Onderwerp: Tuigage een 1903 boeieraak [EN/NL]

[EN]
Ahoy! Hello! Salud !

I am writing to you about the maintainance of a dutch sailing barge.

To put it quickly, my friend Warren acquiered a (to our knowledge single edition) boeieraak from 1903, which was originally destined to postal service. A magnificent beast of 15.31m. It lived a long life in good conditions, except for the sails and the overall rigging.

The last owner wasn't found of sailing and only used it as a motorboat. A pity! He threw away rope and pulleys as they grew old, and didn’t buy any new ones.

My friend is no expert in sailing (he's a good barge captain, though), and wanted to put me in charge of all the shopping list and trying to get the beauty rigged once more.
I'm Breton, I’ve been put on sail boats at age 6, but still, it's the first time I'll be in charge of sailing a boeieraak. So there will be a few tricks that I need to learn about them.
So basically we're on a quest for knowledge and experience.

Over time, we'll probably come with more questions and pictures/videos showing the barge, but for now I have two questions. The first one is very general : "Where could we find references ?" I've been wandering a lot on the internet, never to find a proper book with all the rigging possibilities for a dutch sailing barge. A reference book (or whatever media or people to exchange with) with all kind of ways to rig a barge/tjalk would greatly help sort out how this one was intended to be rigged.

The second one is more technical. Since a few months, I’ve been able to discuss with some people, and my understanding of the rigging of this boeieraak improved. However I am troubled by one thing: the boat seems to only have 1 topping lift. Or at least only one was installed by the previous owner when the boat was bought, and the mast only shows 1 eyeband, so I guess it was intended to simply allow for 1 block. So my question is : “is it common for boeieraaks or other dutch sailiong barge to only have 1 topping lift ? and is it possible to have to topping lift on the same eyeband, for instance by simply relying on a double block ?”

We hope that, with your help, she will proudly show her colours once more.

Best, a galon,
Nicolas & Warren.

PS: you can find below the video made by the previous owner when he sold it [1] and the one I just made about the state of lines and rigging [2]
[1]
[2]


[NL]
Ahoy! Hallo! Salud!

Ik schrijf u over het onderhoud van een Nederlands zeilschip.

Om het snel te zeggen, mijn vriend Warren kocht een (voor zover bekend enkele editie) boeieraak uit 1903, die oorspronkelijk bestemd was voor de post. Een prachtig beest van 15,31m. Het leefde een lang leven onder goede omstandigheden, behalve de zeilen en de algehele tuigage.

De laatste eigenaar is niet gevonden van zeilen en heeft het alleen als motorboot gebruikt. Jammer! Hij gooide touw en katrollen weg toen ze oud werden en kocht geen nieuwe.

Mijn vriend is geen expert in zeilen (hij is echter een goede kapitein) en wilde me de leiding geven over alle boodschappenlijstjes en proberen de schoonheid nog een keer te laten manipuleren.
Ik ben Bretons, ik ben op 6-jarige leeftijd op zeilboten gezet, maar toch is het de eerste keer dat ik de leiding heb over een boeieraak. Er zullen dus een paar trucs zijn die ik moet leren.
Dus eigenlijk zijn we op zoek naar kennis en ervaring.

In de loop van de tijd komen we waarschijnlijk met meer vragen en foto's / video's die het schip laten zien, maar voor nu heb ik twee vragen. De eerste is heel algemeen: "Waar kunnen we referenties vinden?" Ik heb veel op internet rondgedwaald, nooit een goed boek gevonden met alle tuigmogelijkheden voor een nederlands zeilschip. Een naslagwerk (of welke media of mensen dan ook om mee uit te wisselen) met allerlei manieren om een binnenschip / tjalk te manipuleren, zou enorm helpen uitzoeken hoe deze bedoeld was om opgetuigd te worden.

