Hi cal

Sorry to hear you have hit a bit of an issue with your build.

If you have a look at the following link relating to snaking it says that this was sometimes but not always used. No direct reference to Victory. It appears the snaking was to stop a line falling onto the deck should one get cut.

My own view would be leave it out if it's an issue but sure you may get some other ideas and help from people that gave reached or finished this stage.

http://books.google.co.u...ging%20lines&f=false

Hi Cal.

I'll admit that I've only done the snaking on one ship ; the Grimsby by Constructo and that one I did free hand (she's nowhere near as big as the Victory though!)
As a variation on Stevie's great idea you could try a piece of stiff white card cut to fit exactly between the two stays. Then draw in the zig zag lines of the snake and with a small hole in each corner of the card temporarily tie it onto the stays. Then follow the zig zags to get an even regular snaking leaving an extra long bit of thread at start and finish to tie up the last piece after the card is removed.
This is all theoretical at the moment, I haven't tried it yet but it might work!
The actual snaking was a safety device, the shroud lines at the sides and the fore and aft stays are the only things which prevent the mast being broken off at the deck line in stormy weather or sea battles. The main stay takes most of the strain backed up by the smaller 'Preventer' stay below it. The zig zag snaking was a way of joining the two together, if the main stay was parted, the strain was passed down through the snakes, along the preventer stay and back up into the main stay again. Not as strong as an unbroken main stay but often enough to prevent the mast from toppling - hence the name!
If you try it and it works, let me know - I'll use it on my own Vic!!

Robin