As promised, some photos in the elementarry telescoping mast folder.
Don't show much as so far it is just a carbon/foam/glass box with
flaps on the back. Should be a little more to see tomorrow when I
join the flaps. The 7.2m/24' central spar (100mmx100mm/4"x4") weighs
12 kgs/26 lbs, which is heavy, but stiff.
Building in the garage is hard work. Can't make dust or noise, run a
vac pump or open the door for fear of the neighbours whinging. Have
to be out next Monday so the wife can put her car away. Tow is also
very time consuming compared to uni. Allows much better tapering, but
takes a long time without a wetout machine or infusion.
On the bright side, I had some excellent help from Jeff (Vis builder)
yesterday which sped things up and relieved the boredom talking about
glow in the dark boats and other interesting things. Also found out
that Katy (daughter) is a natural filleter! One pass, perfect fillet,
no mess. Biggest drawback of epoxy is that she cannot help more.
Actually, 2nd biggest. Biggest is that it doesn't cure if you forget
the hardener. First time i have done this for many years.
Fortunately a small batch near the end so easily removed and fixed.
Next step is to join the trailing edge and put the track in, and add a
lightweight (28 kgs/cu m polystyrene) nose piece which will have to be
sanded/shaped very quickly, with the vacuum cleaner on. ;-) Also
got to make some guesses about the batten stiffness and how the sail
will be trimmed.
rob