Below are some pics of today's work. The plan is to have Susan's boat easily convertible from low-rider classic mode to foiler mode, simply by bolting on various bits. The stern normally carries a standard rudder on two pintles. By removing the lower pintle and bolting on an angled bracket, the tension rod of the gantry can be fitted. There will be two brackets screwed onto the deck to accept the two upper struts of the gantry. (I removed the aft deck to lay in some carbon supports under the new deck. The brackets will screw through the deck into these new supports.)
To accommodate the centerboard I needed to figure a way to structurally support the mainfoil which carries the weight of the entire boat and skipper. Additionally, since I didn't know exactly the angle of the forward cant, the mechanism needed to be adjustable fore and aft (on the top end - the bottom end will be fixed.) Lastly, I couldn't restrict the standard well opening since Susan likes sailing with her standard daggerboard. My solution is to fit four lifting straps just outside the daggerboard well. I cut some holes in the deck and slid the straps (made of some uni and +/- 45 carbon) through the slots. The straps are fastened to the outside of the daggerboard well with some carbon. To ensure the spacing and hole alignment stays correct during installation, I fitted a pine block that will be removed after everything kicks.
Things are under a heated tent for the night. Tomorrow's temps are expected to stay below freezing and my garage doesn't have any heat in it. Still yet to come are the bottom hull fitting, the wand pivot and the tube through the foredeck. It may not be until next week before I can get to those, so stay tuned.
6 comments:
Cool!!! :-)
Hi Joe. I don't foil but I notice that the upper supports for the rudder gantry look quite small for what I had understood to be a highly loAded part of the boat. Are you sure these are sufficiently strong? Nice project btw.
Hi Reno:
The brackets are built on some 1/4" thick birch ply. On each side of the ply there is a L joint made of six layers of carbon. Each bracket will be screwed into the deck (some 4mm okume ply) with four #10 sheet metal screws, the aft screws going through the deck into the top beam of the transom. Again, under the deck are some more 90 degree carbon bits that will hold the brackets to the transom. Strong enough? We'll see!
Nice beginning, Joe. No doubt several CMBAers will follow your (and Susan's) progress leading up to the mid-winter regatta.
GPA
This is very interesting. This could snowball into Gen 3 Classics.
Nice work Joe. Watch that gantry connection though. Very highly loaded part, and my gut feel says you'll be re-building that part shortly. A new gantry for the boat may be an easier, and in the long run cheaper and quicker fix.
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