Day 555.

With the lower masts installed and the lower shrouds rigged, there are a few other lines that are ready to run.

The spring stay runs between the mast caps of the main and fore masts.  The jib stay runs from the fore mast cap to the bowsprit.  The jumbo jib stay runs from the fore mast cap to the deck, anchored to a unique fitting that goes around the bowsprit.

Spring Stay

The spring stay runs between the main and fore masts.  It is attached to the main mast at the spring stay bail, and runs to the fore mast cap’s spring stay bail.

This line is pretty straight forward.  During rigging prep, I attached the spring stay line to the main mast with an eye splice.

The spring stay is made with 0.025″ black rigging line.

The spring stay attached to the main mast cap.

Once the masts were in place, I ran it through the fore mast cap and did a faked eye splice (line seized back to itself).

The spring stay attached to the fore mast cap.

Jib Stay

The jib stay runs from the fore mast cap down to the bowsprit.  It is attached to the jib stay bail using a shackle, and run to the top ring on a bowsprit band.  This line was made using 0.018″ black rigging line.

An eye splice was made in one end of the line, and that was attached to the jib stay bail using the shackle.

The jib stay is secured to the fore mast using a shackle.

The line was then run down to the bowsprit, and passed through the top ring on the bowsprit’s band.  The line was seized back onto itself using some tan thread.

The end of the jib stay is seized onto the bowsprit.

Jumbo Jib Stay

The jumbo jib stay is a little more complex because it requires a custom piece of hardware called the jumbo jib stay bail.  This line runs from the fore mast (right above the trestle trees) down to the jumbo jib stay bail, which is anchored to the deck and wraps over the bowsprit.

This run is made of two parts.  The first is a piece that wraps around the mast, with an eye splice in either end.  These eyes are attached to a longer line using a shackle, and that longer line runs to the jumbo jib stay bail on the deck.

Both parts of this line were made from 0.025″ black rigging line.

Like the shrouds, the portion of the jumbo jib stay that goes around the mast needs to be served.  Just like before, I determined how long the portion was that wraps around the mast and used my Domanoff Serving Machine to wrap the line in black thread.

I added the eye splices in both ends, and attached them to a shackle.  The longer run of line was started with an eye splice and attached to the shackle.

The upper end of the jumbo jib stay bail wraps around the mast and is shackled to the lower portion of the line.

The end of this line needs to attach to the jumbo jib stay bail.  This is a custom piece of hardware that attaches to the deck and loops over the bowsprit.  The position and design of this piece are detailed in the kit’s plans.

In keeping with the other metal work on the ship, I fashioned this out of brass.  The basic design of this piece is similar to a shackle, just much bigger.

I used some brass strip to form the ‘U’ shape that will wrap around the bowsprit.  I made two smaller ‘U’ shapes from the same brass strip and drilled holes through them to form the ends of the shackle that will hold the bolts.

I’m using two small brass bolts that I got from Model Motorcars to attach the bail to two eyebolts I’ll install in the deck.

Finally, I’m going to use a brass rod on the top of the bail to form the rounded top that is shown on the plans.

The jumbo jib stay bail that will hold the line to the deck is made from brass parts.

The pieces were all soldered together.  The rod was trimmed to size after it was soldered on, and the entire piece was filed and cleaned up.

The completed jumbo jib stay bail.

The eyebolts were glued into holes drilled on either side of the bowsprit, and the bail was secured in place using the two small bolts.

The loose end of the line was then wrapped around the bail’s top and seized back onto itself using tan thread.

The jumbo jib stay secured in place.

And that completes the standing rigging for the lower masts.  The next step will be to install the top masts and start in on their rigging.