I’m getting pretty close to starting the running rigging on the Santa Maria. Which means, most of the deck fixtures have to be in places, or at least ready to go. This makes running the rigging much, much easier.
Although this was actually unbeknownst to me, apparently Naos of the time often included a rope ladder running the length of the mainmast. Like most folks, I just assumed sailors ran up and down the ratlines as often depicted in moves, etc. However, since this rope ladder was well documented in several places (including Pastor’s reference), I went ahead and put one together.
A pretty straightforward element, sides of the ladder were tied off to the mast and deck using typical techniques of wrapping and tying the ends. The steps were cut from 2mm strips then notched on the ends. They were tied to the ropes using what are essential clove hitch knots.
I wanted to finish off and mount the launches on the deck. They’re pretty large pieces, so I wanted them in place before before get too far along on the rigging – as trying to mount them around the running rigging sounded a little difficult to me.
Finishing the launches meant carving out some oars. Also pretty straightforward, I created an assembly line of 5mm x 1mm strips, shaved off the edges using a mini belt sander, then sanded the oars down. These are the rough cuts prior to the detail sanding and staining.
Similarly, I created a little assembly line for the buckets and barrels. The buckets are trimmed from 5mm diameter dowel pieces that are leftover scrap. The ends are sanded down and slightly tapered, then sliced down the sides with an X-acto knife to simulate “strips” of wood.
A miniature attachment for the dremel hollows out the bucket, then they are sanded down leaving to little “flaps” on the sides where the rope handles are fed through and tied off.
The barrels are very similar. Trimmed off of 8mm dowel scrap pieces, they are tapered on each end. The tops and bottoms are very slightly hollowed out using the same dremel bit as above, then sliced with the X-acto knife. The metal wraps are actually electrician tape – which is a great thickness, and also pretty easy to manipulate. It’s a technique I was happy with when I created the San Juan.
The little pieces are all dumped into the launches and tied off. I also threw in a couple coils of rope. The larger launch contains it’s own small mast and sail. This is just a scrap of material wrapped and tied to a 3mm dowel.
The Lehman Shipyard 