Messages

1

Whatever / Re: I need a foundry...

« on: April 05, 2012, 04:27:12 AM »

Thanks everyone, I've sorted it out.  I had to re-draw them so they could be machined.
I'm already working w/ Jim Reineck on another project and his own boat anyway but I was able to let the yard building the boat do them.  That way there's no outlay from me to make it happen.

2

Whatever / I need a foundry...

« on: April 03, 2012, 02:28:16 AM »

So, I have this project where I need some bronze thimbles cast, and I made some patterns, sent them off to a foundry that does the lost-wax process, waited about six weeks and got the phone call today that they can't get them to work.
"Too big," they said.
These are solid thimbles for standing rigging, for up to 5/8" dia. wire.
IF anyone knows of a custom foundry in the New England area that is willing to take a crack at it, please contact me via email tom@traditionalrigging.com or thru the board here.
I can't afford experiments at this point, I have a launch date coming up in July!

3

Specific Herreshoff Vessels / Re: New York 40s

« on: April 03, 2012, 02:19:10 AM »

I'm a little unclear as to the level of detail the last restoration was taken to insofar as the rig.
But when she was raced in the Med the owners (I would assume) took some liberties with where things were placed on the mast, clearly not where HMCo. had intended.  It had an effect on the stiffness of the mast, how forces were distributed and so on, probably to good effect.  But I'm not sure if the 1x19 wire did the hull any favors.  She had a new stick put in her at Spencer's, I believe. 
I can't say yea or nay because so far as I know the mast wasn't built as drawn with the bolsters in the same places, etc.  So nobody really has anything to compare it to.  In my opinion that's the real loss.
When she was dismasted a few years ago, the insurance company was loathe to replace the mast with anything other than what had been standing previous to the accident, so that's what was replaced.  We could have learned much more if a mast had been built to the original design, but as they say, that's racing.  I had little to no influence on how the spar was going to be made.
She's still configured as she'd been raced in the Med, not that much has changed in that regard.  The current regime is doing a good job keeping her legal for racing.

4

Specific Herreshoff Vessels / Re: New York 40s

« on: March 29, 2012, 04:08:08 AM »

I just stumbled upon this thread while looking for something else about NY 70's; I have to say I'm floored with the news of Chinook being restored, which I just heard about earlier today when a colleague dropped off a piece of Marilee's hardware.
I don't get out much.
If Jono needs an agent to store/source things for Chinook's restoration, I have plenty of space; I"m located in midcoast Maine.  He or anyone can contact me directly via the board or email.
My email address is tom@traditionalrigging.com

A few years ago I was handed the job of making a new standing rig for Marilee when she was dismasted on her delivery to her current owner.  The insurance policy only allowed "in-kind" replacement; that is, the rigging was to be placed on the mast as it had been when she was dismasted.  Which was fine, and if anything an improvement on the original design from a physics standpoint but--but, hideously ugly.  Somehow I managed to talk them into 7x7 standing rigging (there had been 1x19) and that worked out really well because Spartan required x amount, but the minimum order was about 2,000 feet.  I was able to arrange purchase of several hundred feet of this wire from Spartan's owner.  At the time I was rigging for The Sailmaker and we had arranged for the manufacture of all the wire for Spartan, which we were going to start the following year.
  This started me on sort of an affliction, a weakness for Herreshoff designs.  I worked for NSW, making the rigs for the BB 30's (including Nellie) and NY50 Spartan, among other things, before I finally got out and opened my own loft.
I also made all but six of the blocks for Spartan while working for French & Webb.
But Marilee has always been kind of special for me, and I get do do a little work on her every year, trying to bring her back to original configuration while still trying to keep her competitive.
She's had a lot of changes made to her over the years, and from my background as a very traditional sort of sailor and a professional rigger at the same time I have to say not all of them have been for the worst.  But I only hope Chinook's program holds true to the original design in the rig; so much of what it was capable of and able to do has been lost, I believe, in the haze of competition and the clamor of new doo-dads. 
I heard Marilee might be in the Med in a couple years.  It'd be nice to see her against her sisters, provided they're all set up the same.