Deadeyes

I’ve always loved the name “deadeyes” – because of course the round rigging blocks that facilitate the shrouds look just like blank faces when oriented properly.
The materials provided make pretty easy work of the deadeyes, binding, chains, and preventer plates on the Peg. The deadeyes fit into pre-shaped binding which is opened, fitted with the deadeye, then closed up. The chains are slotted to fit over the binding, then the bottom of the chain is attached to the hull with a preventer.

To properly align the chains, one typically needs to add the masts first. Then, the shrouds (which stabilize the masts and create the ratlines) are fed down to the hull and the angles of the chains line up with those shrouds. However, I am able to provide a ‘best guess’ based on the alignment of the channels and gun ports. That said, some adjustments had to be made for the gun ports, sweep ports, and even a couple scuppers. I also used slightly larger pins/nails as they needed to be functional as well as decorative – in other words they need to hold tight once the shrouds are run. After the deadeyes and chains were in place, the channels are capped with a thin strip of walnut scraped with a corner portion of one of the AL scraper edges.

The studding sails (also called stun’sl) were additional sails that were spread out on the sides of the hull to add increase speed in fair weather (see image below).

The stun’sl was attached to the stun’sl boom which was mounted on the channel with a pin on one end and a hook on the other to hold the boom when not in used. These two pieces were called the boom irons – one set on each side of the main channels. On my peg, they’re shaped from brass, drilled and blackened, then mounted with blackened nails / bolts.

A final addition are preventer bolts in between the chains and swivel bolts along the hull. These stays and bolts were used as a backup in the event that a shroud or deadeye failed or otherwise needed to be adjusted or if there was need to jury rig something.