Thanks Flaxybybuck for the precise and timely responses.

Your experiments will also be useful to other people.

When I studied the sailing system for my schooner I thought of leaving the single pulleys (which are not levers and do not reduce the effort required) to hoist only the lighter parts.
I preferred to use the double pulley because in reality the effort to hoist the gaff was reduced (in fact it involved applying levers) and fewer sailors were needed for this operation.


I agree with you, the single pulley to straighten the gaff is still fine and will improve the appearance. Even the most fussy people when they look at it will have nothing to say.

As already said, I will carefully follow your work and your techniques.
In the meantime, I'm taking advantage of your posts to also learn seafaring terms in English.
You are very descriptive and this, in addition to liking it, is really very useful to me.

I believe your ship will be beautiful to admire in a static manner as well as being a fully functional RC model.

Thank you for your kind comments Alessandro. I really appreciate your advice and input.

My approach to making sails has been one of continuing experimentation. As a working RC boat rather than authentic I have tried to save myself the work of sewing on bolt ropes and forming cringles. Whilst eyelets are the easiest way to create the fixing points they are too often large and obtrusive. However, I have managed to source and use some very small ones which I feel are just about OK (in my book), such as seen on my topsail. I am still working on other methods but have not yet found one I am happy with.

I have no plans to add further to my sails so I won't be adding stitch lines or reefing points. So far these cotton sails have been quite satisfactory. I will not be using mast hoops on this boat, but I have thought of a method of using hoops whilst being able to detach the sail quickly, and I will be showing this on a future build blog about a schooner. The method I adopted for uphauling the gaff is not very good so I may yet adopt a single pulley method. (the correct double pulley would be fine on an authentic scale model, but unnecessary on this boat.)

If you have any other observations I would be happy to consider them. 😉

Hi Flaxybybuck.
First of all, thank you for these detailed explanations accompanied by very eloquent images.
Your explanations are very clear and precise just how I like it. Excellent.

I really like how you made the sails even if you write like this:
"However, viewing these photos I can see just how poorly I have finished off sewing in the sail corners.
There are too many ragged edges and untidy hand sewing. In future I must remind myself of this and do
better."
You are very modest. It honors you but in reality you did an excellent job.

(Sounds like my school reports - 'must do better!')
ahahahahahahaha it's true!

I'm curious, so let me ask you a few questions:

Are you thinking of putting the "gratile" (bolt rope)? That is, that typical reinforcing cord sewn onto the edges of many sails?

Will you sew the vertical lines to simulate sail cloth (cloth, panel) or will you leave the sails as is?

Know that it's just curiosity because I really like them that way too.

Is this the first time you have used cotton sheets or have you already tried it? Are they efficient in real navigation?

Please know that in addition to the skill, I really appreciate the personality and originality of the model makers.
In fact, I found this statement of yours very interesting because it makes me understand your construction philosophy:
"None of the methods used for attaching these sails is authentic. My aim is to be able to sail the boat and enjoy seeing it on the water. I therefore need to be able to attach or detach the sails quickly at the pondside. I use a variety of attachments, mainly eyes and hooks. I try to make these as neat as possible, and not detract from the appearance."

I assume you won't use hoops (the wooden hoops that wrap around the mast) to secure the mainsail. I make this assumption because if you want to remove them easily it will be impossible (or at least very difficult) to do so with hoops.

I am convinced that to make a sailing ship RC you have to accept some compromises, however you still have time to use the real method.
You write:
"The gaff is lifted by the uphaul (Pic 1) with the halyard being tied off on a mast cleat (Pic 2) Note this is not how the real thing would be done, but is my method that works on a model."
It is certainly very functional and mine is certainly not a criticism (in fact I am admired by your skills and your choices, you are very good) but I was curious to know why in your opinion the real system is not functional.

I used the real system, it's what you see in the attached images.
Unfortunately you can't see it well in the photo but they are two blocks.
The upper one is a double block and the lower one is a single block which create a tackle (traveler)

Please continue to update us with all these details and all these photos. You are one of the few who build sailing ships and these topics are very very informative.





P.S.
Let me say that I was very pleased to see ColinH's "like" flag again. A hug Colin.

Thanks for your kind comments Roy. Much appreciated. 😉

Well done, a lovely job. My opinion would be that the prototype would follow a method evolved over the years for ease of handling. In a model the same applies. You have worked out a way of ease of handling and it deserves much praise in the detail and 'authenticity' of the sails and gaffs and the securing of all into a working model.

Perhaps Nerys is looking down on you now and she would be proud of you!

Nicely done and I am also jealous!!!!
all the best
Roy

Beautiful piece of workmanship.
Len

I use twisted for the rigging and braided for the sheets. 😉

That’s a lot of work to make those sails, complete the rigging ant transport to and from the sailing area, but they sure look great on the water!

Do you use twisted or braided twine?