Stern Davit, 1:96 constitution

Quite a bit of stuff would ordinarily be stored in a ship's boat.  The most obvious things are the oars.  (If I remember right, Revell includes some good ones in the Constitution kit - which is more than can be said for the Heller Victory.)  Each boat also needs a rudder, which might be left on its pintles or unshipped and stowed inside the boat.  The boat would be steered by either a tiller or tiller ropes.  In the latter case a wood fitting a foot or so wide was secured to the top of the rudder post, and a pair of ropes were secured to holes in the ends of the fitting.  The coxwain sat forward of the rudder holding one tiller rope in each hand.

Virtually every boat on board a warship (there were a few exceptions) was fitted with at least one mast, yard, and sail.  The sail would be furled up along the mast, which would be laid over the thwarts.

Other common equipment would include a boat hook, several coils of rope (including the painter, the rigging for the mast and sail, and probably some spare line), a bucket, and maybe a small cask to hold water.  Big boats frequently were fitted with swivel guns in their bows, and at least one of the larger boats probably would be equipped with a windlass (for handling the ship's anchors).

It seems like with all that stuff there wouldn't be room for the men handling the oars.  In fact, though, the boat also were often used as convenient storage spaces for miscellaneous gear - including such things as coops for the ship's complement of livestock.

Nicely-detailed boats make a major addition to a scale model.  Some modelers suggest, though, that a set of really authentically-detailed boats would be such a mass of clutter that they'd detract from the rest of the model.  Interesting subjects for the modeler to think about. 

Thanks for the information and the quote from Lees.  I know that Lees book is a highly recommended reference, but it is such brutal read.  It is like reading a phone book with someone elses glasses on .  I'll just use the mark 1 eyeball and put just a little bit of sag in the chains and I'll see what is involved in running the chain back up to the mizzen chans.

Anyhow, I am contimplating just removing the boat.  I am going to attempt the Heller Victory when I finish this one and I understand that it could use a few more boats.  What sorts of things would be stowed in the boats anyhow?  I assume a rudder, some rope, possibly a set of bumpers. 

You have some options here.  You could hang the boat a little lower, as though it's about to be put in the water (or has just been lifted out).  That would give observers a better view of the ship's transom.  Or you could leave it as you have it now; that would be a common arrangement when the ship was in harbor or otherwise sitting still.  When the ship was at sea, the boat would either be stowed amidships with most of the others or rendered immovable by a pair of ropes or canvas straps called gripes.  These could be set up in various ways.  I've seen contemporary pictures with the gripes, one near each end of the boat, apparently secured to cleats inside the ship's taffrail.  The gripe runs from the taffrail, under the boat, and back to the taffrail, where it's hauled taut and belayed.  Another arrangement was to run the gripes diagonally under the boat - each starting at the outer end of one of the davits, passing under the boat, and belayed on the taffrail near the inboard end of the davit.

Here's the description of rudder pendants, from James Lees's The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War, 1625-1860.  (It's reasonable to assume that American ships and British ships were similar in such details.)

"Chains were shackled to eyes in the rudder, coming up each side of the rudder to under the transom.  To the end[s] of the chains large rings were fitted and into these rings were hooked the rudder pendants.  These pendants had a thimble in each end with the hooks set round the timbles.  The hooks were moused.  The pendants were seized to eyes or hooks set under the transom - one by the side of the rudder post, one half way along, and one under the quarter cgallery.  The end[s] of the pendants were seized to the after end of the mizen channels.  When required, a long tackle was hooked in the eynds.  The fall hooked to an eyebolt in the mizen chains and led in through a port."

Mr. Lees tends to over-generalize a bit sometimes.  I've seen contemporary illustrations in which the whole arrangement was made of chain, leading just about the way he describes:  from an eyebolt in the rudder, seized to a pair of eyes under the transom near the rudder post, another pair of eyes halfway out, and yet another pair under the quarter galleries.  In any case, the chain needs to have just enough slack in it to let the rudder swing.

Hope that helps a little.  Good luck.