Tag Archives: waterway

RELIANCE: Another Good Day In Building 28

Another good session. We continue to fix in place all the fittings on the waterway – there are so many and it gives us pause to think about the rigging task that lies in front of us!
In addition we are building #2 club topsail yard and club to be placed on deck. (#1’s will be aloft.) Herb is finishing off shaping the matched set of sides and Steve is calculating the height of the “keel blocks” required to get the correct taper when we lay the top and bottom against a side in the glue phase. Our tolerances are quite tight – about the thickness of a piece of paper – to ensure good fit and even tapers. The eye readily picks up even the slightest deviation! (See blogs from a year-ago last fall for construction details, when we constructed our first sets of spars.)
In addition, the eighth grade mentorship program graduation ceremonies were held in the space adjoining ours. Pictures tell the story so well. Bet you can tell the personalities of the three lads from the second picture! Peace and quiet returns to building 28 today…

RELIANCE: Laying Canvas

RELIANCE: Making Progress and Uncovering Facts

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We continue to make progress. As you can see we put our first coat of color onto the waterway and have been sanding the deck smooth to take canvas. The work will progress slowly since we want to make it right.
In the meantime Burr has delivered another metal work assembly – mast truss chainplate
I also thought you’d enjoy the 1903 pictures showing the manpower required to raise RELIANCE’s mainsail and topsail. No wonder she needed a crew of 64! Also a picture of RELIANCE and CONSTITUTION at the start of a trials race.
We always look at pictures for clues to what was really on RELIANCE. We’ve often wondered about RELIANCE’s lifeboat which in our drawings is shown as a 14′ lifeboat of very particular design. About a dozen years ago the museum commissioned a 12′ version. The picture showing the mainsail being raised clearly shows the 14′ version. So, we now have a 12′ version for sale!