Rope Stropped Blocks

      I wanted to make the rope stropped blocks as traditional as possible, but with materials on hand. Historically, wooden ship blocks in the past were made out of Elm because it was resistant to splitting. In my backyard were some old Black cherry, so I decided to use it. I know many warn against the splitting but when well soaking in linseed oil, and dressed properly they can provide may fine years of use. 

     I have written down the process for creating the blocks here:

https://shadyislepirates.com/?q=rope%20stropped%20block

Trimmed down the cherry wood into a rough shell.

Created a rough shell for the block.

The finished result:

Beginning the Build

So at the time I had just moved into a new house - I was renting. The lease was for only a year, so If I started the build I was skeptical about finishing before having to move in September. At this time, I decided to work on the "small" but tedious things.

There were a couple items I could begin that could easily be moved, the first was a "birdsmouth" mast, and the second was all of the blocks (pulleys) that would be needed for the sails.

I wanted the Mystnyx to have a fairly traditional look, along the lines of a "Friendship Sloop" which the Vacationer reminded me of.  So a set of traditional rope stropped wooden blocks for the halyards and gaff would be perfect, and was fairly time consuming as projects go.

So the first design that I ordered for the Mystnyx - was the Stevenson Vacationer. I thought it met the criteria very well.

The Stevenson Vacationer

The Vacationer looked like a good rugged coastal cruiser, it seemed that it would handle a mild chop, and definitely was "beachable". The construction didn't seem too difficult, and without heavy leaded ballast it would be easy to tow.

Vacationer on a reach

The Vacationer is an easy boat to motor due to its light weight; a small outboard is all that is needed to get around very dependably. 

It seemed to be almost ideal, I was skeptical about enough room in the cabin, but with a bit of rearranging it could work. I ordered the plans off the Stevenson Site:

https://www.stevproj.com/IntroVacPg1.html

They came quickly, but I was a little disappointed in the sheet size. However, it was fairly detailed and had all the instructions.

I quickly joined Back Yard Yacht Builders a forum for people building this type of project: https://www.byyb.org/

I was keen to get started building before my 44th birthday at the end of March.