Instruction manual

8. Deck Lockers
There are five deck lockers which are simple boxes.
One has a set of doors. It contains propane tanks.
Like the vent boxes, these boxes do not have built-in
coamings. All the lockers are complete boxes (have
their own bottoms), but are permanently secured to
the deck with bolts and in the locations shown on the
plans. Some of the boxes have rope handles on the
ends. Sometimes the boxes are removed from their
locations during repairs, so the handles are used to
lift the boxes. I suspect these boxes were also an after-
thought following construction.
A typical box is shown (see figure 37). It can be made
from strip wood or a solid block with a sheet top.
These boxes are small. 1/32”-thick basswood is
included in the kit for their construction. Notice that
some of the boxes have feet, so they are raised slight-
ly. Some of the lockers have mahogany tops and oth-
ers are painted. Follow the plans for the colors.
9. Samson Post & Bitts
The samson post (double) at the bow; and the port
and starboard bitts aft, should be made from wood as
shown (see figure 38). The inboard end of the
bowsprit will fit between the samson posts. For locat-
ing the bitts, you could also cut a square hole in the
deck and insert the bitts rather than using the dowel
pins shown in the figure. Other bitts are described
under fife rails.
10. Windlass & Chain Pipes
The windlass barrel with quadrants, windlass pawl,
pump and bracket, are all Britannia fittings. The rid-
ing bitts with knees for the windlass are provided
laser-cut. A small hole must be drilled in the wind-
lass quadrants and pump handle brackets. The con-
necting links should be made from brass wire.
The windlass fitting in the kit does not have any
whelps (projecting ribs) on its barrel. On the real
ship, there are twelve very thin whelps on the wind-
lass barrel’s starboard side, for handling an anchor
rope. On its port side, every other whelp is a larger
one to handle anchor chain. If you want to add the
whelps to the kit fitting, glue on small slivers of
wood. However, with rope or chain wrapped around
the barrel, you can’t see the whelps very well so they
could be omitted.
To set the windlass, drill a hole in the bottom of each
bitt and add a locating pin. Drill holes in the deck and
glue the windlass in place (see figure 39). The chain
pipes are supplied as Britannia fittings. On the real
ship the chain pipe has a removable cap and a hole in
the side where the chain comes out with the cap in
place. The model fitting has no hole, so the chain
must be glued to the side of the chain pipe to simu
-
late that it actually goes inside the pipe. You could
also drill a hole in the fitting or substitute a piece of
brass tubing and run the chain down the tube.
11. Catheads & Anchors
The catheads and stowage of the anchors is shown on
the plans. The anchors are supplied as Britannia fit-
tings. Fit chain on the port side. Bring the chain in
through the hawse pipe, around the windlass, and
down the chain pipe directly aft of the windlass barrel.
The starboard side should have a rope instead of chain.
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