I'm thinking about curved centerboards.

I had Phil's Foils make me a half plug for a centerboard that I made a mold from and I am happy with the boards that come from it. But I thought that curved centerboards might make a good over the winter project for me. So I've got the centerboard plug mounted on the strongback with a curve added (shim?) and the radius is 200cm.  I guess I'll see how it works.

 

A day sailing on Lake Nockamixon

A day on the lake --

So over the summer I destroyed two of these blocks

So over the summer I destroyed  two of these blocks ( part of my down hall)

One day I looked down at my tramp while making an adjustment and saw 20 or so little white balls... So I replaces it with one of these (Harkin 106).

So far no problems.

C-Cat Canaan's wing controlls

 

Mid span flap control "arm".

Top of span control arm.

 

Mid span flap control lines.

You can just make out the twist control arm behind the Mylar skin.

The whitish lines seem to limit the twist via the control arm.

The small white lines on the lever are to control the gap between the third element and the second element.

C-Cat Orion heading out for the first day of fleeting racing.

I know that Orion seems to be an evolutionary dead end, but to my eyes she's one sweet ride.

C-Cat Canaan heading out for the first day of fleeting racing.

C-Cat Alpha heading out for the first day of fleeting racing.

C-Cat Invictus heading out for the first day of fleeting racing.

C-Cat CNN's Shirley Robertson setting up a shot.

C-Cat Wings going up. Canaan

Yes, we know it was a goose! But just how fast were you going?!?!

C-Cat Wings going up.

This is so cool!

C-Cat parts - Rudders

Here are some of the rudders at this years ICCC.  First is PL IV.

 

Next is Aethon's rudder and control mechanism.

And this is Canaan's rudder.

And Canaan's rudder control.

Aethons wing goes up with a little bobble.

Aethons wing goes up with a little bobble. There was a wind shift as the wing goes up and it almost didn't go up.

C-Cat parts - Putting up a wing.

The Aethon crew walk the wing out from the tent in 15+ knot winds. They need 7 people to move the wing safely it these gusty conditions.

C-Cat parts - Center Board trunks

This is the CB trunk on Aethon, they can and do change the angle up wind and down wind.

This the trunk on PL-VI (FRA - 1)

And this is the trunk on Canaan.

C-Cat parts - CAN 9's wing bits

Here are some of CAN 9's wing controls.  You can just make out the twist control "tiller" in the third shot.

C-Cat parts - CAN 9's platform.

Here are some detail shots of CAN 9's platform.

C-Cat parts. Wings in a tent.

C-Cat parts - hulls head on.

C-Cat parts - The wing for Canada 9

Our breakfast friend

Had a Guest at the house last Saturday.

We had Guests at the house last Saturday.  There is a 80 foot oak tree next door that has been home for a breeding pair of hawks this last few years.
Well this year both fledglings landed out front  before they could fly.  One was terrorizing the neighbors so I got it and put it on the roof where the parents could keep an eye on it.  Just before dark I found the other behind the wood pile so I put it on top of the bird feeder so the cats in the area could not get it.  Next morning it was on the porch steps then moved to one of the chairs while my wife and I had our coffee and tea.

Speaking of wire.

I am thinking of replacing the standing rigging with 2.5 mm Dyneema SK-90 fiber, it looks as though it only costs 15% more the wire.

Lost the rig overboard a fer weeks back.

I lost the rig overboard three weeks ago ( 0ne if the Nico press (3/32 wire) fittings failed) as luck would have it there was no one around for the mast to land on.
Pulled the sail off the mast and lashed everything to the boat, and the RC gave me a tow in.
A few days later we went to Eastern Shore MD to move my brothers boat and my wife went down to apsltd.com to pickup some tools and fittings for me. The next week after racing, I was waiting for my son to come up to the lake to sail and while I was waiting I put my phone on the tramp. while I removed the GPS and you can guess what happened next...
All my photos of the rig failure went overboard!

Rudder Mold and first part.

The rudder plug and both molds.


The first rudder skin, three layers of 6oz cloth, one layer of 6oz kevlar, and one layer of 6oz uni S-glass all in the bag.

Taking the J46 from Georgetown to Chesapeake City

Taking my brothers J46 from Georgetown to Chesapeake City on a Monday in the spring with no one on the bay. Weather was nice with a 18 kn out of the NW.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0jyHQz3cg0

Tiller heads are mostly done.

Made two tiller heads using carbon and s-glass, I need to create a jig to drill all the holes that are needed.

Mast Rotation

I made a mast rotation controller.
Went to the local Golf proshop and got a few carbon fiber driver shafts that had been broken at the head end.  ( it seems that this is a frequent issue with golfers) Then cut them to length and glued on to tabs to bolt it to the mast than bridged the trailing end wit carbon fiber.

Tooling for the Tiller Head.

The tooling for the rudder head and tiller.

 

New rudder for a mold.

My old 18sq rudders (summer light air, lake sailing) where not effective last year when I used them and the set of NACRA rudders I have weight to much, so I thought I would modify one of the 18sq rudders and make a set of molds so I can make carbon rudders.
The one on the left is one of the 18sq rudders and the one on the right is the plug for the mold.
I cut the tip square and glued on some balsa wood. .Then shaped it with a plane and sanded to shape. Then a coat of epoxy and more sanding then primer.

The Centerboard Mold

Removed the mold off the plug.

Starting Centerboard Mold

So, two coats of epoxy, sand.
One coat of high build primer, sand (400), sand (600), sand(800). Buff out with compound, buff out with glazer-sealer. Four coats of wax, wait 24 hours four more coats of wax.
Wipe on a coat of PCA. One layer tooling gelcoat, then a layer of 3/4 oz mat, and one layers of 1.5 oz mat. Let it cure overnight three layers of 1.5 oz. mat then a layer of 10 oz tooling cloth.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Polyester resin? I should have worn my respirator.