One job I wanted to do before running the anchor line was to add some ‘fairleads’ for it. I half-heartedly tried to carve a pair out of scrap wood but decide to employ pins like the oar tholes instead. Once again toothpicks proved to be the best for this.
to a coil beneath the anchor itself. You can’t see it here, but the end of the line has been given a turn and made fast around a belaying pin. It may not look like it, but getting the line to sit correctly and position the anchor where it is was extremely trying.
I have given my boat a ‘painter’ or line for tying up to docks or other vessels, or even for being towed if the need should arise. It is fastened through a hole in the stem.
The rest of the line is simply coiled in the bottom of the boat. I decided to make my crew a little sloppy rather than have them hang it properly in a coil over a belaying pin, but I did this chiefly so that it wouldn’t obscure the neat coil on the outboard pin.
I want to add some cargo to my boat but, before deciding exactly what that might be, I figured a small level platform should be included for making it easy to stack items like crates or trunks. The pieces were just scrap wood that I washed with a grey-brown stain. I figure the boatsmen likely wouldn’t bother painting this.
Here is the ‘cargo’, which consists of three crates and a ‘kitbag’ made from some of the sail-cloth that came with the kit.
I also made a boat-hook, shown below the cargo. This is an indispensable piece of gear for a small craft of this type and I made it using a length of dowel and some wire. I also used thin thread around the dowel to act as ‘grips’.
The boat hook is something that need to be readily accessible, so, here, I have placed mine beside the outboard belaying pins on the forward two thwarts.
I placed one of my crates just forward of the trunk on the quarter-deck. To make it stable, I added another plank cross-wise on the floor-boards.
Here is the rest of the cargo loaded onto the forward platform.
Finally, here is one last shot of the finished craft with all gear in place.
I hope this was enjoyable and useful for some of you …