De tweede is technischer. Sinds een paar maanden heb ik met een aantal mensen kunnen discussiëren en mijn begrip van de tuigage van deze boeieraak is verbeterd. Maar ik heb één probleem: de boot lijkt maar 1 topping lift te hebben. Of er was er tenminste één geïnstalleerd door de vorige eigenaar toen de boot werd gekocht, en de mast toont slechts 1 oogband, dus ik denk dat het de bedoeling was om gewoon 1 blok toe te staan. Dus mijn vraag is: “is het gebruikelijk dat boeieraaks of andere nederlandse zeiljachten maar 1 topping lift hebben? en is het mogelijk om op dezelfde oogband te tillen, bijvoorbeeld door simpelweg te vertrouwen op een dubbel blok? ”

We hopen dat ze, met jouw hulp, opnieuw trots haar kleuren laat zien.

Best, a galon,
Nicolas & Warren.

PS: je kunt hieronder de video vinden die de vorige eigenaar heeft gemaakt toen hij hem verkocht [1] en de video die ik zojuist heb gemaakt over de staat van lijnen en tuigage [2]
[1]
[2]

Hi, nice project!

HERE you can buy the info you need.

You should have 2 blocks: topping lift ("dirk") en halyard ("hijs") for the gaf, wich split in 2 small lines to both ends of the gaf.

Edit: More info

Edit: BOOK

Dear Nicolas & Warren,

In the first place, I'm sorry, the ship is not a boeieraak.
She used to be a Biesbosch-aak. From origin without a front stem; the stem on your ship has been welded to her afterwards.

Your question about the single/double "topping lift" (in Dutch it's called val): short gaffs usually were hoisted with only one rope, the so called zeilsval. Longer gaffs (say, from 2 meters length) usually had two hoists, the klauwval close to the mast and the piekeval, attached a bit higher.

Is the ship still in the Netherlands? If so, i could pay you a visit (free of charge) to help you and to prevent you from making mistakes.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Wim.

Lots of studying to do!
The Boeieraak is a pretty rare species. Some history: people.zeelandnet.nl/jepeka/aBoeieraakmain.html
Your mast looks modern and very much longer than it used to be. Also moved forward, in order to create more room inside. Common rigging for the mainsail was something like this: images.vliz.be/thumbs/33170_de...76-fig-434.jpg?w=600
So you have 2 separate halyards on your gaff (no.2 and 6). Plus a boom topping lift (no. 4).
The top pulley of no. 6 had a special shape (one flatside). Google "klauwvalblok".

*EDIT* Berghout-2 can be trusted in these matters. Take his advice!

Biesbosch Aak

Thank you all for your replies !

First thing first, I think there's a mistake in the translation... The "topping lift" is refering to what supports the weight of the boom. The "kraanlijn" in this sketch.
jachttuigerij.nl/wp-content/up...leveren-wij-zoal.jpg

In several barges I've seen, there are two topping lifts/kraanlijn. The windward one is actively supporting the boom while the leeward one is resting, in order to avoid getting in the way of the gaff and the sail.
But I think I also saw barges with only 1. I was wondering if there were some "rules" to that ? (maybe only the racing ones have two topping lifts ?)
I was also wondering if, for a barge that only has 1 central attach on the mast, you would consider placing a double block, with two topping lifts passing through it?


Second topic : boeieraak or not boeieraak ?
When I started investigating, I also was under the impression that it wasn't a boeieraak. But that's how she's registered on kadaster :
mmr.adlibhosting.com/graphics/smligg/H2012_056.jpg
s2ho.nl/LSD/top/common/Q_Details.php?Meetcode=Zb231N

If you're confident that's a mistake, I'll follow you and stop calling her that. I just wanted to point out it didn't came out of nowhere ^^

Lastly, very sadly, it's not in the Netherland. "Rosie" spent the last 17 years in the hands of an englishman, and is today in France, near Paris. Do you know any association or experts nearby, or that we could have come if we participate to the travel fee?

Nicolas.

Dat het een aak is lijkt duidelijk, maar boeier is wel heeeeel ver weg.
Makelaars weten het zelf vaak ook niet.

Gepost met de officiële Zeilersforum-app

The skutsjes I sailed used to have just one topping lift. Gives no support during sailing, apart from a moment after gybing to prevent the topping lift to push in the sail. They lower the gaff (with the piekeval) to get it to travel underneath the topping lift. Never seen double topping lifts and certainly not to support the boom during sailing (looks to me that support during saling would imply a lousy sail shape).

