Brian, I'm hoping that you'll report back that its a thing of wonder! Seen a few on EBay.UK (they are the blue jobbies?) and are the nearest thing to a bargain I've seen for a windsurfing mast.
Cheers Col
Summer is here, I'm ready to start my next build. I picked up a couple of sails for cheap. As well I got the 460 aluminum mast. Now I need to decide what to do with these sails. I would really appreciate your comments and suggestions.
The pink sail is a 6.2m RushWinds custom. I think it is quite old given shape. It is in good condition.
This sail has camber inducers.
The other sail looks like it would have a good shape and be easy to cut, however, the mylar is in lousy shape.
Thanks, Brian
The blue one looks good enough to try as it is I think.
To me the pink one looks like it needs some of the luff curve taken out of it.
Best of luck with the Zooter. If you persist with it you might just turn it into something. Cheers.
would you take the bottom off to make it flat, so you could use a straight boom or just use a windsurfing boom?
Brian I would suggest you set it up on a LY and Study it carefully. The Unit and sail will tell you what to do. Me I have gone for Bottom Boom and I am about to POst a Pic' of my most recent re-cut.. It is in the Eye of the Beholder..
Ron
Ive just binned a rushwind of that exact type. we had some great sailing from it as it had all the depth well forward . you could get the yacht on 2 wheels and just sit there.
all I did was measure my intended boom length from the tack ( back of the foot)
and then recut the luff in a massive cut up the length of the sail. refit the same pocket,without the cams.
here it is sailing, it did a lot of dunking into the surf, hence the trip to the bin,as it was made of a mylar/dacron composite cloth
Paul, I am a little confused as to what I would have to do. Do you mean something like this?
Got to spend some time in the shop last weekend and today. I just finished the frame for my new mini. I didn't do anything special, just followed the plans. It was much easier this time.
To make the seat, I think I am going to build a pod much like Landyacht described. I am going to see if I can construct it out of fiberglass.
If you're glassing in that lovely 'man room', put old boxes or something on the floor to catch spills, buy in industrial quantities of latex gloves, paper towel, and acetone
Just added some bracing tubes onto my 'tub' and done a few gelcoat repairs and the mess is phenominal
Gelcoat pigment is spooky in it's ability to move randomly everywhere at once. But go for it, I'd call it frustrating fun!
Looking good so far. Quick question - why the drop axles
Cheers Col
So Brian, Have you built any good bridges lately.. Perhaps if you ask nicely I will tell you about one I know of.
How's the summer hotting up for your Land Sailing???
Ron
building in fibreglass isnt as hard as you might thing.
2 ways come to mind
design all the flat pieces and cut pieces of particle board to match , sand, seal wax and pva the pieces, lay glas on each seat separately then stitch and tape construction to put all the bits together as if they were sheets of ply.
as the frameis supporting all the weightyou could build rather light.
lyndons pod on the plank comes in just on 4kg
Has anyone worked with a product called EcoPoxy? http://ecopoxysystemscanada.com/
It apparently is much nicer to work with as it is not toxic. I am going to give it a try when building my pod. Apparently, you can lay it directly on pink styrofoam.
I plan to make a pink styrofoam plug that I will then coat with fiberglass.
What do you think?
If the price is right, experiment away...as long as you haven't got a bean or nut allergy The fact it hasn't got any solvents means creating moulds is a lot easier than conventional grp.
Cheers Col
There is a dealer 120 km away, so I am going to go visit him on Friday. It sounds good. I got a big pile of pink foam from the scrap pile at the farm. I plan to make a hot wire cutter using a battery charger and stainless steel welding wire. Will keep you informed.
Brian
This stuff fascinates me.The cartrige spray-on foam for making molds and the styro spray might have some applications if readily available and not too expensive.
www.industrialpolymers.com/
go to products and check out the videos
Hi Brian,
I've had a bit to do with hot wire foam cutting. Just a tip or 2 - try guitar s/s strings - e or g, can do up to 1 metre wide cuts.
You may need a few more volts than 12, I usually use a 36 volt 30 amp power supply.
Simplest bow to keep tension can be made from pvc pipe bent with small bolt at each end to attach wire.
For templates for shaping you can use kitchen laminate (called Laminex here once)as its edges can be sanded and polished once cut to shape, to give smooth path for wire to run on. If you get real fancy you can get your shapes done with CNC mill & this can give amazing results.
I put s light dimmer switch on my old battery charger hooked the cables to a piece of stainless steel tig welding rod. It works like a charm for cutting foam.
Hey Brian,
glad to hear you are back at it......
any chance you could do a sketch of the plug you are going to build? just curious as to the method and stlye.. good luck
I will post photos as I progress. I think this is going to be cool. I got started on my scroll saw for foam today. I am going to hook it up on my table saw so I can use the fence.
Brian
Made a wood base for my seat using 3/4 inch plywood. stiched with fiberglass.
Got a big pile of foam to make a plug.
Foam cutter on my table saw. Works great.
Now to make the plug.
I got a chance to work on the seat this week. I started to add foam to the plywood base, using insulation foam. I carved the foam using a reciprocating saw, belt sander, rasp and a orbital sander.
This is the plug ready for glass. I covered the foam with tuck tape so I can hopefully remove the foam easily.
I started to put layers of glass on the pod. I am using epoxy resin, which is a treat to use as it does not stink up the house. Started at the underside. I put on two layers of woven mat. Sunday, I will flip it over and glass the top side.
Any suggestions as to the number of layers I should use?
Brian
One of the boys will no doubt advize you about the layers but the "Polka Dot Bombshell" Looks good.
Ron
given that it is a shell and the chassis will do all the work, 2 layers of woven might be just fine, as you are going to have some kind of fairing compound to get a nice outer finish that will help stiffen it. when the foam comes out you will probably want to put some reinforcing in the attachment points, and that would be tha time to add some small longitudinal ribs to stiffen the sides, also something to fatten the top edges where your body will come in contact
just go for it....What have you to loose?
