Oh happiness… The woodwork on the dinghy is done. All installed, planed, sanded, and liberally oiled. The two last small bits got completed yesterday. Now, i’ve been concentrating on the rigging. The forestay and jibstay are 90% done; 1/8″ 7×19 wire, with softeyes spliced around the mast at the top, and thimbles stuck in at the bottom. i dunked the eyes in boiled linseed oil, and served them with sailtwine, then dunked them again. i used sailtwine instead of marline to suite the scale of the diminutive eyes. Today i’m going to experiment with making up some slush for the wire; something like linseed, jap drier, and black paint.
The most time-consuming bits were the two small pieces that make up the deadeyes for the jibstay and outer bobstay. They’re asymetrical figure-eight wire grommets, served and oiled as the eyes. The larger of the two sides of each figure-eight fits over the end of the bowsprit, while the smaller holds a thimble to take the lanyards. i’d made grommets, both round and figure-eights, from three-strand rope before, but never from 7-strand wire; interesting work! They came together pretty well (that service nicely hides my “learning curve”), and look every bit stronger than everything else they attach to. Completed, they each fit in the palm of my hand, yet each took up a fathom of wire and three fathoms of service!
The only remaining piece of wire rigging is the outer bobstay, but i still need to scrounge up the right length of wire from the shop’s bins. The rest of the standing rigging will be (gasp!) utterly non-traditional; single-braid Vectran. The Vectran is both stronger and lighter than stainless wire (the weight issue is what decided it for me), and dead-simple to eyesplice. i’ll likely serve the Vectran eyes the same as the wire, but leave the lengths un-slushed; the Vectran is a pleasant dark grey in colour anyways, and i don’t know how it will react to painting/slushing.
Today i’m also priming the decks (again!) in hopes of getting that final coat of paint on them this week. i’m trying to source some Easypoxy “Sandtone” instead of “Bristol Beige”, which i feel will look a little better against the oiled wood and dark green hull.