Ah, I misunderstood the "topping lift"
Indeed, the thing that carries the boom (giek) commonly is called Kraanlijn on yachts.
On traditional ships the name usually is Dirk. (Compare to the word Derrick in English).

You only need one Dirk/kraanlijn.
When not sailing, the giek is hanging in that Dirk.
When sailing, the giek is fully supported by the sail, the Dirk is completely useless then.
Only at very light winds, the giek may be slightly supported by the Dirk. In that case, it is advisable to have the dirk at the windward side of the sail. If it coincidentally is hanging at the lee-side, you can simply lower the top of the gaffel (gaff) for a moment, getting it to the other side of the Dirk.

But certainly, you only need one Dirk.

Furthermore: there are no rules for rigging traditional vessels. Each one is different, according to the preferences of the owner, or even just by coincidence.

Looking at your ship, the rigging certainly is not traditional. As mentioned, the mast is way longer than it used to be.
From origin, the length of the mast is such, that the very end of it drops at the backside of the rudder, when lowered.
But, of course you are free to shape your rig.

The name boeieraak, now commonly is used for another type of vessel. Your type of ship is now commonly called Biesbosch aak. This type of ship was quite new in 1903. In fact, the name for such a type of ship needed to be invented by then. People at the Kadaster (ship's register) did not yet know how to call such a thing, they just wrote something down.
Biesbosch aken were used as "working horses" in the region called Biesbosch, near Waspik, Geertruidenberg, Lage Zwaluwe, Dordrecht, Moerdijk. These ships were very shallow, and quite wide compared to their length. That width was needed to generate sufficient stability, because the light weight cargo (mostly thin willow branches, hay or straw) was stuck several meters high above the deck.

Wim.

Attached some pics of similar ships - not necessarily exactly the same, but like Berghout stated earlier: there’s quite a bit of variation anyway.
Pics taken from the book of which the cover is also attached (only for sale antiquarian bookshops, I think).

Ok thanks a lot !

So you're all positive on Biesbosch Aak ? Which is a type of Skutsje ?
(just so my vocabulary is correct starting today)

Thanks for the history lesson. The previous owner were able to go to the city where Rosie was built for her 100yo birthday. Actually, they went on a real hunt for data.

Here are the conclusions :
1) The boat was built before 1903 in one of the 4 shipyards of Waspik (at the time : Ruijtenberg, De Graaf, Van der Rijken, Rijsdijk).The measurements (15.31*4.03m) by the authority in Zevenbergen was made the 26th of october 1903.

"De Vrouw Rosina II" was built for a guy called Johannes (Jan) Rullens (1849-1929), and called after his wife (Rosalia de Bok, 1857-1937). A De Vrouw Rosina III followed just a few years after.

2) No mention before 1927 (beginning of mandatory registration), but the family stories say she was a beurtschip maintaining regular (postal I heard) services to and from Rotterdam. Stories also say that she was sold to Franciscus (Frans) van der Vaart (1847-1924) of Made.
Below is a photograph of De Vrouw Rosina when she belonged to the van der Vaart family (to my knowledge the only picture of her in her original state)
ibb.co/MhMPc9J

3) Reapearance of Rosie in 1938. She belongs to Johannes van der Vaart (1878-1955), a son of Frans. She is recorded as being "a steel sailing ship with a sail, jib, mast, boom, gaff, accessories, pulleys and wires, leeboards, winches, anchor chain and tarpaulin".

4) No mention on kadaster until 1988, when T.W.F Mebbeling does the paperwork to certify his rightful ownership. We don't know what happened between 1938 and 1988.

5) Mebbeling starts restauring it. In 1988, descendants from Johannes and Frans come visit her and take these two pictures below.
ibb.co/RghMHcG

6) In October 1988, Hendrik Hylke van Oosten (a sergeant in the Royal Dutch Airforce) becomes the new owner. I believe he is the major architecte behind Rosie becomiong a living boat. Hendrik being born in 1964, it is likely that he is still alive, but they didn't manage to find him. If you know any RDA Hendrik van Oosten, feel free to give him news of Rosie!

