Rodolf,
What are your thoughts on attaching the wishbones to the mast?
Take a look at the following images:
http://www.themulti
http://www.themulti
I don't see attachments for each wishbone that would keep it centered
on the mast. It appears that the windward side of the wishbone rests
against the mast, with the whole wishbone being prevented from sliding
aft by a knotted line. [note: I could be wrong -- the images available
are limited]
There could easily be 12 or more of these wishbones on a single
high-aspect rig for something the size of vis. That could make for a
lot of clatter if you've got light wind but choppy seas. Also a lot of
wear and tear on the mast's awlgrip.
It would be nice if there were a system that could keep the wishbones
closer to centered, hopefully with something soft and flexible to cut
down on noise and wear.
I also don't see a way to make an effective schooner rig with those
multiple long sheets.
Not unless you add a balestron boom and anchor the tack and clew, in
which case you'd have a great wing, but would then need stronger
sailcloth because the sail itself would be carrying a vertical load.
That might also stress the wishbones too much. So it looks like one
larger sail would be key.
Also, would it be useful or cost-effective to build the frames in
carbon or glass? Synthetics would be more resistant to rot, but I
don't know if there would be other benefits. Do you think you could
save weight over wood, or would wood be largely ideal for this
particular purpose?
What about the batten end? You could make a strong argument for a
tapered batten that is quite strong and stiff at the joint, but then
becomes more flexible to allow a graceful curve. It would be useful to
have something that could take a serious bend without snapping so that
the battens don't crack if there's a big gust while running.
I know you're not the rig's developer, but since you've made more
good points in support of its use than anyone else, I thought I'd
respond to you.
- Mike
Rudolf wrote:
Hi Rob,
You're probably right on building time for bare tube, thing is all the add ons. Like the barbs keeping the boom in place , sailtrack (which was also homemade), hounds, padding for the halyards leads and so on.
And everything has to finished to an exeptable level (well, at least most people do ;)).
Remember this is about comparing an easyrig to others. So we're talking about a balestron boom. An una rig boom would be lighter loaded so less material, and definitely much smaller.
With the swing wing all the extra stuff like the wishbones on the mast are lightly loaded. So it't just a matter of laminating a couple of layers of wood around a simple jig.
I suspect the swing wing would be (much) cheaper to build.
The masts on the Tiki 30 are tapered, hollow wood.
regards, Rudolf