Hi,
Today we have tried sailing with the leeboard I
made using a Tom Speer proa 3 series foil.
The foil was 1.5m deep. I didn't want
to make it taller as loads might get too high for the materials
used.
It is wood, ply over a post of Douglas pine I had
lying about 190x45 mm. I used ply frames to get right shape and a pine strip
with rebates at both ends to take the ply skins.
It sure looked ok and it worked up to the moment I
luffed to fast and killed it. It broke just at where the ply
stopped.
With the board we just pulled the sheet and
sailed off after hoisting the sails.
We had to work the board sometimes to get it
alongside the lw hull. When it got working I could decrease the rudder angle. We
stopped several times to do things and simply pulled the sheet and got
going.
After the board broke and we got it out
of the water I pulled the sheet and we luffed into the wind. We had to get
it downwind and then it went.
With both main and jib up.
Wind was about 8-10knots. We had flat water,
contrary to the first time
It occured to me the finish of the rudders
which is less then perfect might have something to do with this
also.
It seems that by polishing your rudder you can get
20 % more lift from it. So no paint and halfway filling and sanding may not be improving things.
regards,
Rudolf