The Main Stay

The mainstay is a strong line of the standing rigging that holds the mainmast forward. Were it not for the mainstay, the ship could easily be dismasted by the sway of the mainmast.  The mainstay rigging has (like most rigging) evolved over the centuries.  For the Santa Maria, I chose to use “Historic Ship Models” by Wolfram ZuMondfeld as a reference for the time frame.  I also referenced some other models of the Santa Maria from other builders.

Step one was to create open blocks to remain consistent with the ratlines, etc.  I used a 12mm dowel, cut off the ends and drilled them out.

 I rounded and sanded them using this handy little tool that my mother bought me as a housewarming gift.  It’s actually a knife / tool sharpener, that comes with a variety of different sanding belts. When you take the knife adapter off, it makes for a great miniature belt sander.

The top of the stay that loops around the top of the main mast is a reinforced wrapped rope. This is also the method of securing the rope to the blocks. So I simulated the effect by taking small diameter rope and wrapping the large diameter rope and creating the knot.

 My method for accomplishing this was to clip the top of the stay to a shelf, and the bottom of the stay to my desk. This kept consistent tension on the stay allowing me to wrap the smaller thread around the larger rope without it twisting too much.

The upper half of the mainstay is connected to the bow of the ship through the foredeck. It’s always sketchy when it comes time to drill holes in the deck as mistakes are unforgiving. The rope runs through the deck, around the bow keel, then back up through the deck. The ends are attached to to blocks. The blocks are combined around the foremast then connected to the upper half of the mainstay with another set of blocks.

 The upper end of the mainstay is wrapped around the mainmast, through the crow’s nest, and reconnected using a loop and a “mouse” – essentially a woven knot. Clearly wrapping and weaving the knot as illustrated was too detailed for a small scale, so I simulated the mouse knot with a basic wrap.

I followed up the mainstay with the fore stays and the aft stays. This are more simplified stays with basic single blocks. I added a small rod in the stay as a functional addition which seems to have appeared on some but not all ships of the time.