Instruction manual

4. Fore & Aft Stays
Install the fore and aft stays after you have complet-
ed the shrouds (see figure 76 for some detail at the
mastheads).
The
Pride of Baltimore II has two mainstays, one port
and one starboard. Both have a running tackle at the
deck so one can be slackened if necessary to get it out
of the way of the foresail. The forestay is also two
separate stays, the starboard one a little forward of
the port one at the bowsprit. The fore staysail is fitted
to the port forestay.
All of the foremast and fore topmast stays must go
through holes in the jibboom and bowsprit bees (see
figure 77 for location of bees), and back to the hull.
Secure them to the hull with deadeyes and lanyards,
except for the jib stay and topmast stay which require
running jig tackles. These details are covered under
the bowsprit rigging paragraph that follows later.
On the real ship, the main topmast stay and main
topgallant stay are secured to the foremast cap by
two iron turnbuckles. Shame on them! Designer Tom
Gillmer probably did not intend it this way for an old
time replica, but they are there in any case.
5. Bowsprit Rigging
The bowsprit rigging is next (see figure 77). When
adding the gammoning, which ties the bowsprit to
the stem, wrap it neatly, laying each part of the line
side by side as you go. Seize the center after the line
is wrapped.
39
The bobstays should be a double line seized togeth-
er. Use bullseyes rather than deadeyes. If the kit con-
tains no bullseyes, simply ream out holes in some
deadeyes and use them. Or, you could use the dead-
eyes as-is.
The bowsprit has a mass of lines for crew safety and
containing the sails when dropped. These lines run in
the same direction as the bowsprit and can be
installed similar to the ratlines for the shrouds. Make
the forward netting separately, then seize it to the jib-
boom guys. You can create the net by actually tying,
or gluing lines together. You may also be able to find
a suitable net in a florist or craft shop. They have a
number of net-looking nylon meshes used for flower
corsages.
6. Footropes & Studding Sail/
Ringtail Lashings
As noted earlier, footropes for the yards, boom, and
bowsprit, and lashings for the studding sail boom,
are more easily installed while the spars are still in
hand. Like the ratlines, you may need to work on the
footropes a bit to get them to hang naturally.
This completes the standing rigging. Take another
look before you move on. Check to make sure you
did not pull a mast, or the bowsprit and jibboom, out
of alignment. Now is the time to correct all of your
mistakes.