Carbon Spars

[Michiel]

Hi all,

Typing this from Agay in the south of France, 22C and sunny! Left Scotland last Tue., 3C wet and windy!
Realise now that i.s.o. trailing 'Nemo' back to Scotland in Sept. I should have left her here till now. Is still great sailing weather with more wind then in the summer.
Here for a week, locking the place down for the winter.

I must admit, the thought of sailing/motoring down here next summer only occurd to me a few days ago, and I have done no further research at all as yet.

What inspired me was reading AJ Mackinnon's 'Jack de Crow'. Summarised, this man rows/sails his 15' Mirror open dingy (gaffer)(no outboard!) from North Wales, via London/Dover/Calais/France/Luxumburgh/Germany/Austria/Slovakia/Hungary/Romania and Bulgaria, 4,900km all the way to the Black Sea.
What an adventure!

As I say, I have done absolutely no research yet as to the route or possibility of doing single handed. In the book he mentions though that the french locks work with electronic 'eyes'.
Obviousy loads of research will need to be done. I would also have to decide where to set off from. It could take me a week to just get from Perth to Dover!

Back to the carbon mast, David, what was the cost of this??
I assume the veneer would not be cheap. Did you investigate a wood-effect paint job?

Dennis, have you thought of the difference of being struck on the head by a cabon vs wooden beam?? Bound to happen once on a long journey??

btw, the author of 'Jack the Crow' wore a pith helmet all the way, until it got stolen somewhere in the East Block, as still was at this time.
Sound advise, I recon.

Anyway, time to get the bbq on, some sardines to fry!!

Looking forward to replies and any suggestions to making single handed sailing/operating of a CC19 easier.

Regards

[Dennis]

Hello Michiel

Good to hear from you.

Re getting hit on the head with a wooden boom:

Since I raised my boom by 8" (200mm), I have not had any boom/cranium occurances.

That particular mod. works a treat, only downside is that you have to remove boom from mast, before lowering mast. Not a problem for me!

BTW I gave the wrong name for the book by Terry Darlington, it should be "Narrow Dog to Carcasonne".

Cheers

Dennis

CC19 #100 Mary Ann

[Michiel]

Hi Dennis,

Will definitely look for the book.

Ref boom hight;

1. I think, when having to lower mast more often, boom is fine where it is. Esp. with better view using yankee iso genoa.
2. Remember, I am 2m+ tall, so the gained inches in my case means being whacked on top of the head iso in the back of the neck, and not quite sure which I would prefer.

Still think pith helmet is good idea!!

[Chris Wicks]

Hi Michiel,
Well if you do make the trip I will certainly look forward to hearing all about it. If and when you finally get to Bulgaria, it will be a relativly straightforward sail down from the Black Sea into the Aegean and then come and visit us in Pelion. You would have the wind behind you if undertaken in the summer and Kaliope's trailer would be available if you wanted to pull Nemo out for some maintenance.... I shall keep watching this space..

I took Kaliope out of the water last Friday. It was down to about 18c and windless days! I certainly enjoy the life of the fair weather sailor!!

Καλο χιμονας!!

Chris

Kaliope of Pelion
CC67

[David Peck]

Carbon Fibre Masts

Hi Michiel and Dennis,

I have put a few photos on the website showing the completed carbon fibre mast as well as some showing my completed inboard installation (although I still intend finishing the photo album article I started – eventually, honest!).

Regarding the costs of my mast, a recent quotation I had for the basic tubes was around £750 +Vat. These were supplied to my drawings and specs but were uncut to length and obviously not joined or reinforced. You need a special bladed “chopper saw” to cut these squarely. I bought a bundle of veneers in 2009 for £130, so at today’s prices these would probably be around £160 although there would be enough to do two or three masts once you had perfected the method. I had to invest in a lot of expensive tooling and learning time to obtain a perfect fit of the veneers with no gaps. Also there are a lot of different epoxies and 2-part finishes required to ensure good abrasion resistance and UV protection of the veneers.

Hence, from the above, your query regarding a painted finish is a valid one and I did consider it. For me the problem was, it would not look authentic. From a distance it might well look like wood, but not close up! I wanted it to look like a proper wooden mast. Also, I thought with 3mm thick veneers well impregnated, they would offer better protection of the abrasive carbon surface. Due to the high labour intensity of fitting the veneers, they would probably add around at least another 30% to the cost of a professionally supplied mast. I have a spare section of carbon fibre tubing and I may well have a go at painting/spraying it with suitably coloured 2 – part polyurethane paint to see what it looks like.

Dennis, yes I might well make a carbon fibre boom to reduce the trailing weight together with a rigid foam cored Kevlar rudder (it currently weighs over 20kg) for the same reason. I have thought about the gaff for better righting moment but wonder if it would drop down easily when lowering the sail. I think I will experiment with a section of plastic water pipe tubing to see! I estimate that my boat with the carbon fibre mast and heavier inboard engine mounted mostly below the water line must now make it extremely stiff compared to others. Although you only raise and lower your mast once a year, the original righting moment lost by having a solid mast is not inconsiderable and is something to think about?

Regards
David Peck
CC94 Whistling Rufus

[Dennis]

Hello David

Thanks for posting the details of your mast.

I will almost certainly go down the same route sometime in the (not too distant) future.
I would be interested in the details of the reinforcement you used.

With regard to the possible problems of easily lowering the sail with a (lightweight) carbon fibre gaff, you could fit a downhaul line to the gaff jaw.

Food for thought!

Cheers

Dennis

CC19 #100 Mary Ann

[David Hudson]

In light planing dinghies, reduced pitching moment is important.

On a cruising yacht at 19 ft. and weighing about a ton and
a half......

I am gradually learning the racing / cruising trade offs!

Visit me in Playa Blanca.

Regards
David