A best buy in rigging gear...

An article that I found a lot more interesting than I expected, somewhat troubling, and in the "I have a very bad feeling about this" department...

I was perusing Duckworks the other day and noticed they had a set of splicing fids for $3.25 and it got me thinking. Plastic fids make sense as they're smooth so won't snag on rope fibers and they do the job. Of course, fids are such a simple tool that you can make your own or adapt something that's laying around like a ball point pen or knitting needles. I can't actually recall how many splices I've done with ad hoc fids but I'm sure it's an impressive number.

While I take a certain amount of pride in being Mr Cheapseats, I will confess to owning some nice fids of the more than cheap variety. I have a set of Selma fids, a D-Splicer, a couple of open back fisherman's fids, as well a plethora of knitting needles, forceps, and other fiddish-shaped bits of plastic or metal that seem to have found their way into my rigging bag.

Still, to be completely honest, I'm pretty sure that the cheap plastic fid kit would do 99% of the splicing I do regularly. For those who only do a few splices a year they'd be more than up to the job. Better yet they even come with splicing directions.

I'll also add, that since it's that time of year, they'd make a great stocking stuffer.

Nuff said.

Listening to a pivotal Beach Boys album

So it goes...

an example of how "cheaper" and "better" go together...

On the current state of assholery, an apt Twilight Zone, and on the subject of budgets...

For a variety of reasons I've been thinking a lot about building affordable masts and sensible rigging to put them up with.

Which is somewhat out-of-step with what most people are doing as it seems that most folk seem to be more in the "Let's just see how expensive we can make it" school of boat building. Rather than the few asking 

"How do we make this better while cutting the cost at the same time?"

who seem to be in short supply. 

As I mentioned before I'm pretty impressed with Reuel Parker's current riff on a plywood mast and reading his follow-up article in the May/June 2021 issue of Wooden Boat Magazine that combined with a judicious use of textile rigging it's possible to put up a better rig for a whole lot less money than most think possible.

Better yet, the mast in question is super easy to build, lighter than any mast you're going to be able to buy, and, after perusing used masts on CraigsList, quite a bit cheaper than an old beat up mast on the used market. What's not to like?

So, why am I the only guy doing the happy dance?

One of my projects this week is installing a new tabernacle on "So It Goes" around the current mast and sorting out that it will work for the new mast I'm planning to build soonish of the Parker variety.

Listening to Ghalia Volt

So it goes...