I made this set of Catheads out of 4mm x 4mm stock. Had to make a few of them to get the holes right.

Cathead –

A Cathead is a large wooden beam located on either side of the bow of a sailing ship, and angled forward at roughly 45 degrees. The beam is used to support the ship’s anchor when raising it (weighing anchor) or lowering it (letting go), and for carrying the anchor on its stock-end when suspended outside the ship’s side. It is furnished with sheaves at the outer end, and the inner end (which is called the cat’s-tail) fits down on the cat-beam. The cat stopper also fastens the anchor on. The purpose of the cathead is to provide both a heavy enough beam to support the massive weight of the anchor, and to hold the metal anchor away from the wooden side of the ship to prevent damage.

The diagram shows the Bulwark being split here but I decided to keep the Caprail and have it extend to the Headrails. Besides it will be stronger this way.

What I did was to use a small drill and I kept using bigger and bigger drills. Then I used my Xacto Knife to square it up. I also used my Dremel as well with this tip…

Catheads done. Only problem is that I’m missing some Davits that’s supposed to go on top of them. Guess I’ll have to order some.

After installation and gluing in, I found out that I was supposed to make these angled down a bit. I’m not worried about it. It looks good as it is.