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...

On building a better rig...

 Killing our mother ocean, a book on my must read list, and in the "No cure for selfish stupidity" department...

Someone recently asked me about my opinions on chainplate materials for his switch to textile rigging. The main part of the question involved whether to use expensive 316 stainless vs the use of much more expensive titanium. When I told him that my choice would be Delrin I'm pretty sure he thought I'd lost my mind.

Now, I'll admit that I'm pretty sensitive to the importance of having a bombproof connection between the rig and the boat and I might be extra careful as I lost a rig to a stainless steel chainplate failure and in the same time period two different friends lost their rigs due to the failure of titanium tangs. So it's a subject that I've given a lot of serious thought to especially where textile rigging is concerned.

A lot of folks now favor the use of carbon fiber or composite chainplates glassed in to the hull which has the advantage of spreading the rigging loads over a much greater area and dispenses with the negative factors of stainless steel and titanium. If I were building a new boat I'd seriously consider this avenue but since the person in question is refitting an existing boat so it's not as easily done and somewhat problematic.

Some time ago, in my ongoing research to make textile rigging more affordable, it occurred to me that if using textile rigging metal chainplates are really sort of a one step forward two steps back kind of thing. You're still using parts that are prone to failure, not exactly textile friendly, and, to add insult to injury, are really quite expensive.

Since the main purpose of a chainplate is to distribute rigging loads on to the hull all we really need to do is to find a more textile friendly way of doing it. 

My first thought, since we're talking "rope", was something akin to a thimble but then realized that any circular or teardrop shapes would be better at distributing the shroud loads to the hull. Better yet the disc or teardrops would not need to be in a metal at all and any high density plastic like Delrin or HDPE would work just fine. The only metal at all in the shroud to hull matrix would be through bolts and backing plates.

The upside is that the plastic chainplates are both inexpensive and easily fabricated by anyone with a DIY bent. The downside is they're not the same old same so if you were to go with the idea I'd factor in that you'd have to do a lot of explaining to passers-by of the less than bright sort. Of course, if you're doing a textile rig you will be having those sort of conversations anyway so not really a factor.

I'm currently writing a more in depth how to on applying some creative frugality to textile rigging design so that anyone can build an inexpensive, user maintainable, and bombproof rig.

More about that soonish.

Listening to Nick Lowe

So it goes...

Might as well just add another project to the list...

On the subject of kitchen design, a quick slice of hindsight, and in the "Taking credit where no credit is due" department...

Today there are scattered showers that are keeping me from working on a couple of hatches that are top of "I really must get these projects out of the way!" list.

Like everything on "So It Goes" all the various projects have to go through the Need/Want meat grinder to see what gets worked on. Obviously I need to sort out those hatches but, in truth, it's not the job I really want to do.

Which means, that since I can't work on the hatches I tend to invest time in fabricating cunning plans for the projects I really want to do. Which, as it happens, has me looking at ever more clever ways to build a better mast and rig.

The fact is that there is really nothing wrong with the current mast and rig other than, as is hindsight is 20/20, I've realized I could have built the current mast lighter, less expensively, and quicker. Another factor is that I could do a better tabernacle arrangement as well which would allow me to drop the mast and raise it in a more stress free and easier manner.

Of course, the mast in place works just fine but the urge to improve and make it better is that gnawing urge that I keep coming back to.

One of the improvements I wanted to incorporate in the new better mast and rig was a product I found very interesting and should have been something of a game changer for folks doing textile rigging... the Nub.

The Nub, which was a brilliant bit of design, seems to be no longer available. Then again, it is a very simple concept that could easily be reverse engineered by someone with a router and a couple of feet of Delrin rod. 

A task I really should add to the projects list...

Listening to some Queen covers

So it goes...

a rather big improvement in deadeyes...

More USPS fuckery, some very bad news, and in the "Tell me you're not surprised" files...

Here's something you just might want to take a look at.

It's a deadeye with actual sheaves.

Is that cool or what?

The folks at Colligo have this to say about their Terminator Flex Fittings...

"These blocks can be spliced into a running backstay or shroud on a canting mast system and present anything from a 2/1- a 7/1 purchase, your choice, with the same lightweight block!  They come with 3 sheaves that can be used or not.  For 7-13 mm Static line and up to 1/4” Dyneema Dynamic line."

Color me impressed.

The real question I have, of course, is whether or not I'll be using these in future evolutions of the rig on "So It Goes".The advantage of the sheaves will make it a whole lot easier to achieve the needful rig tension by hand instead of having to use turnbuckles.

I can see the attraction.

Then again, as the Terminator Flex fittings cost more than turnbuckles I use I don't expect to see them making any real improvements to my rig so, probably not. Your rigging needs may differ so maybe the Flex is just the thing to suit your rig.

That said, I love the way companies like Colligo keep evolving products in the right direction but wish they'd also work on making their products a bit more affordable in the process.

Listening to an album's worth of Steely Dan covers

So it goes...