—Mast Deck Plate

E.—Screweyes for Shrouds

F.—Hatchway

G.—Hatch Cover

H.—Screweyes for Beating Gye

K.—Centring Line (of Rubber with Cord Tail having bowser adjustment (leading to Screweye in Deck L.

L.—Running Sheets passing through Screweyes in Deck M.—Quadrant showing Rudderhead, also Quadrant Hooks Ming Rudderhead, also Quadrant Hooks

N.—Pin Rack screwed to Deck

O.—Long Hook for Centre Line screwed to Deck

P.—Main Horse

The cord used for rigging must not be ordinary string, but either special watercord, procurable at any model shop, or fine fishing line.

Ship the mast with the straight side aft. Measure up from the deck on the foreside and put a small screweye into the mast for the jib halliard, the halliard being the line that hoists the sail.

FIG. 10.—CLOVE HITCH

Put two fairly large screweyes into the gunwale, one on each side, about 3/4 in. astern of the mast position. These are to take the stays (known as shrouds), which support the mast. Take a piece of strong cord, middle it and fasten to the mast, using the knot known as a clove hitch (see Fig. 10). The knot will rest on top of the screw-eye. The ends of this cord should be about 4 or 5 in. longer than is required to reach the deck.

Make two wire bowsers (see Fig. 11A), and two hooks (see Fig. 12A). Reeve the shroud through the bowser and eye of the hook. The method of doing this is shown in Fig. 11A, but the line is there rove through a screweye instead of a hook. Hook shroud into the appropriate screweye and take up the slack by adjusting the position of the bowser. The other side is similar. In passing it may be mentioned that the knot which is shown fastening the end of the line to the bowser is known as two half-hitches and is the best way to make the end