A lot got done the last two weeks.

First I made wooden arms for the fore and main servos and glued the servos to the hull. The carpet thread runs from the servo arms, through screw eyes mounted on small dowels next to each mast, up through copper tubes in the deck, up to screw eyes on each mast, and finally over to the spars for the top sails on each mast.

I opted to tie separate threads from the servo and spars to two tiny buttons, then tie a third section of thread to connect them together. So for now "adjusting" the line tension will mean cutting the old connection thread and just tying on a new one.

After having three break, I've decided to leave the brass screw eyes that attach the spars to the masts slightly open and not open and close them. Wrapping some copper tape on the back of the screw eyes seems to keep the spars confined enough.

Next I put in a new mizzen mast base, to which I attached the old mizzen mast with spars and sails still intact. Wound string allows it to swivel. I added a small spar to the front of the mizzen mast and ran thread over to the main mast, so they'll turn in unison. I'll see if this works and save the mizzen servo as a spare for now, plus I like having the open space in the hull to stow the transmitter and battery. I wrapped some string with wood glue around the mizzen mast and the dowels holding the rudder's screw eyes to give the mast base a little more support.

So the sails and rudder all turn now via rigging. How well it will work under the stress of wind and waves remains to be seen. A light wind test with a fan went well, but I'll wait until the standing rigging is in place before any heavy stress testing.

Still to be done before first sail: standing rigging, keel ballast, waterproof electronics box and deck.

Week 34