maritime

  This seems an obvious statement but without the ability to handle  ropes and use knots it is just not possible to be competent as a basic seafarer. This is particulalry relevant to traditional clinker built boats where there are no hydraulics or electricty to help you. You just have ropes that need to be attached to various parts of the boat. This subject has many opinions on which knot to use in a particular circumstance. We will use Vaaghals as an example where we use 7 basic knots that are used to operate the boat. Bowline (Pålestikk) This is a general purpose knot often used to form a loop or bight in the rope so it can be passed through or over mooring cleats or posts. It is also used to attach a brace (bras) to each end of a yard (rå). It does not slip under load and can be difficult to untie after use if it has had a lot of tension on it. Reef knot (Båtsmannsknop) As the term applies it is used to tie together the two ends of the reefing lines in the sail and al...

  An adventure for the Båtlab gang It all started about two years ago when two of our colleagues, Charlotte and Camilla, announced that they would not be around the Norwegian Maritime Museum for some time, as they were involved in a large project to move all the cultural items stored in Ekeberg to a new storage location near Drøbak. This was very sad for us, as with Charlotte we had learned a lot on traditional clinker-built boats by working with the boat builders on the reconstruction of Norwegian boats. In fact, 4 boats in total. With Camilla, we learnt much on the conservation of cultural artefacts, especially boats, rubber gloves included.   So, they disappeared and then later, we had an invitation from Camilla for an orientation tour on a new warehouse, located in the countryside around Nesodden. This would be exciting as we had spent some time working with Charlotte and Camilla in the caves of Ekeberg and anythi...