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Kmgwood

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Sep 7, 2021
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I am not a mariner, so this question may be quite basic, but I was under the impression that all the standing rigging associated with dead eyes would have been covered with tar and thus black. Why is it that so many ship models are built with tan colored rope through the dead eyes?
 
I think it’s because they see how deadeye lanyards are currently done on museum ships as HMS Victory in UK. There they have got new synthetic fibre ropes which were at the time of application were available in white colour. This is where the problem stems from to my opinion.
 
As I understand if blocks were attached to spars and masts their strops were also tarred and served most of time.
 
Several years ago, there was a debate on another forum about the rope that goes through the deadeyes. The nautical term is lanyards.

The old ship model convention is to treat them like standing rigging and to color them the same way; dark brown.

The other argument is that they are like running rigging as they must be pulled through the deadeyes to tighten the standing rigging so they should be left as natural rope color.

The discussion was not resolved. Personally, I prefer the tarred look for deadeye lanyards.

Roger
 
Kmgwood said:
I am not a mariner, so this question may be quite basic, but I was under the impression that all the standing rigging associated with dead eyes would have been covered with tar and thus black. Why is it that so many ship models are built with tan colored rope through the dead eyes?
Click to expand...
What about ratlines? Same question
 
Contemporary models have often been re-rigged over the years, but looking at models at Preble Hall and RMG, each model's ratlines match the color of the shrouds, be it light brown, brown, or very dark brown. I hope that with the knowledge there, they got it right assuming they have been re-rigged. None of them are road tar black. :)
Allan
 
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Any rope that moves should not be tarred and that includes lanyards linking deadeyes. If one is really pedantic, the ratlines should be portrayed as tarred where they close in on the shrouds. Whilst they may start out totally tarred, their constant use by seamen going aloft means that in between the shrouds they tend to revert to a dirty rope colour. One can either follow reality or fashion, personally I prefer reality.
 
Standing rigging isn't standing. Only the masts are standing. So the standing rigging also runs so it's running rigging that stands still most of the time. Running rigging doesn't run, it works. The sails and the yard arms run but not the rigging. You got that? Seems logical to me. Ha! Norgale
 
Somewhere on the forum there is a recent post about tensioning standing rigging. Long story short, the movement of the mast is used, and the deadeye lanyards are just snugged up. Once tensioned, these natural fiber lines would be subject to rot and other environmental hazards. Rats apparently also like hemp. A coat of pine tar would protect them and would not interfere with re-tensioning during the voyage.

Roger
 
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