Making a proper start on the standing rigging.

I ducked out to the chandlery today to pick up more epoxy to put the last stave in place on the mast.

While I was there I grabbed some 5mm SK75 Dyneema line and some thimbles, for shrouds and bobstay.

I've made up the bobstay so far - as simple as a brummel-lock splice over a thimble on each end. This is actually go three on the bobstay. I really don't want wire, as bobstays are the sort of thing you grab on when you're swimming around the boat. I originally started with a bit of 5mm chain. That works very well but looks a bit over the top. So then I swapped that out for 8mm Spunport double braid polyester, which certainly looked the part, and was nice to handle, but was really springy.

The Dyneema bobstay, on the other hand, is rather remarkable. It's very twangy, and I feel I could pull the heel Iron right off the deck if I keep turning that turnbuckle. I'm able to put a lovely bend into my bowsprit, and it still looks and feels right.

The brummel-lock splices were quite straightforward. The dyneema comes apart nicely and I reckon I could feed the whole eye through, which I might try on the shrouds.

I added some whipping to tighten the eye on the thimble a little.

And here's the whole bobstay. I'm vacillating on the turnbuckle, as a couple of blocks or some form of lashing will undoubtably be quite a lot quicker to set up.

Speaking of quick setup, here's what I propose for the shrouds (using the bobstay as an example. The 5mm SK75 with thimbles is simply lashed to the chainplate with 6mm spunport, which is then secured in the cleat aft. I think that will be really quick and easy to tension.