<<The price you pay for abandoning the junk style sheeting is
higher
loads on the rig, including the sail, and you need slab reefing, which
is more work and slower than just dropping the halyard.>>
Which wouldn't be the end of the world. My goal with a wing sail
would be more lift with less drag, with lighter loads being secondary.
But I actually wasn't thinking about a whole new system. I've just
been caught in enough light wind and chop, with parts banging around,
to make me worry about the wishbones. I like the 2009 design more than
the earlier ones, but it would still be nice to keep the frames away
from the mast, if possible.
Perhaps by running four webbing straps to form a box inside of the
wishbone, with the webbing surface parallel to the mast. They wouldn't
have to be bar-tight; just taught enough to keep the wishbone from
rattling back and forth on the boom.
Of course, you could make the argument that it would be simpler to
try the tried-and-true design first, see if there's actually a
problem. It might be a worry in theory but not in practice. One can
always make things more complex later.
- Mike
robertbiegler wrote:
--- In harryproa@yahoogrou
ps.com.au , "Jerry Barth" <shredderf16@...> wrote:
> I really like the 2009 setup other than all the lines going from
> the back of the sail to the blocks. I wonder if there might be a
> better way to keep all the wishbones inline.
Depends on your priorities. The sheeting system is what gives you the quick reefing and the low load on the sail. The alternative is simply to treat the wing sail like a standing lug and put a high load on the halyard to control twist. With the boom fixed and part of the sail in front of the mast, that has much the same effect as tightening a boom vang. That has been done apparently independently by at least three people developing soft wing sails since the early 60s. You need some tension along the leading edge anyway to prevent flutter. The price you pay for abandoning the junk style sheeting is higher loads on the rig, including the sail, and you need slab reefing, which is more work and slower than just dropping the halyard.
Regards
Robert Biegler