7) Rosie disappears from dutch kadaster.

8) In 2001, she is bought by an english couple. Not found of sailing, more of enjoying the waterways of Europe for their retirement. They dismantaled the tiller who almost got one of them overboard when hit by a rogue wave in the channel, and installed a wheel. Continued restauration and improvement of the living space. Installation of an outdoor tent.

9) Bought in 2019 by my friend. Living space is great but he plans to improve even more. Rigging is as you saw in my video.



That's for the first topic! Now for the topping lifts...

Yes, I realize that once wind is blowing, the load distribution changes, but is it to the point where the weight of the boom+sail is totally supported by the halyards (peak halyard and throat halyard)?
For a gaff rig with a 500kg boom, you'd also buy peak and throat halyard able to withstand all of it in addition to the obvious sail and gaff?
I mean, once everythig is hoisted, you loosen the topping lift and let the whole weight of the boom (here several undreds of kg) rest on the halyards ??

haderezriell schreef :
Yes. As simple as that!

haderezriell schreef :
Auch, that hurts!

I am positive that it is (or used to be) a Biesbosch-aak. Riet-aak is another word for the same type of sihp.
But please! Don't call it a skûtsje!
A skûtsje is a small kind of tjalk from Friesland. But tjalken and (biesbosch-) aken are quite different types of ships.

Met hartelijke groet,
Wim.

ahah I'm very sorry!

Outside of the Netherland, where nobody has ever heard of skutsje(n ?), tjalken, boeieraaken, and so on, it is very hard to get an idea of what is what.

Since in english we can only find the type of boat (and only vaguely even on official documents such as the kadaster I showed), it's hard to get...

So correct me if I'm wrong...

Platbodem => flat bottom boat. Can be used for most of these kind of dutch sailing barges.
Skutje => what is it ? I thought it was a generic term for dutch sailing barges, more specific than simply "flat bottom".
Tjalk => what is it?
Biesbosch aak => I get the idea, now.
Boeieraaken => the specific design I've been shown by Partemala previously in this topic, before the great diversity that is today recorded/described with more compexity.

If Skutsje is not the correct name to include all flat bottom dutch sailing barges, what is ?

It's simple.
In fact all Dutch inland cargo vessels are Platbodems (flat bottoms).
The reason for having real flat bottoms is that the Dutch inland waters are mainly very shallow. Hardly anywhere the canals and lakes are deeper than 2 meters. Nowadays some main canals have been dredged up to 4 or 5 meters, but even now the draught of modern barges is limited to, say, 3 - 3,5 meters.
A century ago, the max draught did not exceed 2 meters, in Friesland even much less.

To obtain a large capacity in carrying cargo, a flat bottom is ideal.

So, you might call any Dutch barge a "platbodem".

The platbodem cargo family has several members. The main branches are: aken, tjalken, klippers, steilstevens.
Each of these branches is divided into a lot of nephews and nieces. Every region, every owner, every shipyard, every type of cargo, every purse had it's own subtype. Even several bastard types were build.
Some ships were constructed to fit exactly through one specific bridge or lock.

In the branch of Tjalken, skûtsjes are a sub-type. Skûtsjes are a smaller and lighter kind of tjalk, specially developed for the narrow and shallow waterways inside Friesland. The max. draught seldom exceed 3 feet fully loaded.
To compare: the biggest tjalken, suitable for sailing coastal waters, could have a draught up till 8 feet.
Here's a picture of a tjalk at a scrap yard. Ship's size 25 x 5 meters, max dr. 1,88 m





The book that Vlieter1 recommanded, Scheepstypologieën, is very good. Try to obtain it!

By the way, i just carefully watched your video's.
To be honest, I like the interior of the ship, cosey and light. But I'm sorry, I'm not happy with lots of details of the rigging, the mast, the gaff, the rudder, the way the DAF-engine is attached and the electric wiring. All these things look like being made by a not very experienced amateur.
Before setting sail, please check thouroughly these details!

