YouTuber who bought a 100-year-old rotten ship for $1 shows the rigging powering his world voyage

A YouTuber who spent $1 to purchase a 100-year-old rotten boat has shown his subscribers the rigging that powers his voyage around the world.

Leo Samspon Goolden has big plans for the Tally Ho, which was built back in 1910.

While it won a race back in 1927, it wasn’t in winning form when he got his hands on it – let’s just say, there was a reason he got it for $1.

But now, it’s time for a comeback.

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Taking a closer look at the rigging of this $1 boat

When Leo first got his hands on the Tally Ho, everyone thought he was making a big mistake.

Sure, he’d only spent $1, but this boat needed a whole lot of TLC.

Now that he had it, the British boatbuilder had an ambitious plan – to build it up and sail it halfway around the world to compete in a race.

That race being the same one that the Tally Ho won back in 1927.

And 100 years after the fact, too – it’s perfect.

Over the last seven years, he’d put a lot of elbow grease into making this boat seaworthy again, fixing up the rotten and damp wood.

The boat of today is in a whole different universe from what it was back in 2017 when Leo bought it.

But with 2027 just a year away, Leo had to prepare for the big race – and the huge journey that would take it there.

In a recent video, he showed his subscribers how the boat’s rigging works.

Now, for those of you who haven’t found your sea legs just yet, rigging is the boat’s system of cables, ropes, and hardware that keep the mast up and control the sails.

Maybe watch that episode of Friends where Rachel tries to teach Joey how to sail for a refresher.

First up was the bowspirit support, a very strong support chain under the front of the boat.

Its job is to stop the front pole of the boat from bending or snapping when the wind pulls hard on the sails.

When anchored, it was loosened so it doesn’t clash with the anchor chain, and tightened up again when ready to sail.

All the ins and outs of sailing a boat

You may have wondered why there are so many pulleys on a boat like this.

Leo explained that they’re essentially there to make hard work easier – pulling a long rope allows you to lift a very heavy sail, without the strenuous effort that would otherwise be required.

Think of it like a machine at the gym.

And what’s done when there’s not much wind? Raise more sails, of course, and raise them higher.

There are electrical motors on the boat, too, but one of them had an issue that required it to be replaced.

Ultimately, this is just one way to sail.

“There are many different ways of rigging a traditional boat like this,” Leo said.

At any rate, he’s evidently done a good job fixing the boat up.

We’ve seen plenty of ambitious boat projects before, like the case of the couple who bought a neglected Alaska yacht, with plans to live on it.

To see his explanation of the Tally Ho’s rigging system in full, visit Sampson Boat Co’s YouTube channel.

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