Wim.

Thanks for the vocab!
And biesbosch aaken ? A member of Aken family ? Tjalken ? Or is a family of its own ?

I believe most of the rigging and engine are the work of the airforce guy...

Since "Rosie" is near Paris, do you know any association or experts in FR or in the NL that we could have come if we participate to the travel fee?

If you have more time to elaborate on your worries, I'm all ear !
But you probably don't want to spend your day on it...

I think you can find some expertise in France as well.

These kind of ships have a similar type of rigging:

Neire Maove

And you could find some info about similar French bargues in the maritime museum in Paris

I saw on the pictures the boat in the past had a spritsail and no boom, so no topping lift.

Is the boom maybe a sprit? That would explain the missing block.

It is true that the old photo has me wondering.... But I there I also see a boom, no?

From bottom of mast and resting on gallows, right of Johannes.

La Mavare schreef :
I'm sorry, La Mavare, but you made a slight mistake.
The old picture shows the situation in which the ship is loading cargo. To get rid of the boom, they hoisted it upright.
So, you didn't see a sprit, and this ship most certainly did not have a spritsail.

Verder even goede vrienden
Wim.

I suppose Wim is the better expert

But:
- in those years many bargues had a spritsail, p.e. Thames Barges
- in that area all fishing boats (zalmschouw) had a spritsail
- the boat left on the picture certainly has a spritsail (mainsail fixed to the mast)
- Rosina 's mainsail is at the side, normally it would be stored on the boom
- the boom of Rosina is quite thin and long, could be a sprit
- the missing block
- a sprit was not used to (un-)load the ship, a boom was

I rest my case, but I think it is not impossible.

Here is what my eyes see.
And I struggle to see anything else.
The diagonal "thing" (that I call a crane) is way to short to handle the entirety of the main sail. And since there is a clearly visible gaff, I doubt the gaff+spritsail combination... or does it exist ?

https://ibb.co/DKMgJHD

The position of the crane is perfect, at the vertical of an opening in the boat, just behind the cart. We also still see the topping lift/kraanlijn/dirk that runs until the end of the boom.

I 'm afraid ur new picture makes it obvious; I need new glasses.

Gaff, sprit and boom doesn't exist as far as I know, sprit and boom is rare but exists.

So we have a new question: on small ships they allways used the boom to crane.
The crane needs an extra block, because u can see the topping lift is keeping the boom high.

These flatbottoms allways have a long pole to push to ship forward and to maneuver in shallow water.
Could be they made a crane of it.

Anyway, the shape of the mainsail will give u the answer how the rigging is ment to be.

And in 100 years they certainly have made some changes.

Question:
How would you manage the peak halyard of this gaff?


=> All the eyelets are visible in the video. There is none below the sheath.

=> The holes in the wood looks small, no?
I'd say 5mm approx

=> The "perpendicular" aspect of everything is bugging me... I almost want to rivet the sail in place!!
ibb.co/d7JnPZY

You're missing some iron parts!

I'll show you, i just took an old gaffel from the dust and made you some pictures








The sail should hang from the two eyes at the front and at the top of the gaffel, attached with a shackle or strong rope.
The tiny holes in your gaffel are meant for the marllijn (as you own a Dutch ship, i will use the Dutch words ), a thin line of say 5 or 6 mil, that connects the sail to the gaffel with a marlsteek or schiemansteek.
As it might be difficult to push the marllijn through the wood, i advise you to drill the holes to 8 to 10 mil, as smooth as possible.

The piekeval (i suppose you keep it calling Top Halyard) should be attached to the spruit, that is a short piece of steel rope or chain between the two upper eyes on top of the gaffel. It must have the opportunity to slide across the spruit.

So, in short, you should obtain some ironwork for the gaffel, and the main forces of the sail are divided between the front and the top eyes.

Groet!
Wim.

Ah !

That's exactly what I was expecting!

My friend (who owns the boat) thought that the previous owners did hoist the main, but I had doubts, seeing this gaff...

Thanks a lot!